Godfrey Residential Lettings

My experience of Manning Stainton over the years has been awful. We’re due to move out of our rental property shortly after 3 years and I cannot wait to be free from them. Their staff at the Moortown branch are rude. They never have time to do anything you ask. They charge extortionate amounts for a reference which no doubt is printed direct from a computer. Fee’s they have never made us aware of.
They introduced a new online system a while back for tenants to record any issues they might be having with the property. I put on nearly 6 months ago we were having a problem with our
date, nothing has been acknowledged. It’s just a way to stream tenants away from the landline so they can don’t have to bother with us.
We’ve had electrical tests where their suppliers don’t turn up, or turn up and enter the flat unannounced. We’ve had contractors come out and ruin the condition of our bathroom with shoddy workmanship time and time again. I’ve written complaint letters to branch and to Head Office that are never acknowledged. It’s a disgrace. I wish they could be recorded for Watchdog so everyone can see how shameless, rude and incompetent they are. I’ll never, ever buy a house that’s up for rental with MS.

I too am absolutely appalled by the way my tenancy was handled with Manning Stainton. I moved into a £750 per month property in Weetwood and should have known from how the actual contract was handled from the outset that there was to be trouble ahead. First up was a lady called Grace, she called the day before I was to move in to pose the question ‘What day are you moving in?’ she was rather shocked when I told her it was the very next day and that I was standing surrounded by packed boxes. She told me not to worry, although very strangely was shouting down the phone’ stop screaming at me or else I’ll put the phone down’ in fact I repeatedly told her that she was on speaker phone and everyone I was with could hear her shouting whilst I remained calm. So, I was then passed on to Patric, who didn’t answer my contract queries quite so well, in fact he had little knowledge of contract he was supposed to be asking me to sign. I was then passed on to John as he was to be my contact during my tenancy. So when I arrived at the property to find a disgustingly dirty house I of course phoned John. He told me the property had been cleaned but then sat empty from November 2011 until April 2012 and informed me that cleaners go in when a tenant vacates, but not before the next tenant moves in. I told him I had to spend the night there so I did most of the cleaning myself, there was dust everywhere, kitchen cupboards were sticky, dead bugs on every windowsill, the windows were all filthy, there were metal shutters locked infront of every window and no-​one seemed to know where the key was! The oven was filthy, and worst of all the boiler didn’t work (it had been turned off for so long) and there was black mould all down two walls and the windows. In fact I moved a wardrobe to see the extent of the damp and as I did lots of dirty socks fell on me lovely! They did have the cleaners come back and bleach the mould from the walls and some windows but they did little else. I was told the mould was caused by the property being vacant over winter, that ventilation and heating would ensure it didn’t return. The truth is that one whole wall of the property was built behind shrubs and trees and would permanently throw up damp issues if anything was attached to it. It’s a pity that all my clothes and shoes were in the wardrobe attached to that wall as within 5 months they were all ruined from the damp. Manning Staintons refused to believe there was anything wrong, in fact they gave me a report to say the damp was caused because I had put too many clothes into the wardrobe and shut the door! I ended up clearing all I owned into the living room and living without that bedroom if you entered the room you would cough as the damp spores were apparent in smell and throughout the air. And this is where my story becomes similar to the other complaints on here, in fact I knew from how I was being treated that they would make up some kind of excuse with my bond. I was finding it hard to get hold of John and he would take 7 days to return my calls or emails and seemed uninterested in what I had to say. So, I made a little video, after 4 hours of intensive cleaning with the help of my family we stood back and inspected a house that was cleaner now than how it had been found. So I picked up my iphone and began videoing, I videoed the shiny sinks, cleaned carpets, not a speck of dust in fact I even gave a few sweeps of the duster here and there whilst on camera. I then waited for the inevitable. They told me that I would have to wait, that they would do an inspection the following week, and then low and behold a week later I get a letter stating that the house needed to be professionally cleaned. In fact a few of the ‘issues’ raised included ‘dust on the bedside cabinet’ the same one that I showed myself dusting when I vacated. The staffing problems all seem to stem from the lettings staff not actually knowing who their colleagues are, I spoke to Claire (yes another member of staff!) she deals purely in check outs and informed me she had not spoken to John, I told her that I had been in an email conversation with him and that I would leave the property cleaner than when I found it. She told me she doesn’t speak to the other staff which I found strange. I took the entire matter to their main manager who let’s just say ‘talks in cliché’s’ he’s all I hear what you’re saying but and a lot of what he says doesn’t actually get you anywhere at all. In fact when he first spoke to me he was rather aggressive, insiting he would stand by his staff, asking me why I hadn’t been present at the exit interview, telling me even though I wasn’t invited I could have requested to be there he was turning things around, laying the blame on me and not any of his staff. He told me he had never received complaints of this type, that he wouldn’t be in the job if his staff were so petty on these matters. I told him I had been unhappy throughout the whole process,