[Note: This thread relates to Tapton Estates based in Crookes, Sheffield. All opinions expressed in this thread (and any other) are those of the poster and not necessarily of the forum owners. Please do not infer that you were conned or tricked without providing to us (before posting) hard evidence of such an event. Please do not use words like 'unethical', 'sneaky', etc. Please do not name individual employees of the company. Please ensure that anything you write is as an honest expression of opinion based on true facts and posted as a matter of public interest. If you have any concerns please contact us (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/misc/contact.php)]
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Have had bad experiences with these landlords/estate agents, as have some friends of mine - rude and unhelpful, badly maintained and expensive properties. Thought I'd pass that on - a year's contract is a big commitment!

oh dear that doesn't sound good. We are currently considering a property with them, a 'proffessional let' but with reccomendations like that we're now not sure. Has anyone else had similar experiences with Tapton Estates?

We currently rent a house from Tapton Estates, the house is really nice, rent better than most of my friends, and they have been good, we even got a bottle of wine when we went in at xmas! so not sure what your experience was but they are university registered so can't be that bad!

We rented off them for a year and they were pretty bad. The property was a bit of a state when we first saw it, but they said that they were acting as agents, and had only just acquired it and that they'd sort out a load of stuff, which they never did. Eventually we ended up ringing the Landlord direct. Some stuff got sorted after that, but in general we found them pretty unhelpful, and I don't think I'd rent off them again.

I looked at a couple of places with Tapton for next academic year and they were pretty manky. Had the same thing though "we're just an agency, we'll pass your information onto the landlords". My friends also rented with them last year and Tapton claimed they would do work on the summer but it never amounted to anything. I've since walked past the house and looked in and it's exactly the same. They also charged my mate for dirtying the sheets it came with. As soon as they moved in my frined put his own sheets on, when they left he replaced them with Taptons. Hmm.

Just be wary is my advice.

ok, am definatly in two minds now due to mixed opinions expressed on this thread and via pm (thanks geoff) and I don't know whether to trust them or not. I guess we'll just have to re-view the house and make up our minds based on our own impressions. I'd be interested to hear how tapton respond to this sort of criticism though. Thanks for all the people that gave their opinion :)

Well... I rented a house on Crookesmoor Road through Tapton Estates with 3 friends in my 3rd year at university. I thought that they were really good. So good, in fact, that I'm now renting through them again now - 4 years later!

Whilst at university, we got 2 bottles of wine off them for keeping the place clean and tidy, and we got all our deposits back in full!!! (Unlike many of my friends who went with private landlords.) Before we moved in, the house had quite a bit of work done to it and the builders hadn't really cleaned up. We told Tapton Estates and they got it thoroughly cleaned within a few days.

Also, they've recently been very helpful and understand when we enquired about us extending our contract for a period of less than 12 months. (Many agents wouldn't even consider this as an option!)

It's true what they say about them only being agents. If a house isn't in good condition, they can't just strike it off their books. Let's face it, most students are willing to live in complete shedholes, so if they struck it off their books, some other agent would just get it on his and he'd get the money. (They are running a business after all!)

You'll find that all agents have poorly maintained properties on their books somewhere - so just make sure you view the property and think about it properly before you sign anything. (If you don't, you've only got yourself to blame.) Also, don't just assume that all the agents properties will be the same quality. Tell them that you were wanting somewhere a bit nicer and I'm sure they be honest with you!

When you move into any property, be sure to tell the agent about anything you thing isn't up to scratch. We gave Tapton Estates 2 sides of A4 paper listing even the smallest of problems so they knew we had reported them (i.e. really small cracks in windows, scuffed wallpaper, etc...). If you do this, they can't charge you when you move out.

Still, I can only go off my experiences. But since they're 4 years apart and I still don't have any complaints, I think I'm justified in saying you should have no problems with them providing you're a good tenant!!! :thumbsup:

Hi, in reply to you all, Tapton Estates is now under new management, I have worked there for over 10 years and although a well established company for over 20 years, I wanted to make a difference. I am concerned to hear if you feel you have been poorly treated but i can only hope to improve this in the future, if you would like to assist me with this then i would be pleased to hear from you. Unfortunately i cannot comment on your individual experiences as i do not know the facts..


With regard to expensive & badly maintained accommodation we offer a full range of accommodation starting as little as £30pw and have often been told that we are cheaper than most. Our most expensive property is a newly refurbished, beautiful flat, brand new everything, double beds in all rooms, i would live there in a second, and only £57pw!!!!it is your choice check out our website (www.taptonestates.co.uk (blatent plug,sorry)) decide for yourself if our houses are to expensive & badly maintained.. This week i have in fact insisted a landlord lower his price from £60 to £55 before taking him onto the books.

Tony makes some excellent points we do act for different landlords with many different styles, you must look at a variety of accommodation before you decide, each one is different, but we are here to help you if you have any specific requirements.

We have, in fact, removed landlords from our books when we felt that tenants safety was being jeapordised, but we do not remove them for simply not having "brand new" furniture because there are lots of students out there wanting that style of affordable housing.

Unlike many landlords we allow prospective tenants to view the property with the current tenants, you cannot get a better, more open opinion than that, they have lived in the house and been managed by us so ask them the questions.
When moving into a property we provide paperwork so that you are covered when you leave, and we ask that everything be put in writing, again this is to protect you.

So HarrietStar, and anyone else, please go back to the property and ask the questions! Our door is always open for anyone and your comments good or bad welcome, sarah@taptonestates.co.uk) I hope that the new and improved Tapton Estates can be of assistance.

This is the fourth year I have been with tapton estates. i have found that any essential work is done as quickly as their tradesmen can do, usually that is quick. They installed a new boiler when the old one started playing up and repainted the back door when it started looking grotty. We have an attic room and the stairs were falling in, I told them and the next day someone was sent around to rebuild the staircase.

When it comes to more decorative issues they are not so good, there is still bare plaster around the sides of the staircase and the carpet on the stairs doesn't fit properly. Also, the poor person who will be getting this flat when I move out is having to pay £100 more per month than what I am paying, so they are getting more expensive.

I have found the staff friendly and professional, I'm leaving because I want a garden to laze in on warm summer evenings.

They have a annual support contract with Failsafe and so heating problems don't cost them anything (as far as I can tell) so you should never have to worry about heating if you go with them.

DO NOT GO WITH TAPTON UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! EVEN IF YOU ARE DESPERATE! I promise that they will screw you over no matter what you do.
First of all, from my own experience, and from reading the posts here, all the houses are dirty and disfunctional. Second, they treat you like sh?t, I assume because we are students.

I am at the moment studying abroad, but i had a house with them last year, and i am still waiting for them to return my 250 pounds deposit, even though the contract ended in June. Also, they have informed me they are charging us 150 pounds for a cleaning bill, and also billing us for new beds and desks, the cheek of them i tell you. Anyway my boyfriend phoned up and asked to speak to the billing department and they suddenly changed their minds and said we werent going to be charged for new furniture.

When we moved in the house was dirty, the hoover was of course broken (i think this is their trademark), my room was damp, the light in the toilet didnt work, the hedges over the front door were so overgrown that it was very dangerous walking up the gravel path to the door, i fell down the path at least twice, wish I had sued them for it now. I left the house in December cos it was, in my opinion, unliveable in, and the hedges, light and damp were still not sorted.

We need to start a proper boycott of tapton. We could seriously affect their business and punish them for all the trouble and worry they have given so many people.

Have a look at this thread (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48667&perpage=15&pagenumber=3) for my opinions of them.

We've had nothing but trouble and the house is so damp that there is water dripping off the walls at times and the wallpaper is all crumbling away.

Every time we have reported a problem to them, it has taken several attampts before they will even record it on their "to do" list.

To be honest, the only saving grace of Tapton has been Tony - he's been brilliant, often going out of his way to do extra bits and bobs for us and reinforcing our opinion that the house is so damp that it is unhealthy to live in.

When a bedroom ceiling fell in recently, Tony came round to have a look and said that he'd told Tapton that this was going to happen several weeks previously but they'd done nothing.

File a report on Agentwatch.co.uk to get your experiences heard!!

I have to say that Tapton is not a great estate agency. We had mice on our building for six months, the problem got reported by several tenants, they laid bait (after many babies had been born), but the problem is still there in the top floor apartments. They said that they would seal the holes, but they never did. With winter coming, I am sure the problem will arise again! As others have said it does take many many reminders before they come to do anything and when they come to take care of normal wear and tear they threaten to stick you with the charges! Then you have to threaten them back! Our building has been put under their management in the past year, and I have to say the quality of maintaining the property has seriously gone down hill.

I've rented with a number of agents and private landlords whilst living in sheffield and my experience with Tapton Estates was by far the worst. Didn't return phone calls, didn't sort out problems even when there were saftey issues involved and then had the cheek to make us jump through hoops to get our bonds back. We eventually did, so they're not complete rouges, just a bit useless. Definately not renting through them again though.

Do they charge their own (agency/registration) fees? If so, how much?

On the off-chance that any students or landlords have the good sense to do a simple internet search before using Tapton Estates - please avoid them like the plague. We have had a disastrous experience with them and when I contacted them they were rude to the point of aggression and highly unprofessional. I would describe many of their policies as legally dubious at worse and sharp practice at best!

The main warning is to students. DON'T SIGN ANYTHING UNTIL YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY SURE. The moment you sign, you will be locked into a Faustian pact which you cannot escape from. You will be asked to sign contracts and pay deposits months in advance of the commencement of the tenancy which you cannot then escape from. So, if you change your mind for all sorts of reasons you can only escape by paying a FULL YEARS RENT. There is no 'break clause' allowing you to give notice during the course of the tenancy - you will have to see out the whole year! If your financial circumstances change or you want to move to another university for some reason or you fall out with prospective flatmates - you're stuck with the tenancy for a year. It's a one-way relationship where the interests of the landlord are the absolute priority.

You will also be asked to get your parents/guardians to sign a guarantor form which, were it legally enforceable, would leave your parents liable for unpaid rent and damage caused by all/any of the tenants. So, a flatmate could come in drunk with a 'guest' and accidentally cause damage which your parents would be liable for a share of even though you might be hundreds of miles away at home at the time! My research indicates that these forms would only be legally enforceable if they took the legal form of a deed and were witnessed when signed but I don't think it would stop them trying it on.

Don't take my word for it - do yourself a favour and type 'Tapton Estates Opinions' into Google and read the forum posts!

OMG - thread ressurection!!!

there are worse lettings agencies out there........

OMG - can't spell - resurrection! You clearly have some sort of vested interest to come out in their defence - presumably you're contracted to maintain their boilers?

Hard to see how there are worse agencies from the perspective of a young naive student who has signed a contract they can't escape from. Imagine you desperately needed to move to another part of the country for genuine reasons but found yourself trapped by a contract you can't get out of before it's even commenced and you are months away from even moving in! Also, try and remember how naive you were at 18 - just left home and trying to make sense of the world - easy to get swept along by those who appear to be trustworthy adult professionals! In my view Tapton Estates have a duty to both landlord and student and should explain the 'small print' more carefully and warn the students of the implications of signing the contract. Even a 'grown-up' in a normal SAT would be able to give notice after the first six months or sooner. Tapton were totally unsympathetic and rude. All they want is the money in and the contract signed so they have you pinned exactly where they want you.

student handbags at dawn..:D

Please excuse my typing error. I'm sure you never make mistakes..:roll:

I have no vested interest in Tapton Estates. Where in my post did I suggest that I did. I do not work for them or repair their boilers and i am certainly not defending them.

I understand your difficulties but my response was to say that in my opinion there are worse lettings agencies out there.

I presumed that students would engage in due dilligence prior to signing lettings contract but obviously i am wrong.

Hard to see how there are worse agencies from the perspective of a young naive student who has signed a contract they can't escape from. Imagine you desperately needed to move to another part of the country for genuine reasons but found yourself trapped by a contract you can't get out of before it's even commenced and you are months away from even moving in! Also, try and remember how naive you were at 18 - just left home and trying to make sense of the world - easy to get swept along by those who appear to be trustworthy adult professionals! In my view Tapton Estates have a duty to both landlord and student and should explain the 'small print' more carefully and warn the students of the implications of signing the contract. Even a 'grown-up' in a normal SAT would be able to give notice after the first six months or sooner. Tapton were totally unsympathetic and rude. All they want is the money in and the contract signed so they have you pinned exactly where they want you.[/QUOTE]

actually most student letting agencies work on the same principals , most students are not interested in reading the small print or paying attention to being told what the ramifications are

have just had dealings with tapton as we are leaving. OMG!!!!
Really talk down to you, wont return calls, Deny receiving calls. Mr Arrogant or what......far to busy to talk to lowly students:mad:

Here is a list of outragous charges quoted:-

To wipe down skirting in 1 bedroom £100.00
To replace front of £12.00 fire alarm £70.00
To replace 1 wooden slat under bed £80.00

We are fighting other charges, will let you know how we get on on:mad:

Lovely legs, I used to have them as my lettings agent, I can only agree with you, my tenants got in touch, just before they moved out, they told me some horror stories, I dont live in Sheffield, but was going to be about at easter so I went and had a chat with them, and they told me the same thing. Its hard enough to get tents and then get good ones who are treated like that. So I met a guy who said I should look at Kensingtonpmc, its a new company set up. retired police, who are trying to do the right thing and not rip people off.
I decided to go with them and signed both my apartments over to them. They only charged £99 for tenant find, and only charge £50 per month. Dont charge for inventory. Like the bloke said he thinks others are ripping the landlords off.. So thats I went with them. I got the impression they want to treat both me the landlord fairly and want to look after the tents as well.

I know of others that are having problems with this particular agent and i am not going to let it rest here. I shall be writing to the University to investigate
how many others are being Ripped off and if enough pressure is put on them
then they might treat people with a little more humility and not aggression and
arrogance.

I lived in a Tapton Estates house on School Road in second year at uni (2009-10). I never had any problems with them and was happy with the price (£330 a month including all bills, free wireless internet, free Sky). I got most of my deposit back as well.

Here is a list of outragous charges quoted:-

To wipe down skirting in 1 bedroom £100.00
To replace front of £12.00 fire alarm £70.00
To replace 1 wooden slat under bed £80.00


This brings back memories...after I graduated I rented a flat with my boyfriend from 2003 to 2006, and although we cleaned the house from top to bottom before we left, Tapton Estates still charged us £52 for a 'dirty cooker hinge'. I still can't believe it, I think they were just desperate to get more money out of us. How can it cost over fifty pounds to clean a hinge?

We also had trouble with damp in our flat - huge patches over and under the windows, behind the bed and over the front door. They said they'd send someone around, which they did, but that person left a note telling us to move all the furniture into the middle of the rooms so they could get a better look at the damp (as if it wasn't obvious enough!). We took them at their word, moving literally everything we could into the middle of each room (finding more patches of damp in the process), and they had another look. They said it was our fault for drying clothes inside without opening the windows and refused to do anything about it! I think that was the point at which we decided to stop renting and get our own place.

I also remember once they ripped the shower out and took a week to replace it...

I'm surprised by these stories, it makes me wonder if our house was one of the very few lucky ones! I found my estate agent last year, MAF Properties, to be a whole lot worse - we moved out at the beginning of June and still haven't had a hint of getting any deposit cheques back from them :suspect:

On the off-chance that any students or landlords have the good sense to do a simple internet search before using Tapton Estates - please avoid them like the plague. We have had a disastrous experience with them and when I contacted them they were rude to the point of aggression and highly unprofessional. I would describe many of their policies as legally dubious at worse and sharp practice at best!

The main warning is to students. DON'T SIGN ANYTHING UNTIL YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY SURE. The moment you sign, you will be locked into a Faustian pact which you cannot escape from. You will be asked to sign contracts and pay deposits months in advance of the commencement of the tenancy which you cannot then escape from. So, if you change your mind for all sorts of reasons you can only escape by paying a FULL YEARS RENT. There is no 'break clause' allowing you to give notice during the course of the tenancy - you will have to see out the whole year! If your financial circumstances change or you want to move to another university for some reason or you fall out with prospective flatmates - you're stuck with the tenancy for a year. It's a one-way relationship where the interests of the landlord are the absolute priority.

You will also be asked to get your parents/guardians to sign a guarantor form which, were it legally enforceable, would leave your parents liable for unpaid rent and damage caused by all/any of the tenants. So, a flatmate could come in drunk with a 'guest' and accidentally cause damage which your parents would be liable for a share of even though you might be hundreds of miles away at home at the time! My research indicates that these forms would only be legally enforceable if they took the legal form of a deed and were witnessed when signed but I don't think it would stop them trying it on.

Don't take my word for it - do yourself a favour and type 'Tapton Estates Opinions' into Google and read the forum posts!

It seems to me that a lot of your grievances are general estate agent grievances rather than specifically related to Taptons. A guarantor for student accommodation is standard practice and I'm sure all estate agents have contracts of a certain length which they expect you to stick to.

However, saying this, the quotes for the cleaning are ridiculous. Is it not possible to get quotes yourself and compare these to the ones from Taptons? If not then surely they could make anything up.

This worries me a little as I am shortly going to be vacating one of their properties and am worried about them trying to keep my deposit.

One side-note, they have admitted to me on several occasions that they never answered their phones and wait for someone to leave a voicemail. Not exactly the signs of a professional outfit.

It seems to me that a lot of your grievances are general estate agent grievances rather than specifically related to Taptons. A guarantor for student accommodation is standard practice and I'm sure all estate agents have contracts of a certain length which they expect you to stick to.

However, saying this, the quotes for the cleaning are ridiculous. Is it not possible to get quotes yourself and compare these to the ones from Taptons? If not then surely they could make anything up.

This worries me a little as I am shortly going to be vacating one of their properties and am worried about them trying to keep my deposit.

One side-note, they have admitted to me on several occasions that they never answered their phones and wait for someone to leave a voicemail. Not exactly the signs of a professional outfit.

Yep, all estate agents will ask for guarantors when the prospective tenants are unemployed or if a credit check doesn't work out - of course it's a little different with students whose income is usually made up of SLC loans, but it's still a fairly common thing for student landlords to ask for as well. There's nothing sinister about it :confused:

These are terrible for customer service. Ignoring grievences on price and other things (we actually got a fairly reasonable rent price) its every problem we ask them to fix they are terrible at dealing with people and do the cheapest possible job. We are currently half way through a one year contract with them to give you an idea. When we first moved in half the rooms were incredibly damp and they tried to pass it off as our fault and we said well we only just moved in so they sent out an expert to look at the property who siad the plastering was terrible and needed completely stripping and redoing in each affected room - their response was to completely dismiss the expert as unreliable and send out their own jack of all trades (master of nothing it would seem) from the office who just said "open the windows and stop drying clothes in here". That was appalling and easily the worst weve had so far but other little things like the door to our kitchen has one of those arms at the top to stop it slamming shut and when that stopped working the same handy man was dispatched accusing us of breaking it saying we must be jamming it open because "they can rip a door off its hinges if jammed open" which, when they eventually sent a proper tradesman to look at it we were told was complete rubbish and all that had happened was it was old and a screw had come loose... we have had 5 or 6 encounters with tapton over repairs and such i wont bore you with the details but they follow a similar pattern - something is wrong, they blame us, dont fix it, we complain again a week later, they send a real tradesman and it actually gets fixed - ok rant over just seriously think carefully before going with these because unless your property is faultless (which as a student home it probably isnt) getting little things done is a real pain. Oh as a final note we always seem to get things done a whole lot faster when we get one of the girls to phone up or ask for something - maybe a reflection on mr jack of all trades' proffesional attitude (i wont name him but anyone who has dealt with tapton i'm sure knows exactly who it is)

ALSO i just rememberes this one - we had a complete power cut on a friday evening (we arent incompetent it wasnt a fuse problem it turned out to be a massive wiring fault) - their office hours are 10-3 monday to friday, when we eventually got hold of them on monday morning they claimed to have sent us each a list of emergency phone numbers by email... now as a group of 7 people who all still have emails going back a good few years its funny how none of us seemed to have this particular email any more... 3 days is a long time without power we were running the fridges off an extension lead we convinced next door to let us plug in and luckily we have gas hobs and a lighter in the house but yet again - our fault for not phoning an emergency contact that we didnt have