Right. Im trying to rent a house/flat for me and my mate. this has happened this morning :-

Saxton mee - they pass on my details to the person who ownd the property. What are they getting paid to actually do? Take a message?

Crapper & Heigh - they don’t know if the rooms are double or not and have no sizes. They offer no further help.

Spencers - Theyre don’t know ifthe property is still available. End of conversation.

I've been on the phone all morning and I havnt even spoke to anybody who can tell me if a property is still available and arrange a viewing. Man, I'm p@issed off.

I know how your feeling hun and I know how annoying it is.

I sent several emails to various letting agents to ask them if they had any available properties for around about November / December time.

I explained that I am after a 2 bedroom property and that it doesnt need to be furnished as I have everything i.e. cooker, washing machine etc etc.

But the moment I announced that I'm a single parent and that I would be seeking help via housing benefit to help with part of the rent was the moment it appeared that I shot myself in the foot.

Hardly any letting agents replied to my emails and when I took it upon myself to call them and I mentioned my 5 year old son the response was "NO CHILDREN, NO HOUSING BENEFIT, GOODBYE"

Charming.

If they just took the time to see that I can provide good references and that I have a clear rent account statement with no arrears then surely they could see that I wouldnt be a risk and that I would honour my responsibility to the rent payments.

Bizzare.

Oh well I will keep on trying never know I could get lucky one day.

Hope it works out for you soon

Regards

Joanne

Just to reply to the both of your whinges,

we know all of our properties in and out, we are a bit smaller than the named property companies, but we pride ourselves on a much more personal service to both the Landlords and clients/tennants/applicants.

If your still having troubles give us a call see if we can help

0114 2585981

And secondly the only problem with housing benifit is it takes ages for it to arrive in bank accounts therefore alot (90%) of landlords dislike it, one way to get round it is if you offer landlords a month in advance before your benifit comes in thats better that way for them.

Letting a place has to be one of the most stressful things ever I think. Although we looked at some with other letting agents, we went with Crapper & Haigh. They were quite good. Their representative called me with the new lets that were going to be advertised this week so I could consider them.

The only thing is they are quite old fashioned in the way they work but I suppose you can't really fault them for that.

Good luck though - it will take some patience!

Bloor & Co were pretty good when I was looking, didn't use them in the end as I got a better place by going private (avoiding the nasty credit search fee's these places levy on you!).

arghhh it gets worse!

Just rang about a property...its still available, its vacant, Im available pretty much anytime, but Reeds Rains havnt got anybody who can show me around until Sunday 26th September!


What?!?!?!?!?!?!

Tell RR you know who the is landlord and you'll complain to him if they don't let you see the property soon.

We found Crapper & Haigh were ok too, although once they have your money they seem a bit useless about doing anything, although I suppose that could be the actual landlord.

My advice for those wanting to rent would be to stay well clear of the big agents. Apart from an impersonal service, they will sting you straight away for credid reference searches of which they pocket a portion of the charge and if you are rejected there is of course no refund. Then there's various other "admin fees" and generally it will be a month and a large wad of cash before you pass all the tests and get in the property. The solution? Go the local shopping centre in the areas you want to live and look in postoffice / newsagents windows. There is always hundreds. Plus the backk of the Sheffield property guide/Star has private landlord ads.