Thank you for your review. As we take all feedback, whether positive or negative, very seriously we have taken the time to look in to your comments. Due to the fact that we aim to return the full deposit to as many tenants as possible as a result of the processes we take and advice we provide tenants in preparing their properties for hand over, we actually have relatively low numbers of deposit claims. For this reason we believe we have identified the claim in question. The report you give is not representative of the facts. The claim consisted of a professional oven clean, a professional carpet clean and various other cleaning, gardening and a small replacement item that was removed from the property. The total claim was £270 and I believe the oven clean was for circa £60. This was communicated in full. Before the tenancy commenced the oven and carpets were professionally cleaned which was reported within the ingoing inventory. As tenant you were contractually obliged to return the property in the same clean state that you received it in. It is not the landlords responsibility to offer complementary cleaning of someone else's grimes, especially when they had made efforts to hand the property over in a clean state by employing professional contractors pre tenancy. Upon receiving communication regarding the above you immediately agreed the proposed claim and in-fact initiated the next stage of the process yourself. Under deposit protection regulations you had every right to dispute the claim and we would always respect your right to do so and offer full clarification of the process where needed. Full details regarding the protection scheme were provided at commencement of the tenancy.
In respect of the agency fees, our overall approach in respect of ALL fees (to both landlords and tenants) is for them to be fair and reasonable. We are transparent with the fees that are charged and full written breakdowns are given at appropriate times. You will have previously signed documents confirming your awareness and acceptance of any exit fee. In the market place we know the fees we charge are considerably less than our local competitors, for which we receive regular compliments. Our application fees are in some cases less than 50% of those of other agents, for example.
I absolutely respect your right to comment on the service. I would, however, argue if reviews are to add value in the decision making process of other potential tenants that they should be honest and factual.