75% sales valuation accuracy
100% sales fee satisfaction
67% lettings valuation accuracy
60% lettings fee satisfaction
Mar 26,2020
Mar 26,2020
1
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Long story short: Beware and do your own background checks before doing any business with them and, even if you pay a booking fee, don't take it for granted that you have a tenancy before you are physically inside a property. Winkworth Hackney took on someone as a client, accepted their property, arranged viewings, offered a tenancy and signed a contract before taking any measures to confirm who actually owned that property and who said client was. Turns out they took a scammer as a client and I had to find out about that one week before moving in.
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I first contacted Winkworth's agent Ahmed Ozdemir through an advertisement he placed on SpareRoom. He replied to my enquiry the next day and scheduled a viewing for the flat immediately. My husband attended the viewing, where he met Ahmed and the "landlord". My husband and I placed an offer for the flat on the same day, and Ahmed sent us an offer form immediately, as he was eager to help us secure that flat. We had continuous email communications with Ahmed until the "landlord" accepted our offer.
We then went through the entire tenancy process with the office manager, and even got to the point of getting a contract which was signed by Winkworth Hackney's manager, Saylan Lucas, and the "landlord".
Unfortunately, we were scammed by the "landlord" that Winkworth put us in contact with, working on the assumption all the necessary checks had been conducted by Winkworth as they claimed that that person was the landlord on several occasions before they decided to not rent the property.
On the next day I received a warning email from Saylan claiming that the man we were introduced to as the landlord wasn't in fact the landlord of the property we had rented and that “to the best of [their] knowledge and research, does not own the property”. Only at this point it seems did Winkworth search for the actual owner of that property and found out that the person they had been treating as the landlord was the current tenant of that property and had been posing as its owner.
A simple search of Land Registry at a cost of approximately £2 would have also confirmed the identity of the owner at the outset and Winkworth should have done this before the whole process started, not in the end of the process, after signing a tenancy agreement.
I find it completely unacceptable that one of their agents and a branch manager were capable of taking on someone as a client, accepting their property, arranging viewings, offering a tenancy and signing a contract before taking any measures to confirm who actually owned that property and who said client was. They won't accept responsibility for us being scammed by the man they introduced us to as a "landlord" because ultimately we didn't start a tenancy with them, but we deeply wish we had never gotten in touch with Winkworth, as this would have never happened otherwise.
Whenever asked about it, both Saylan and Ian Fraser, the director of Winkworth Hackney, have been rude and defensive. Mr. Fraser resorted to gaslighting me, completely ignoring that I have presented him with several correspondence between me and his employees in which they tell me that that man we met was the landlord. What I find absurd is that they defend that they were "extremely diligent", although they haven't even tried to deny that they spent at least one week between appraising a property, placing an add online, holding a viewing, drafting a contract and securing a tenancy before conducting any background checks on the landlord of that property.
I won't be surprised if their reply to this comment is as deflective and unapologetic as their private replies have been.
--
I first contacted Winkworth's agent Ahmed Ozdemir through an advertisement he placed on SpareRoom. He replied to my enquiry the next day and scheduled a viewing for the flat immediately. My husband attended the viewing, where he met Ahmed and the "landlord". My husband and I placed an offer for the flat on the same day, and Ahmed sent us an offer form immediately, as he was eager to help us secure that flat. We had continuous email communications with Ahmed until the "landlord" accepted our offer.
We then went through the entire tenancy process with the office manager, and even got to the point of getting a contract which was signed by Winkworth Hackney's manager, Saylan Lucas, and the "landlord".
Unfortunately, we were scammed by the "landlord" that Winkworth put us in contact with, working on the assumption all the necessary checks had been conducted by Winkworth as they claimed that that person was the landlord on several occasions before they decided to not rent the property.
On the next day I received a warning email from Saylan claiming that the man we were introduced to as the landlord wasn't in fact the landlord of the property we had rented and that “to the best of [their] knowledge and research, does not own the property”. Only at this point it seems did Winkworth search for the actual owner of that property and found out that the person they had been treating as the landlord was the current tenant of that property and had been posing as its owner.
A simple search of Land Registry at a cost of approximately £2 would have also confirmed the identity of the owner at the outset and Winkworth should have done this before the whole process started, not in the end of the process, after signing a tenancy agreement.
I find it completely unacceptable that one of their agents and a branch manager were capable of taking on someone as a client, accepting their property, arranging viewings, offering a tenancy and signing a contract before taking any measures to confirm who actually owned that property and who said client was. They won't accept responsibility for us being scammed by the man they introduced us to as a "landlord" because ultimately we didn't start a tenancy with them, but we deeply wish we had never gotten in touch with Winkworth, as this would have never happened otherwise.
Whenever asked about it, both Saylan and Ian Fraser, the director of Winkworth Hackney, have been rude and defensive. Mr. Fraser resorted to gaslighting me, completely ignoring that I have presented him with several correspondence between me and his employees in which they tell me that that man we met was the landlord. What I find absurd is that they defend that they were "extremely diligent", although they haven't even tried to deny that they spent at least one week between appraising a property, placing an add online, holding a viewing, drafting a contract and securing a tenancy before conducting any background checks on the landlord of that property.
I won't be surprised if their reply to this comment is as deflective and unapologetic as their private replies have been.
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Opening Hours
Address
Winkworth
17 Lower Clapton Road
Hackney,London
Greater London
E5 0NS
020 8986 4216
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 75% | 100% | £462,500 | £485,000 |
| Lettings | 67% | 60% | £1,400 | £3,500 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Areas covered
- E5
- E9
- E8
- N16
- E2
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
- Home Builder
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Oct 24,2023
Oct 24,2023
0
people found
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I have had the pleasure of using Winkworths to let my property over the last 8years.They are extremely professional, and with Allia now running the team, its gone from strength to strength.
Thank you all for all your hard work.....
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Mar 26,2020
Mar 26,2020
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Long story short: Beware and do your own background checks before doing any business with them and, even if you pay a booking fee, don't take it for granted that you have a tenancy before you are physically inside a property. Winkworth Hackney took on ...
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Dec 17,2018
Dec 17,2018
3
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this helpful
I am since almost 1 year renting a room in London E27AG and have never experienced so unorganized and rude agents!!! There is 2 known longterm problems in the house and winkworth is absolutely doing the minimum to solve those. 1) The toilet flush is very weak ...
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Comment on agent fees
Horrendously high agent fee!
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Nov 12,2018
Nov 12,2018
4
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Booked a market appraisal in for my property. did not show up. I rang the branch to see where he was. They never rang me back. Incredibly bad service. I wasted my Saturday morning for nothing. Would not trust them selling my property....
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Jan 25, 2024
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(5)
Saylan Lucas is by far the best agent I've dealt with. Professional and Charismatic he helped me through what would have been a very difficult process in my Sale. I would whole heatedly recommend him. ...
Jul 02,2018
Jul 02,2018
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
After contacting the Branch manager Saylan, about a problem I had about my daughter no longer wanting to move into her rental flat.
Saylan was very professional and understanding and he made it this priority to find another tenant to take over her tenancy agreement.
...
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Comment on agent fees
Good
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Oct 23, 2023
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(1)
A very impressive team . Winkworth have consistently delivered in the lettings department. Always finding me tennants and keeping me in the loop. Allia in particular stands out for me every time.
Thanks guys. ...
Dec 12,2017
Dec 12,2017
0
people found
this helpful
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Thomas is knowledgable, trustworthy, reliable and professional. A rare find in this industry. There was a prolonged delay during my purchase (almost five months) and Tom went out of his way to co-ordinate all parties to the chain to bring a fair outcome for all ...
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Comment on agent fees
n/a
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Dec 01,2017
Dec 01,2017
0
people found
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Thomas worked hard to ensure I found tenants for my property asap, and kept me updated throughout of his progress, and gave good advice along the way. I would recommend him personally, and would return to him for future property rental requirements....
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Comment on agent fees
The fees were affordable
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Sep 07,2017
Sep 07,2017
0
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I was very happy with the service I received from Winkworth during a recent sale. They found a buyer at the asking price following a well-targeted campaign. As an overseas owner I was pleased with the support offered and arrangement of key services provided in ...
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Sep 06,2017
Sep 06,2017
0
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Darren was always professional and courteous at all times...which helped as selling a home can be very stressful.
Winkworth should commend him, it was a pleasure doing business....
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Comment on agent fees
Fees were very reasonable.
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Sep 02,2017
Sep 02,2017
0
people found
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I could not be happier with the service I recieved from the staff at Winkworth when I sold my property earlier this year.
The positive response to our flat and the valuation I recieved from Saylan definitely persuaded me to go with Winkworth. I was ...
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Comment on agent fees
Good value for the service provided.
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Apr 20,2016
Apr 20,2016
10
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Have let through winkworths for 3+ years now. They have been abysmal. They fail to deal with comms from me or my tenants. They ignore repair requests. The work they do eventually procure is bad quality. They are rude to workmen, many of whom I've dealt ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
0% would be expensive for the service I've received.Attached Filesnbsp;
Comment on agent fees
0% would be expensive for the service I've received.
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Nov 05,2013
Nov 05,2013
0
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SO glad that we chose this estate agents. Having met 3 estate agents, they valued it at 'near 300', '315 at best' (a notorious London agents who are truly dreadful but everyone carries on using them even though they charge a fortune too!) and winkworth at 350. ...
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Oct 23,2013
Oct 23,2013
0
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Claudine Morgan has literally restored our faith in estate agents. A mean feat after we'd been let down by a few local estate agents.
She's open, honest, human and incredibly hard working. She was a breath of fresh air after our experience with less reputable ...
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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
Please direct any complaints to the Branch Manager who will be happy to help.
Last updated at 12:43 PM 04/09/2017 by Saylan
