Máté said about Philip James Partnership

Services : Letting( As a Tenant )Date: 10th Apr 2023

Avoid Philip James and the Greenbrook Property Ltd (landlord) at all cost or you might find yourself living in a booklice infested house yourself!

To begin with, Philip James handed over the property absolutely filthy and after only 2 weeks of fully moving in, I found tiny white insects in the property's wardrobes. I contacted Jodie Rosenbloom (Philip James' Maintenance Team) immediately, but much to my surprise, she wasn't overly concerned about the situation. Every time I called to chase this issue up, she was conveniently busy (according to her colleague, she was having a bathroom/kitchen break).

Following a pest control visit, it was finally identified that the property is infested with booklice, a pest often found in damp environment. By this time, booklice could be found on my clothes, kitchen utensils and work equipment, rendering the property completely uninhabitable.

In the meantime, Jodie sent over a kitchen extractor fan booklet, which made no sense to me, since maintaining the property's fixtures were not my responsibility but the landlord's. She also insinuated that I was the reason why the property was so damp, while they knew that the kitchen fan was badly constructed, the ground floor had rising damp issues and the en-suite bathroom had a short-wired extractor fan.

As I was obviously unable to keep the booklice infestation under control while trying to live a normal life and feeling unsupported by Jodie and the landlord, I decided to move out of the property to my parents' house.

The tenancy agreement states that the landlord must remove any existing pest from the property and I saw no adequate progress in this matter so I asked for the written permission to end the tenancy early, but my request was rejected. Neither Philip James nor the landlord thought to offer compensation either, even though I have been paying rent, bills and council tax for a property where I couldn't reside. According to Philip James, the property only needed improvements but overall it was good and livable (if you don't mind insects breeding all over your belongings, of course).

It almost felt like a relief when my case was taken over by Keir Dawson (Maintenance Manager) as Jodie was completely and utterly incompetent. Keir reminded me of the early termination option and sent me an incorrect document to sign to initiate the process which contradicted my tenancy agreement. It took the Philip James staff members 20 days to amend the document, following a number of emails, showcasing their absolute lack of adequate problem-solving. Of course, nobody took accountability for trying to make me sign an incorrect document.

By the time of moving out (end of January), the property has been fitted with a damp-proof course and the entire property was supposedly deep cleaned by Philip James' trusted cleaners twice, however it genuinely didn't look like anyone had cleaned whatsoever. The floors were covered in thick dust from the repair work, and the moldy patches on the walls were not touched and booklice were still all over my belongings.

Throughout this process, Keir also expressed that he sees no 'compelling reason' as to why I don't want to move back into the property, completely ignoring the booklice infestation as a whole. In February, 2023, Keir also sent out a self-praising newsletter to all Philip James tenants, bragging about how all outstanding maintenance works were carried out at their properties, which was simply not true, as my property was still infested with booklice.

I had to hire a storage container and take all my belongings there so that I don't cross contaminate my current place of living with booklice and I have to put all my belongings into the freezer, and steam and wash all my clothes so that I can wear them again, a process which is still ongoing to this day!

If you want to save yourself the trouble, make sure to avoid Philip James who employ the unprofessional people mentioned above. I paid £800+ of monthly rent for this property and I never thought that I would have to share it with booklice.

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