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Lewis Wadsworth - Any opinions?

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argghhh...trying to find a letting agent with a good reputation is impossible! I trying to find somewhere to rent at the moment and I have stayed well away from M Jolly after reading the posts on this forum. I have just booked to view a house with Lewis Wadsworth and have seen all the comments here!! Think I'll cancel..

 

Also cancelled a viewing with Martin and Co due to their fees. I know all agents know how to charge but they told me it would be £215 for myself and my partner. When I told them the reason for cancelling, the lady seemed to think that they certainly weren't the most expensive...well, that's the worst I've found so far!

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I recently moved to Sheffield and viewed properties with LW, Blundells, Saxton and Martin & Co in Hillsborough and ended up with Martin & Co. I presume it was 215 in total and not each??!! If so, I think you were charged 215 because there were two of you which I have to admit does seem expensive but for me it was worth it, they said that they would refund the 135 admin charge if my references weren't successful (I have a pretty bad history!) and no other agent offered me this. I think they only opened recently and told me that they are determined to be the letting agent that gave the best service. When it came to moving in, they met me at the shop and even drove me to the property to check me in! So far I've had no problems to report to them but I'll update the post to let you know how I get on if I do. I guess you get what you pay for.

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Well I hope it works out for you. I know someone who rents with them and they said the service has been great so far.

 

You're right - it's a question of weighing up the costs and the service. I just can't afford to pay £215 when other agents are charging half that. Shame really as the house looked really nice..

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Hi Folks

 

I've read this thread with great interest as we are putting our house up for rent soon. We've got someone coming from Martin & Co to give us the information and valuation for renting, so I'm glad they've had good feedback so far. We've already had someone from Reed Rains, what do you all think of them?

What I want to know is the perspective of the person renting a property, as we have never rented out before. What do you expect from the letting agent and the landlord? (Other than repairs done as soon as possible) Also what is the £215 charge for?

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I didn't use Reed Rains so I'm not sure but Martin & Co were the first agent to respond to my email and were happy to show me the place in the evening which was good as I work during the day. I'm not sure what the £215 was for in detail but basically they said that £135 was for admin and then £40 per person for references. The references were a bit of a pain as they wanted lots of info and my employer was a bit slow with retuning them but they chased them every day until they got them back. They were the only agent that said that if my references failed they would refund me the £135 as there would be no contract to set up which I thought was pretty good. Like I said above, I've not had any issues for them to sort out yet but will let everyone know how I get on if I do. Good luck with renting your house out!

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Thanks for that widget21 :thumbsup:

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I had a terrible experience with Lewis Wadsworth a few years back. I was moving back to Sheffield and had a week to find somewhere to live. Towards the end of the week I hadn't seen anything I liked and then came across a flat with LW. I arranged a viewing, and went along one evening, where the current tennant showed me around. The flat was lovely, the price was right, and the tennant said only one other person had seen it over a week ago, so it looked like I was in luck. I called at 9am the next morning saying I wanted to make an application, and they told me without apology that it had already been let. They then hung up on me! I rang back and they claimed to have a problem with their phones, I asked when it had been let and they told me that an application had been received the previous day. I asked why they had let me go to the viewing when it had been let and they said that because it was a tennant-led viewing it didn't flag up on their system to cancel it! What a load of bull. They then hung up on me again. They were rude and completely unapologetic, and I was left with just one day left to find a flat. Thankfully I did manage to find one through Castle Estates - but the woman there wasn't exactly helpful - she tried to convince me that a major damp problem in a bedroom was caused by the flat being unoccupied for a few months and that it wasn't actually damp.

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I have been very lucky to rent my last two houses from private landlords who were both brilliant. Now I'm looking for somewhere else and feel really daunted by the prospect of letting through an agent.

 

The £215 I mentioned earlier was £135 fee for contract, inventory, etc, together with £40 each for reference checks for myself and my partner. It's true that the £135 is refundable if your application is unsuccessful - however, this only really seems beneficial if you lose out on the house in which case you are still £80 out of pocket and have no place to live.

 

I have found that most agents charge potential tenants in the region of £100 - £150 for an application - this includes the big agents such as Haybrook, Blundells and Saxton Mee.

 

I think what I want most out of renting a place is to actually feel comfortable living there. Obviously a speedy response when any repairs are required is really important, but I have personally been put off properties by the 'regime' I would have to adhere to to live there. My current landlady summed up what I'm trying to say when she told me that while I pay money to live in the house, and as long as I don't trash the place, I should feel that it is my home.

 

I've also been a bit freaked out by the stories of landlords/agents withholding bonds for no reason - in fact, we went to see one house where the agent repeated several times that they could keep the bond for this and that - felt like I was being set up for a fall!

 

Wow....this house hunting lark is driving me mad!

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I have been very lucky to rent my last two houses from private landlords who were both brilliant. Now I'm looking for somewhere else and feel really daunted by the prospect of letting through an agent.

 

The £215 I mentioned earlier was £135 fee for contract, inventory, etc, together with £40 each for reference checks for myself and my partner. It's true that the £135 is refundable if your application is unsuccessful - however, this only really seems beneficial if you lose out on the house in which case you are still £80 out of pocket and have no place to live.

 

I have found that most agents charge potential tenants in the region of £100 - £150 for an application - this includes the big agents such as Haybrook, Blundells and Saxton Mee.

 

I think what I want most out of renting a place is to actually feel comfortable living there. Obviously a speedy response when any repairs are required is really important, but I have personally been put off properties by the 'regime' I would have to adhere to to live there. My current landlady summed up what I'm trying to say when she told me that while I pay money to live in the house, and as long as I don't trash the place, I should feel that it is my home.

 

I've also been a bit freaked out by the stories of landlords/agents withholding bonds for no reason - in fact, we went to see one house where the agent repeated several times that they could keep the bond for this and that - felt like I was being set up for a fall!

 

Wow....this house hunting lark is driving me mad!

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After the feedback so far, I'm thinking of letting the property myself instead of using an agent. The very thing they say they are charging me for is exactly the same thing they are charging you guys for!! Only I will be paying them every month!

I suppose I'm worried because it's the first time we've let a property, and you hear some scary stories, that I thought the agents would be there to fall back on but it seems not.

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Has anyone got any up to date info on Lewis Wadsworth?

 

I am about to hand them over an application form and a crazy amount of £££ for credit checks etc!

 

All the posts here are quite old...can I guess they have pulled their socks up a bit since then?

 

Thank you all lots :)

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I have been renting a house from LW for the last three months and have not had any problems. We did pay a high application charge that I wasn't very happy with but they all seem to charge around the same and the house was the best we'd seen by far.

 

The only issue we have had is that they tried to make us switch our gas and electricity supply to a company that they have a contract with. There is a clause in the tenancy that says they can do this. However, I found some information on the Office for Fair Trading website that said that this was unfair. I phoned them up armed with all this info prepared for a fight but they just agreed to cancel the switch and I haven't heard anything since.

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