100% lettings valuation accuracy
46% lettings fee satisfaction
Jul 10,2018
Jul 10,2018
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Where do I start. Let through Lighthouse as a student at Lincoln uni for my second year and from the very first day me and my 3 other housemates had problem after problem that piled up as more and more went unresolved, and those that were fixed took a lot of pushing from us and a ridiculously long time to fix.
The first day we arrived, the house was filthy. This was beyond a bit of dirt/wear and tear; there was dirt/dust everywhere, the bins were full, any my room didn't even have a wardrobe or a functioning light fixture. After complaining (rightfully so) about the filth and lack of essential items I was paying for I was greeted with a level of sass by one of the agents that was downright unprofessional. When picking up my keys, all I was told was that in my room, room 1, there was a problem with the light. Whether this was the bulb, lamp, fixture, shade, or anything else was not clear at all. Then, when I went to ask when I would have any light in my room or a wardrobe for a suitcase full of clothes that I had brought the agents response was "I don't have a crystal ball". You'd expect at least a level of professionalism to follow after a clear case of incompetence. Not at Lighthouse.
To add to this, our house that came equipped with a breakfast bar came with normal size chairs that were impossible to sit at, forcing us to buy a table to be able to eat in the kitchen, the blinds in one of the bedrooms upstairs didn't fit the window, allowing light in all the time, blinds in another bedroom upstairs were broken and sellotaped together, and many of the doors in the house wouldn't stay open or closed, had giant cracks in, and looked like they were going to fall apart. These problems were reported on the first day of residency, and either went unfixed (the bedroom with the too small blinds/broken doors) or took several months to fix (broken blinds).
Over the year, I went into their office, called their number, and sent them emails dozens of times for problem after problem that arose with the house, which I have copy and pasted below from an email that I sent Lighthouse early on in the year and each time I got more frustrated than the last at both the helplessness of agents due to the Landlord very clearly not being willing to spend any money on a house that was damp, old, and broken and very clearly needed some permanent fixes, not temporary fixes like plastering and tiling walls that were riddled with damp.
Here is an excerpt from an email I sent to Lighthouse with just some of the problems we faced, and whether or not they were fixed. There seriously is too many problems for me to list them all off the top of my head and Lighthouse still rarely even seemed phased by our problems:
Reported issues that have been resolved:
Room 1 - no wardrobe on arrival
Room 1 - broken light fixture on arrival, was told upon arrival that there was an issue with the light in room 1
Room 4 - electrical socket sparking upon use
Upstairs bathroom - large nail protruding out of the ground
No vacuum upon arrival, we were told of this fact the day we arrived
Reported issues that have yet to be resolved (these issues span from our first arrival to the property in September to today):
Room 2 - blinds too short to fit window, large gap at bottom lets light in making blinds virtually useless (have had a technician come in and see this, note it, and inform us the landlord will be given a quote as it is clearly wrong, but nothing heard since)
Room 2 - damp spots on wall, have been seen dripping (another technician has observed these and made note of them, but nothing heard since)
Room 3 - bed slats broken/improperly fixed making bed unstable (2 different technicians have come in and both told me that that needs to be fixed and that the landlord will be contacted regarding it, but nothing heard since)
Room 3 - loose drain pipe by window (2 different technicians have come in and looked at it and noted that it needs replacing or repairing, but have heard nothing since)
Room 4 - blind broken, several slats in the blind have been broken since arrival (a technician has come round and looked at this, measured the area for a new blind to be fitted and told us that the landlord will be given a quote, but we have heard nothing since)
Garden - concrete slab holding fence up closest to garden gate on left hand side of the garden has broken and fallen off (had an employee come around to assess it but was unable to fix it himself, told me they will have to get someone in to replace either the slab or the section of fence, but have heard nothing since)
Upstairs landing - damp spots and bulging of ceiling, as stated above
Outside front of house - a brick has collapsed and separated from the house at the front (was shown to employee that surveyed the fence, pictures taken)
Kitchen - damp spots on walls (same technician that looked at the damp spots in room 2 surveyed this, made notes and told us that once a quote was made it will be given to the landlord but have heard nothing since)
Living room - lack of sealing agent around corner, causing an alarming amount of slugs to come in every day (been reported multiple times in person to the office and shown to an employee upon inspection and to a technician, was told that the landlord will receive a quote and fix it, but have heard nothing since)
Unreported issues that were resolved ourselves, but I still feel the need to have documentation of:
House was not cleaned upon arrival, was in appalling condition
Kitchen - as the kitchen has a breakfast bar, not table was present which is acceptable, but we were given standard sized chairs for a breakfast bar rather than bar stools
Shortly after this email, we encountered mice excrement in our house repeatedly, popping up in places ranging from my room, the cutlery drawer, under the stairs, and - most shockingly - my bed. As far as I am aware the very clear hole under the stairs where the mice were very clearly getting in from was only fixed a month before we moved out, approximately 4 months after the problem first arose.
I would also like to list some more problems we faced by letting with Lighthouse without rambling too much as it would simply take too long:
Not permitted any contact with the landlord after asking several times
Emergency 24 hour contact number not functioning, going straight to voicemail indicating to leave a text but then I never got a response to my text telling me if my problem was or wasn't urgent and worthy of a call-out
The garden reaching a ridiculous state of being overgrown by the end of the year
Loose wallpaper, holes and marks in walls, and rusty nails poking out of bathtub base
One of the room's mattresses was very badly stained, the other had pubes on it on the day of arrival
It took 2 days for an electrician to be called and come round to fix a socket that was *sparking* when switched on or off without an appliance in
It took a week and a half for my room's light fixture to be fixed, meaning there was no light at all in there
It took approximately two weeks for a wardrobe to arrive in my room, and one of the agents asked if I had been given an extra cabinet instead, which was wrong and not indicated on the inventory or agreement regardless
Many of these problems were told, reported, shown via pictures in person or email, and indicated to several different Lighthouse staff members, all of which took note of them, for any sort of fix to either fall through completely or take more pestering from myself or far too long to be fixed in, for the most part, a very cheap manner.
All in all, my review will end here simply because I could go on forever about how bad experience I've had with Lighthouse but the shortened version of all this is:
DON'T LET WITH LIGHTHOUSE. In our experience, the landlord was cheap, uncaring, and unwilling to communicate with us, the house was falling apart, filthy, and lacking necessities upon arrival. Lighthouse staff members are at their best helpless when dealing with a bad landlord who is unwilling to fix anything and, at worst, rude, uncaring, and, quite frankly, useless.
I've never been happier to move house and change letting agents.
The first day we arrived, the house was filthy. This was beyond a bit of dirt/wear and tear; there was dirt/dust everywhere, the bins were full, any my room didn't even have a wardrobe or a functioning light fixture. After complaining (rightfully so) about the filth and lack of essential items I was paying for I was greeted with a level of sass by one of the agents that was downright unprofessional. When picking up my keys, all I was told was that in my room, room 1, there was a problem with the light. Whether this was the bulb, lamp, fixture, shade, or anything else was not clear at all. Then, when I went to ask when I would have any light in my room or a wardrobe for a suitcase full of clothes that I had brought the agents response was "I don't have a crystal ball". You'd expect at least a level of professionalism to follow after a clear case of incompetence. Not at Lighthouse.
To add to this, our house that came equipped with a breakfast bar came with normal size chairs that were impossible to sit at, forcing us to buy a table to be able to eat in the kitchen, the blinds in one of the bedrooms upstairs didn't fit the window, allowing light in all the time, blinds in another bedroom upstairs were broken and sellotaped together, and many of the doors in the house wouldn't stay open or closed, had giant cracks in, and looked like they were going to fall apart. These problems were reported on the first day of residency, and either went unfixed (the bedroom with the too small blinds/broken doors) or took several months to fix (broken blinds).
Over the year, I went into their office, called their number, and sent them emails dozens of times for problem after problem that arose with the house, which I have copy and pasted below from an email that I sent Lighthouse early on in the year and each time I got more frustrated than the last at both the helplessness of agents due to the Landlord very clearly not being willing to spend any money on a house that was damp, old, and broken and very clearly needed some permanent fixes, not temporary fixes like plastering and tiling walls that were riddled with damp.
Here is an excerpt from an email I sent to Lighthouse with just some of the problems we faced, and whether or not they were fixed. There seriously is too many problems for me to list them all off the top of my head and Lighthouse still rarely even seemed phased by our problems:
Reported issues that have been resolved:
Room 1 - no wardrobe on arrival
Room 1 - broken light fixture on arrival, was told upon arrival that there was an issue with the light in room 1
Room 4 - electrical socket sparking upon use
Upstairs bathroom - large nail protruding out of the ground
No vacuum upon arrival, we were told of this fact the day we arrived
Reported issues that have yet to be resolved (these issues span from our first arrival to the property in September to today):
Room 2 - blinds too short to fit window, large gap at bottom lets light in making blinds virtually useless (have had a technician come in and see this, note it, and inform us the landlord will be given a quote as it is clearly wrong, but nothing heard since)
Room 2 - damp spots on wall, have been seen dripping (another technician has observed these and made note of them, but nothing heard since)
Room 3 - bed slats broken/improperly fixed making bed unstable (2 different technicians have come in and both told me that that needs to be fixed and that the landlord will be contacted regarding it, but nothing heard since)
Room 3 - loose drain pipe by window (2 different technicians have come in and looked at it and noted that it needs replacing or repairing, but have heard nothing since)
Room 4 - blind broken, several slats in the blind have been broken since arrival (a technician has come round and looked at this, measured the area for a new blind to be fitted and told us that the landlord will be given a quote, but we have heard nothing since)
Garden - concrete slab holding fence up closest to garden gate on left hand side of the garden has broken and fallen off (had an employee come around to assess it but was unable to fix it himself, told me they will have to get someone in to replace either the slab or the section of fence, but have heard nothing since)
Upstairs landing - damp spots and bulging of ceiling, as stated above
Outside front of house - a brick has collapsed and separated from the house at the front (was shown to employee that surveyed the fence, pictures taken)
Kitchen - damp spots on walls (same technician that looked at the damp spots in room 2 surveyed this, made notes and told us that once a quote was made it will be given to the landlord but have heard nothing since)
Living room - lack of sealing agent around corner, causing an alarming amount of slugs to come in every day (been reported multiple times in person to the office and shown to an employee upon inspection and to a technician, was told that the landlord will receive a quote and fix it, but have heard nothing since)
Unreported issues that were resolved ourselves, but I still feel the need to have documentation of:
House was not cleaned upon arrival, was in appalling condition
Kitchen - as the kitchen has a breakfast bar, not table was present which is acceptable, but we were given standard sized chairs for a breakfast bar rather than bar stools
Shortly after this email, we encountered mice excrement in our house repeatedly, popping up in places ranging from my room, the cutlery drawer, under the stairs, and - most shockingly - my bed. As far as I am aware the very clear hole under the stairs where the mice were very clearly getting in from was only fixed a month before we moved out, approximately 4 months after the problem first arose.
I would also like to list some more problems we faced by letting with Lighthouse without rambling too much as it would simply take too long:
Not permitted any contact with the landlord after asking several times
Emergency 24 hour contact number not functioning, going straight to voicemail indicating to leave a text but then I never got a response to my text telling me if my problem was or wasn't urgent and worthy of a call-out
The garden reaching a ridiculous state of being overgrown by the end of the year
Loose wallpaper, holes and marks in walls, and rusty nails poking out of bathtub base
One of the room's mattresses was very badly stained, the other had pubes on it on the day of arrival
It took 2 days for an electrician to be called and come round to fix a socket that was *sparking* when switched on or off without an appliance in
It took a week and a half for my room's light fixture to be fixed, meaning there was no light at all in there
It took approximately two weeks for a wardrobe to arrive in my room, and one of the agents asked if I had been given an extra cabinet instead, which was wrong and not indicated on the inventory or agreement regardless
Many of these problems were told, reported, shown via pictures in person or email, and indicated to several different Lighthouse staff members, all of which took note of them, for any sort of fix to either fall through completely or take more pestering from myself or far too long to be fixed in, for the most part, a very cheap manner.
All in all, my review will end here simply because I could go on forever about how bad experience I've had with Lighthouse but the shortened version of all this is:
DON'T LET WITH LIGHTHOUSE. In our experience, the landlord was cheap, uncaring, and unwilling to communicate with us, the house was falling apart, filthy, and lacking necessities upon arrival. Lighthouse staff members are at their best helpless when dealing with a bad landlord who is unwilling to fix anything and, at worst, rude, uncaring, and, quite frankly, useless.
I've never been happier to move house and change letting agents.
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Address
Lighthouse Property Services Ltd
39a Carholme Road
Lincoln
Lincolnshire
LN1 1RN
01522 780020
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lettings | 100% | 46% | £365 | £950 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Areas covered
- LN1
- Lincoln
- Surrounding villages
- LN2
- LN5
- LN6
Services offered
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- Block Management
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- Mortgage Advice
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Latest Properties
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Nov 08,2022
Nov 08,2022
0
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My Daughter placed a holding deposit on a property with friends. On seeing the property we were not happy with it and and told her to withdraw.
She informed her friends and then booked viewings on other properties.
Lighthouse Properties contacted her and refused to ...
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May 11,2022
May 11,2022
2
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Absolute sham, request payment of holding fee and promise no issues. You tell them of financial issues that may affect referencing, the they come back requesting guarantors and 6 months payments up front and use this as YOU not commencing with tenancy and to withhold your ...
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May 11, 2022
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Good Evening,
You failed to meet the referencing criteria, alternative options were presented to you to secure the let. You did not wish/were unable to move forward with any of the three alternative options that were presented to you.
Lighthouse Property Services ...
Sep 23,2021
Sep 23,2021
0
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Great property agent. Very helpful and quick to sort out any problems
Had a issue with leaking shower sorted within 48hours...
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Jul 09,2021
Jul 09,2021
4
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NIGHTMARE. House was dirty when we moved in, toilet was gross, rubbish left outside and garden overgrown. Constant maintenance issues which were never fully.
There was damp and mould in multiple rooms that was reported in September. After months of keeping on about it multiple ...
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Feb 16,2021
Feb 16,2021
3
people found
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Staff untrained to deal with personal matters with an appropriate level of respect. The room I rented through Lighthouse Properties was full of structural damage upon arrival which wasn't stipulated prior to the signing of the contract; further displaying their lack of professionalism (Peter Hill). ...
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Jan 26,2021
Jan 26,2021
2
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DO NOT RENT WITH LIGHTHOUSE. Rented with them in second year and they were absolutely appalling. Issues are never resolved in under a week. The fire alarm at the top of the stairs needed its batteries changing and was beeping constantly. Unfortunately it was out ...
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Feb 05,2019
Feb 05,2019
0
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I can't praise Lighthouse Property's enough for there very professional and efficient service they gave me when going through the rental process. I found them to be helpful & informative throughout the application stage. Always happy to answer and questions or query's. I am very happy ...
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Jul 12,2018
Jul 12,2018
2
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Would not recommend Lighthouse in the slightest. We were warned before signing with them from 3rd years but chose to go with them anyway.
When we first arrived the house was in a state. The bannister was broken, my door had a hole in it ...
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Comment on agent fees
Bad
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Jul 10,2018
Jul 10,2018
2
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No deposit back due to their bad maintenance no internet no hot water mould every where don't do it...
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Comment on agent fees
Bad why should I pay for those conditions
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Jul 10,2018
Jul 10,2018
2
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Within the first week of us moving in our upstairs shower didn't work. the kitchen tap leaked damaging the counter. all the kitchen chairs were falling apart as if they were really old only to be told they were brand new. There was damp in ...
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Comment on agent fees
Fees weren't to bad as the rooms were decent sizes however with all the complications they don't seem worth it
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Jul 10, 2018
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Hi, sorry to read these comments, this doesn't seem right at all. We would be grateful if you could get in touch with us so we can discuss and resolve. Best wishes, Lighthouse Property Services ...
Jul 10,2018
Jul 10,2018
2
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They gave me a small fraction of the deposit back, the lift in Brayford court is broken and drops regularly and lighthouse were informed multiple times of this problem and all they did was put a cone in front of the lift for a week ...
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Jul 10, 2018
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Hi, We haven't carried out any checkouts in Brayford Court yet as no one is due to move out therefore no deposits will have been returned. Please call the office if there you feel there is a confusion. The engineers have attended to the lift and have not found a fault. ...
Jul 10,2018
Jul 10,2018
3
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Where do I start. Let through Lighthouse as a student at Lincoln uni for my second year and from the very first day me and my 3 other housemates had problem after problem that piled up as more and more went unresolved, and those that were ...
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Jul 09,2018
Jul 09,2018
2
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I moved into Brayford Court to find the foot board of the kitchen unit completely missing, revealing a disgusting mess underneath the oven. The oven also did not work at all for the whole first week that i living there, forcing me to either cook ...
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Comment on agent fees
Bad, not worth even half of the rent cost with the quality of their properties.
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Jul 10, 2018
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Hi, it is disappointing to read your comments and we are sorry you feel you haven't had the best experience within Brayford Court.
A couple of points which I don't feel are fair - Lincoln City Council empty the large bins every Friday. In our experience there are a number of bins which are always empty but people choose not to use them.
Fire alarms are only set off when they sense smoke. This can be annoying when sharing with others however people do need to be mindful when they cook.
...
Oct 11,2017
Oct 11,2017
1
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Professional, caring and efficient. Nothing is too much trouble for the team. I'm very happy in my home and not having pushy aggressive agents is an added bonus....
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Comment on agent fees
Good
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Jan 20,2017
Jan 20,2017
0
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Fantastic bunch of guys they have working here, helped me from start to finish with moving into my new home, the couple of issues I've had with my place have been sorted swiftly, from the viewing to actually moving in was so easy - other ...
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Comment on agent fees
Cheapest compared to other agents in the localendar area
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Mar 04,2014
Mar 04,2014
5
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Lighthouse properties are absolutely perfect if you like being spoken to like a imbecile, love living in a moldy environment that's never anything to do with the property, it's just your fault for leaving the heating on too long, and love having to wait a ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Not being rung up at 9AM to be asked if another tenant is in, not to be spoken to so rudely when i express my concern about the time they are calling me, and to fix problems within a week AT LEAST.Attached Filesnbsp;
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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.
Complaints Procedure
Contact the branch manager Simon on 01522 780020 or write to the office address.
Last updated at 12:54 PM 22/02/2017 by Lindsey
