33% sales valuation accuracy
32% sales fee satisfaction
35% lettings valuation accuracy
45% lettings fee satisfaction
Dec 07,2015
Dec 07,2015
7
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I'm going to echo the sentiments of most of the people on here and say that the City Rooms were an extremely dodgy and unethical company. I'd just moved into Australia in October 2014, initially I was moving into the property with two friends who both pulled out, which I accept was not the City Rooms fault. However, my friend that viewed the flat was rushed into making a decision and I was unable to view the flat. I'd received images of what the flat looked like from my friend, there was a lounge area with two couches and we were told there would be two small rooms in the house behind this area (there were no walls at the time, just an open space). On arrival to the flat I discovered that the couches had been moved from the property and they'd instead built two large rooms and the lounge area was gone, there was just a kitchen.
I sent the City Rooms a 1,000 word e-mail with attachments of the before and after images of the flat. I also outlined other issues regarding what Ulugbek (the City Rooms property guru, or as he was strangely calling himself, Ali) had messaged me and contrasting text messages I'd received regarding additional items such as a desk costing £30 per item (the contract stated this), which he told me would be free and to ignore what the contract said. Needless to say, they weren't keen on replying to this so I had to ring up and then e-mail the company's property manager, Jorge Sanchez. I don't know where he came from, or particularly care, but in my opinion Jorge clearly had no idea about how to conduct business in a respectable manner in an English speaking country. He replied to my e-mail by avoiding all of the questions and as a result, I was locked into a contract for 10 months.
Trying to make the most of things was unfortunately proving to be difficult, despite all of the bills being included there was a gas top up machine in the house which four housemates had to manage. None of us knew each other and the housemates were all from different countries, only one of them spoke fluent English, so this was never going to work out well. The gas ran out several times and we were stuck with cold water and were unable to use the oven.
Typically though, things got even worse when the Kazakh girl in the house started to become volatile with me for no apparent or logical reason and was creating a tense atmosphere in the house. The housemates were all meant to be professionals", this girl was a 23 year old student who didn't work, so it was safe to say the definition of professional was lost in translation for the City Rooms. Things came to a head when the Kazakh girl spent over an hour in the bathroom on a Tuesday morning, half of which watching a TV show, then came out and went verbally crazy at me for knocking on the door to see if I could use the bathroom before I travelled to work. I was shaken by this issue and decided to draft an e-mail to City Rooms asking them how to approach the issue and if they could intervene and find out what her issues were. Needless to say, they never replied, which I thought was an absolute disgrace as they were marked down as the â‚€‚Ëœlandlord' and I was unsure about what lengths the girl would go to. Thankfully, she moved out two weeks later and even apologised to me in a written letter, but the lack of action was particularly worrying in this circumstance as I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't have handled the situation in the same manner that I did.
Thankfully, it was fairly smooth sailing in the flat after this, but there ended up being a few more minor issues with the City Rooms before moving out. To get a reference for my new flat I had to pay my last month's rent two weeks early, strangely I received two references and one was in broken English, which was very unprofessional. Then after I moved out, there was the issue of obtaining the £950 deposit that I paid when I first moved in. The tenancy contract stated that it typically takes 2-5 weeks for the deposit to be returned, a long time when it's approximately £800-£1,000. I had to ring and e-mail the City Rooms persistently to have my deposit returned, which took over 6 weeks. It's also worth noting, the deposit protection scheme notice was never provided to me and the copy I received when asking didn't have my signature or a landlord signature, which made me wonder how they protected my deposit, the contract stated that I should have received this within a month of moving into the property.
My advice to anyone new to London and looking for a room would be to go onto Spare Room or Gumtree, meet your future flat mates and never use an agency because you'll save yourself a lot of money and stress. If anyone would like any further details on my dealings with the City Rooms I'll gladly oblige to provide any information.
I sent the City Rooms a 1,000 word e-mail with attachments of the before and after images of the flat. I also outlined other issues regarding what Ulugbek (the City Rooms property guru, or as he was strangely calling himself, Ali) had messaged me and contrasting text messages I'd received regarding additional items such as a desk costing £30 per item (the contract stated this), which he told me would be free and to ignore what the contract said. Needless to say, they weren't keen on replying to this so I had to ring up and then e-mail the company's property manager, Jorge Sanchez. I don't know where he came from, or particularly care, but in my opinion Jorge clearly had no idea about how to conduct business in a respectable manner in an English speaking country. He replied to my e-mail by avoiding all of the questions and as a result, I was locked into a contract for 10 months.
Trying to make the most of things was unfortunately proving to be difficult, despite all of the bills being included there was a gas top up machine in the house which four housemates had to manage. None of us knew each other and the housemates were all from different countries, only one of them spoke fluent English, so this was never going to work out well. The gas ran out several times and we were stuck with cold water and were unable to use the oven.
Typically though, things got even worse when the Kazakh girl in the house started to become volatile with me for no apparent or logical reason and was creating a tense atmosphere in the house. The housemates were all meant to be professionals", this girl was a 23 year old student who didn't work, so it was safe to say the definition of professional was lost in translation for the City Rooms. Things came to a head when the Kazakh girl spent over an hour in the bathroom on a Tuesday morning, half of which watching a TV show, then came out and went verbally crazy at me for knocking on the door to see if I could use the bathroom before I travelled to work. I was shaken by this issue and decided to draft an e-mail to City Rooms asking them how to approach the issue and if they could intervene and find out what her issues were. Needless to say, they never replied, which I thought was an absolute disgrace as they were marked down as the â‚€‚Ëœlandlord' and I was unsure about what lengths the girl would go to. Thankfully, she moved out two weeks later and even apologised to me in a written letter, but the lack of action was particularly worrying in this circumstance as I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't have handled the situation in the same manner that I did.
Thankfully, it was fairly smooth sailing in the flat after this, but there ended up being a few more minor issues with the City Rooms before moving out. To get a reference for my new flat I had to pay my last month's rent two weeks early, strangely I received two references and one was in broken English, which was very unprofessional. Then after I moved out, there was the issue of obtaining the £950 deposit that I paid when I first moved in. The tenancy contract stated that it typically takes 2-5 weeks for the deposit to be returned, a long time when it's approximately £800-£1,000. I had to ring and e-mail the City Rooms persistently to have my deposit returned, which took over 6 weeks. It's also worth noting, the deposit protection scheme notice was never provided to me and the copy I received when asking didn't have my signature or a landlord signature, which made me wonder how they protected my deposit, the contract stated that I should have received this within a month of moving into the property.
My advice to anyone new to London and looking for a room would be to go onto Spare Room or Gumtree, meet your future flat mates and never use an agency because you'll save yourself a lot of money and stress. If anyone would like any further details on my dealings with the City Rooms I'll gladly oblige to provide any information.
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Apr 14, 2016
I can totally agree with you. I have a very similar story!!
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Latest Reviews
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Opening Hours
Address
CityRooms.com
First Floor, 3-5 Globe Road
London
Greater London
E1 4DT
020 77 90 55 77
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 33% | 32% | £0 | £0 |
| Lettings | 35% | 45% | £450 | £3,200 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 84 | 161 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 19 |
Areas covered
- E1
- EC2
- E14
- WC1
- N1
- WC2
- SE1
- SE8
- SE16
- E2
- E3
- SW1
- EC1
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
- Home Builder
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Oct 14,2024
Oct 14,2024
0
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My experience with Cityrooms has been nothing short of a nightmare. From start to finish, they have demonstrated a complete lack of professionalism, transparency, and fairness. Dealing with them has been incredibly frustrating, and I would strongly advise anyone considering renting through Cityrooms to steer ...
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Sep 19,2024
Sep 19,2024
0
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I recently had the pleasure of working with city rooms as my rental agent, and I can't recommend them highly enough! From the very beginning, their agent was incredibly professional, attentive, and dedicated.
Tommy, my agent, took the time to understand my needs and preferences, ...
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Apr 22,2024
Apr 22,2024
0
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They should go into the minus ⭐.
So I've been living abroad and when I came back decided to look for a property with City Room amongst other ( I'm from London). My friends are letting agents and let's just say I and the ...
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Apr 08,2024
Apr 08,2024
0
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The most disgustingly dishonest and greedy agency in London. Never ever make the mistake of getting a property through them - I have and I am paying a huge financial cost for doing so.
These people know their properties are rundown and in a state ...
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Mar 07,2024
Mar 07,2024
0
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This is the worst renting company in London. I rented a room in 2022, and it was the worst experience ever. Since then, I have been continuously receiving emails from them despite repeatedly requesting to have my email removed from their database...
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Nov 27,2023
Nov 27,2023
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Worst letting agents ever. They are simply looting their customers. CityRooms has proven to be an absolute nightmare. Their letting services are a masterclass in incompetence. The exorbitant bills they slapped us with were only surpassed by their creativity in finding unnecessary deductions from our ...
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Aug 11,2023
Aug 11,2023
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
They don't show the room until they make the contract. After I moved demolition work started. The work starts at 7 in the morning and lasts until the evening. We haven't been able to sleep for a long time and our mental health is deteriorating. I ...
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May 29,2023
May 29,2023
0
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This City room is a BIG NO for recommendation. The way they exploit the tenants is so alarming. From ridiculous house rent fee to unreasonable utility bill. And after frustrating you with unimaginable bills, you can't even terminate your tenancy agreement in peace. I will ...
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Feb 15,2023
Feb 15,2023
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
On the overall, the service was very poor. The room booked and paid for in advance was not available on the due date. We had to take another one with not the same features. At the end of the renting period, it was long and ...
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Jan 09,2023
Jan 09,2023
5
people found
this helpful
this helpful
My experience with City Rooms was appalling. I strongly advise you to avoid this company and book with someone else. Trusting City Rooms was one of the worst decisions I've ever made.
The original listing promised a "fully equipped" kitchen with "nice and friendly" housemates ...
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Dec 08,2022
Dec 08,2022
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
To customer service
My contract was from.17 May 2022 I was notified in September, that if I wanted to extend my contract I had to do it then but rent would go up from £800. To £1040 for that room.
I knew that the double room next to ...
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Dec 06,2022
Dec 06,2022
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Failed to address maintenance issues. Property had rats and a bug infestation which they ignored. Property was flooded multiple times due to plumbing issues, also ignored. Left us with a flatmate who was a danger to themselves and others, to the point where the police ...
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Aug 25,2022
Aug 25,2022
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Do not trust them. They wanted me to put down a deposit and payment and could only provide me pictures of the rooms. This is not the first time that they've refused to let me view their properties. No other letting agency would do this....
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Aug 03,2022
Aug 03,2022
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
They will tell you bills included but read the contract because its actually a just utilities contribution. They will then charge you exorbitant sums when you move out, and then refuse to sort out your deposit....
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Jul 19,2022
Jul 19,2022
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Worst experience ever. They can say everything until you rent and sign a contract after then everything can be changed or can be not expected. They ignore you when you report a problem. They do not try to solve problems, not helpful....
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Jun 07,2022
Jun 07,2022
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I used Stephen Sanders to rent my property at the London Square, Caledonian Road location. He brought in CityRooms (his friend Matthew House) to rent my property. It was a 3 year contract (Please no body should do that as they will mislead you as landlord). ...
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May 10,2022
May 10,2022
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Avoid at all cost
search for something better
the will ignore you and
rip you of
the care for money only
Harassment ASB coldness deposit rip off dishonesty massive dirt breach of tenancy agreement this what I have experienced if you have any problems
text ...
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Apr 13,2022
Apr 13,2022
7
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Don't go with city rooms!! Ask to see contract before you put down deposit.
The agent I spoke with was so pushy but I was desperate to find a room as it's very stressful looking for a room in London at the minute. Naively (and ...
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May 17, 2022
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We have all been having the same issues with City Rooms for a long time I think...
If you want to fill out this questionnaire, someone will get back to you.
https://forms.gle/SpVDnCiTcgpnPXSb9 ...
Mar 22,2022
Mar 22,2022
8
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Ask to read contract before you give deposit!
90% of the good reviews are fake
A real nightmare. Amazing and kind till you give them some money. After that you'll receive a contract which is completely different than the lies that they tell you in the ...
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Mar 03,2022
Mar 03,2022
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Do not choose this agency for your peace mind. I had very bad experience with them. They send weird people and they take all deposit and charge more for gas....
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Feb 21,2022
Feb 21,2022
8
people found
this helpful
this helpful
PLEASE heed these words, as I wish I had taken others advice before booking with City Rooms. My experience with them has been nothing short of a nightmare. From scammy “overuse bills” which are requested to be sent to an unknown bank account, lack of ...
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“Stay away from this Scam Agency Stay away from this Scam Agency Stay away from this Scam Agency Stay away...”
Feb 07,2022
Feb 07,2022
5
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Stay away from this Scam Agency
Stay away from this Scam Agency
Stay away from this Scam Agency
Stay away from this Scam Agency,
they are Frauds, Liars and Thieves using loopholes to rob peoples money via Deposits and rents
there directors are fully aware ...
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Jan 07,2022
Jan 07,2022
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Disgusting company avoid at all costs. I've experienced A very bad service with this company. In the beginning I wasn't allowed to view the company due to Covid And I find as though the staff are extremely rude. I found out I was expecting and ...
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Dec 18,2021
Dec 18,2021
1
people found
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this helpful
Jorge very helpful, finding engineer to fixed our boiler next working day. Engineer came done his job perfectly. Thanks Jorge....
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Jan 03, 2022
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Doesn't get more fake review than this. LOL. Anyone who's had any real dealings with Jorge knows full well he's nothing but a money grubbing psycopath. ...
Dec 11,2021
Dec 11,2021
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Elly has been excellent, she has gone above and beyond to help find us a room. We are so delighted to be moving into a new home soon. Thank you!...
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Dec 07,2021
Dec 07,2021
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
AVOID AT ALL COSTS! I had the worst experience - agents not knowledgable about the properties they are renting out, they provide unclear/the wrong information. The property I viewed was the most filthy flat I've seen in my life - it looked like something ...
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May 19, 2022
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(1)
There have been a lot of people who had issues with City Rooms... Leave your details here and someone will get back to you... https://forms.gle/Kr14TrD6AtDCp/nG7 ...
Nov 07,2021
Nov 07,2021
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Little bit expensive but overall good place and good rooms. I am in for another eight months so I hope all continues well...
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Oct 20,2021
Oct 20,2021
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Stay away from them. They don't work with viewings because they propose houses which do not exist. I paid a deposit for a house and one week before the move-in date I was told by the agent(Vito) the landlord “changed his mind”. Which is ...
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Oct 02,2021
Oct 02,2021
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
There is no word in the world to explain how awful this company is: • 2 months with no Internet service • 2+ weeks with no washing machine and almost a month and half without a properly working sink •leeks in the room for weeks and not a ...
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Feb 11, 2023
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Been in a house where I used to pay 1083£ pound a month for nothing !
Heater and hot water was missing almost all the time I’ve been in there and for them the priority was make money and not adjust the boiler!
I report that’s someone come in to the flat breaking a window in the kitchen and asked them to repair it but never done anything and I can say that 1 moths before this happened 2 people got stabbed in the building and 1 die after the stab !
They didn’t care about anything ! ...
Jul 15,2021
Jul 15,2021
7
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Horrible Letting Experience 2016/2017
I rented a room that was supposed to be a 3 bedroom house (3 people) we ended up living 6 people in the house the living room area was converted into 2 rooms badly renovated 3 months without broadband at the beginning months later a leaking in ...
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No fees information available
Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.
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