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“The worst letting agent I have used. They could not care less about their legal responbility and repairs. If that is not good enough then you can move...”
Jun 20,2018
Jun 20,2018
18
people found
this helpful
this helpful
The worst letting agent I have used. Disgusting attitude, incompetent. They could not care less about repairs, if you can't flush the toilet or are cold all the time. If that is not good enough then you can moveâ¦
It's has been several weeks since moving out from a property that was let through Graham Butts.
I feel compelled to warn people against using this agency. My grievances are many with this incompetent, or disingenuous, letting agent. I have never had such issues with other agents I have used. This letting experience was terrible from the start.
I honestly cannot work out if Graham Butt and their management staff are so incompetent they are unaware they were breaching their own tenancy agreement and their legal obligations. Otherwise they are so well practised that they think it is acceptable to carry on even when complaints are made.
There were many problems when moving in. Many remained unfixed one and a half years later when I moved out. Examples include a non-functioning bathroom; where the toilet wouldn't flush, the bath taps did not work, the shower did not work properly. Each had their own faults. It took over 2 weeks just to get the toilet fixed. Most of this time was spent trying to convince Graham Butt that a non-flushing toilet was a problem in the first place. I had to go into the Littlehampton branch and talk to someone from a different department, who wasn't on the letting management team, just to get something done.
Graham Butt clearly could not care less about their legal responsibility to provide functional sanitation installations. When challenged on this they did not seem to understand what this means. This was either deliberately or due to their lack of understanding of how to manage a property. Maybe they haven't heard of the internet either. The Landlord and Tenant act is there for anyone to read. There are plenty of websites, including official government information, that simplify this if they are struggling with the full version.
Other problems were numerous, including outdated and non-compliant electrical installation with potentially dangerous wiring present. As my profession is related to this type of work this is not just a rant about some dodgy wiring. Live electrical conductors were accessible to anyone. This was on an old system with minimal protection. Even with photographs they seemed in no rush to deal with this.
The heating system had issues from day one. Initially the hot water would not work at all. Graham Butt refused to help claiming there was a British Gas plan in place to cover this work. Phoning British Gas revealed there was no such usable plan. Graham Butt could not care less and British Gas would not help. The heating system continually degraded until it failed to function at all effectively. The boiler would light and pass a gas safety check but would fail to heat radiators. The noises the boiler made became more intolerable as time went on. This was never resolved.
Graham Butt would try and claim that there was nothing wrong because it passed the gas safety check. The gas engineer himself told me that he was only checking if the boiler burns safely and nothing else. Luckily, he was happy to talk about the other issues and give me some guidance for temporary repairs, which cost me very little and much less effort than dealing with Graham Butts.
Just on the gas safety check; I had an email one month before the Gas Safety check was due, from Graham Butt, to say this would need doing. About three days before the certificate was due to expire I had to contact them and ask why this had not been done. They promptly arranged to have this done after the old certificate expired. What's the point in have a management agent if they can not arrange something as basic as a gas safety check on time. Other agents will have this done several weeks before it is needed.
Having been through the internal 2 stage complaint procedure I was looking to progress my complaint further through the property ombudsman and local council. Even after complaining it was clear Graham Butt did not care. They said they need to arrange to inspect each issue themselves. Having reported issues before, even during inspections with a person present, they would ignore the obvious. When pointing out that the shed windows were about to fall out, which happened a few weeks later during high winds, the agent said âit just needs paintingâ. Paint can't hold windows in.
I am unsure how this level of inaptitude would allow a letting agent like this to judge if anything is faulty or not. The heating system was so full of scum and limescale that water could not pump around properly. The shower had a plastic housing for an internal filter that was warped. This caused the shower to leak when switched off, and suck in air preventing it from working properly when on. They certainly would not dismantle the shower themselves during an inspection to find this out, and they clearly do not have the skills to fault find a heating system. Even giving them detailed information on problems they just tried to pretend they did not exist.
At the time of complaining I learned, from my neighbour, that the landlord was looking to sell the property due to personal events. They also said the landlord had no issues with renting at all. This would suggest Graham Butts have simply not passed on any of my complaints I was making. Even when I could hardly heat the property, during an extremely cold winter, with the heating on for long periods, they just ignored me. I found a superior, bigger, and cheaper property within a day of receiving the notice and had no interest in communicating with the staff at Graham Butt any longer.
It has only been Graham Butt where I have experience a blatant disregard for their and the landlord's legal responsibilities. Instead of doing their job properly they take your money and fob you off. I had comments like âit's just not working to your standardâ when telling them the toilet would not flush and I had to use buckets of water to flush it. Buckets of water filled from the kitchen tap as the bath taps did not work either.
It's pathetic, unprofessional, and a disgrace to other agents who can, and do, give a good experience. Renting should not be a bad experience. This is the first experience I have had where issues have just never been resolved. More importantly where they are blatantly ignored by incompetent staff no matter how many complaints are made.
Graham Butt's online mission statement, from their website, states:
âWe have two basic principles that we apply to all of our Landlords. Firstly, that 'We would not knowingly rent a property to a tenant whom we would not be happy to rent our own homes to!' and secondly, 'We act for our Landlords first, not the Tenant'. These principals are factors that have made more and more Landlords, return to us time and again.â
This should be a warning to any tenant looking to rent from this agency. I looked after the property I was in. They had no reason to withhold my deposit when I moved out and this was returned in full with no argument. I even left the property clean, despite everything being dirty when moving in. Even though I looked after the property and upheld my responsibilities Graham Butt clearly could not care less about theirs. With foresight I think their mission statement makes that intention very clear.
It's has been several weeks since moving out from a property that was let through Graham Butts.
I feel compelled to warn people against using this agency. My grievances are many with this incompetent, or disingenuous, letting agent. I have never had such issues with other agents I have used. This letting experience was terrible from the start.
I honestly cannot work out if Graham Butt and their management staff are so incompetent they are unaware they were breaching their own tenancy agreement and their legal obligations. Otherwise they are so well practised that they think it is acceptable to carry on even when complaints are made.
There were many problems when moving in. Many remained unfixed one and a half years later when I moved out. Examples include a non-functioning bathroom; where the toilet wouldn't flush, the bath taps did not work, the shower did not work properly. Each had their own faults. It took over 2 weeks just to get the toilet fixed. Most of this time was spent trying to convince Graham Butt that a non-flushing toilet was a problem in the first place. I had to go into the Littlehampton branch and talk to someone from a different department, who wasn't on the letting management team, just to get something done.
Graham Butt clearly could not care less about their legal responsibility to provide functional sanitation installations. When challenged on this they did not seem to understand what this means. This was either deliberately or due to their lack of understanding of how to manage a property. Maybe they haven't heard of the internet either. The Landlord and Tenant act is there for anyone to read. There are plenty of websites, including official government information, that simplify this if they are struggling with the full version.
Other problems were numerous, including outdated and non-compliant electrical installation with potentially dangerous wiring present. As my profession is related to this type of work this is not just a rant about some dodgy wiring. Live electrical conductors were accessible to anyone. This was on an old system with minimal protection. Even with photographs they seemed in no rush to deal with this.
The heating system had issues from day one. Initially the hot water would not work at all. Graham Butt refused to help claiming there was a British Gas plan in place to cover this work. Phoning British Gas revealed there was no such usable plan. Graham Butt could not care less and British Gas would not help. The heating system continually degraded until it failed to function at all effectively. The boiler would light and pass a gas safety check but would fail to heat radiators. The noises the boiler made became more intolerable as time went on. This was never resolved.
Graham Butt would try and claim that there was nothing wrong because it passed the gas safety check. The gas engineer himself told me that he was only checking if the boiler burns safely and nothing else. Luckily, he was happy to talk about the other issues and give me some guidance for temporary repairs, which cost me very little and much less effort than dealing with Graham Butts.
Just on the gas safety check; I had an email one month before the Gas Safety check was due, from Graham Butt, to say this would need doing. About three days before the certificate was due to expire I had to contact them and ask why this had not been done. They promptly arranged to have this done after the old certificate expired. What's the point in have a management agent if they can not arrange something as basic as a gas safety check on time. Other agents will have this done several weeks before it is needed.
Having been through the internal 2 stage complaint procedure I was looking to progress my complaint further through the property ombudsman and local council. Even after complaining it was clear Graham Butt did not care. They said they need to arrange to inspect each issue themselves. Having reported issues before, even during inspections with a person present, they would ignore the obvious. When pointing out that the shed windows were about to fall out, which happened a few weeks later during high winds, the agent said âit just needs paintingâ. Paint can't hold windows in.
I am unsure how this level of inaptitude would allow a letting agent like this to judge if anything is faulty or not. The heating system was so full of scum and limescale that water could not pump around properly. The shower had a plastic housing for an internal filter that was warped. This caused the shower to leak when switched off, and suck in air preventing it from working properly when on. They certainly would not dismantle the shower themselves during an inspection to find this out, and they clearly do not have the skills to fault find a heating system. Even giving them detailed information on problems they just tried to pretend they did not exist.
At the time of complaining I learned, from my neighbour, that the landlord was looking to sell the property due to personal events. They also said the landlord had no issues with renting at all. This would suggest Graham Butts have simply not passed on any of my complaints I was making. Even when I could hardly heat the property, during an extremely cold winter, with the heating on for long periods, they just ignored me. I found a superior, bigger, and cheaper property within a day of receiving the notice and had no interest in communicating with the staff at Graham Butt any longer.
It has only been Graham Butt where I have experience a blatant disregard for their and the landlord's legal responsibilities. Instead of doing their job properly they take your money and fob you off. I had comments like âit's just not working to your standardâ when telling them the toilet would not flush and I had to use buckets of water to flush it. Buckets of water filled from the kitchen tap as the bath taps did not work either.
It's pathetic, unprofessional, and a disgrace to other agents who can, and do, give a good experience. Renting should not be a bad experience. This is the first experience I have had where issues have just never been resolved. More importantly where they are blatantly ignored by incompetent staff no matter how many complaints are made.
Graham Butt's online mission statement, from their website, states:
âWe have two basic principles that we apply to all of our Landlords. Firstly, that 'We would not knowingly rent a property to a tenant whom we would not be happy to rent our own homes to!' and secondly, 'We act for our Landlords first, not the Tenant'. These principals are factors that have made more and more Landlords, return to us time and again.â
This should be a warning to any tenant looking to rent from this agency. I looked after the property I was in. They had no reason to withhold my deposit when I moved out and this was returned in full with no argument. I even left the property clean, despite everything being dirty when moving in. Even though I looked after the property and upheld my responsibilities Graham Butt clearly could not care less about theirs. With foresight I think their mission statement makes that intention very clear.
Comment on agent fees
The agent fee's are unacceptable given their incompetence. I asked during a viewing about the fees I would be charged. When I went to sign the tenancy agreement I was charged an extra check in fee which I had not been informed about; but nothing I could do about it at that point really.
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Opening Hours
Address
Graham Butt Estate Agents
75 High Street
Littlehampton
West Sussex
BN17 5AG
01903 717177
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lettings | 0% | 0% | £800 | £1,100 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Mar 04,2020
Mar 04,2020
0
people found
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Recently had Adam from the littlehampton branch sell my house. Very professional and friendly service. I would Highly recommend :)...
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Jan 17,2018
Jan 17,2018
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
If I could give this company a big fat minus 10 I would. This company cost me hundreds of wasted pounds due to them renting me a property and for no reason whatsoever, 4 months into the rental their client wanted their property back when I met ...
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Comment on agent fees
Terrible liars and outrageous fees, any company that can charge so much for doing to little should respect their clients and look after them. They get paid both ends of the market but do not care one bit if they let you down.
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Nov 07,2017
Nov 07,2017
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Very poor maintenance service, they let issues drag on for months. Staff can be rude and unhelpful. Very unresponsive to emails. I would not use this agent again....
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Comment on agent fees
Fees are very high given the service and quality of staff is so poor. There was no pre checking that services in the flat actually worked and no understanding of the arrangements for communal areas like gutters and gardens. They even read the wrong meter before I moved in and had no idea where the stop cock or water meter was
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Dec 06,2016
Dec 06,2016
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I have experienced the most shocking treatment from the branch at a very tragic time. My tumble dryer caught fire which was a complete freak accident. I have been a very good tennant up to this point, maintained the property, paid all my bills, took ...
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Comment on agent fees
Not worth it at all
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“The worst letting agent I have used. They could not care less about their legal responbility and repairs. If that is not good enough then you can move...”
Jun 20,2018
Jun 20,2018
18
people found
this helpful
this helpful
The worst letting agent I have used. Disgusting attitude, incompetent. They could not care less about repairs, if you can't flush the toilet or are cold all the time. If that is not good enough then you can moveâ¦
It's has been several weeks since ...
read full review
read full review
Comment on agent fees
The agent fee's are unacceptable given their incompetence. I asked during a viewing about the fees I would be charged. When I went to sign the tenancy agreement I was charged an extra check in fee which I had not been informed about; but nothing I could do about it at that point really.
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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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