Jul 23,2020
Jul 23,2020
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I rarely write reviews but I feel a moral obligation to warn others following our experience with Astons. My son and his 3 flatmates viewed 73 The Turnways, Headingley in January 2019, they liked it and attended the agents to sort out paperwork. They were told they should sign without delay as there was other interest in the property but were not permitted to take the lengthy tenancy agreement away to read. Feeling under pressure they signed unwittingly allowing Astons a month after the moving to clean and carry out repairs. At the time of viewing the property was occupied and current tenants present so close scrutiny was not possible but all appeared alright. On 1st July 2019 the keys were collected and they were all very excited about moving in. What they found was horrific, the filth and stench was bad enough but we then found that there was a rat infestation and black mould everywhere. The bathroom was disgusting, the toilet brown stained, the oven was thick with grease and food debris, the fridge freezer dirty and mouldy. The washer was awful and smelt musty, it failed to drain even though we cleaned the drawer, seals and ran through maintenance washes. The waste water ran into a drain on the drive which was also blocked and the dirty water ran onto the neighbouring property, something he said was a long standing problem. The carpet was shredded, the previous occupants claim this damage was caused when they cornered a rat in an effort to get it out of the address. The blinds were broken and missing, furniture was in a state of disrepair, dust and dirt everywhere and rubbish in the garden and thrown over the back fence. The roof leaked over a bed due to blocked guttering, this was clear as there was a wet ceiling and mould showing it had been a long standing problem. They had unfortunately signed up for this and on calling the agents they did state that the cleaners had not yet been as they change over all their properties in a day. We understood this but could never have expected the address to actually be uninhabitable. We told Astons the address was not fit to move in and they did get cleaners out. Following this clean there was little difference, the oven wasn't even touched and the toilet still stained. The cleaners apparently attended again, in the end we cleaned the house ourselves. We asked how they could have handed the keys over knowing the house was in such a state and they did agree it was not in an acceptable condition but blamed the previous tenants. Well, yes it was the previous tenants and years of failing to spend anything on maintaining the property, we asked if their inspectors had been to the address before our moving date, they had! We asked for their photographs and shockingly Astons supplied us with them, they show all of the above and they still went ahead!! We carried out a detailed assessment of the address making a note and photographing all the dirt and disrepair, during this inspection we found that the garage was in a dangerous condition with the whole roof balancing on a shelf. The garage was not part of the let but was directly next to the garden. To our horror we then found that the roof was made of asbestos. We pointed this out to Astons and initially they simply said it was not part of the rent and not to use it, we pointed out it was next to the garden and could collapse at any point posing a health risk that could be fatal to the tenants. To cut a very long, stressful story short the address remained uninhabitable for the first month while Astons said they were negotiating with the landlord for much needed and long overdue repairs to be carried out. The blinds were replaced, the garage removed and new carpets laid throughout but while all this was being done we could still not move in. Astons claimed it would be fine to move in and the carpet fitters would rip out the old carpets around their belongings, if you could have seen the state of these carpets, filthy and no doubt containing rat feces, we did not agree. My son was no longer a student and had a new job starting in July but now had nowhere to live, commuting from our home was not feasible due to cost and he had to give back word and search for another job. This of course was of no concern to Astons at all, they refused to negotiate reimbursing the first months rent at all, We also had a bills package at this point so this month of not being able to live at the address cost us nearly £1,800. Eventually they moved in, they found Astons to be unresponsive and generally slow to attend to carry out repairs many of which were botched requiring repeated repairs. Many of the problems that were there when moving in remained there when moving out, they simply got sick of reporting which I imagine is what agents bargain on. The tenancy agreement as with all tenancy agreements states that the property must be left in at least the condition it was received. Believe me it was very tempting to do this but we are better than that and left the address in a clean and much better condition than received. You can therefore imagine the disgust when we received an email stating we would not be receiving back the whole deposit, £30 - damage to walls, £31 - blown light bulbs, £20 - seal around the bath and £22 coins/debris blocking the washer, total £103. Not a huge amount from a £800 deposit, probably just enough for a tenant to agree rather than bother to argue. We questioned their claims and asked for photographs, the damage to the walls were actually scuffs associated to daily wear and tear, something that they cannot claim for, one bulb had gone near to moving in a light fitting they could not access in the toilet, accepted they did not report as this was pointless, the seal around the bath was black, same as when they move in, the washer photo was from Nov 2019, had never drained properly, hence the call out and the debris/coin could be attributed to the previous tenants. After pointing all this out we asked that Astons refer our dispute to the Deposit Protection Scheme as we would very much like an independent company responsible for such disputes to see how Astons were operating. We had tried to take our complaints further at the outset but at the time Astons were not Unipol accredited and the legal costs of pursuing this prohibitive. Astons ‘discussed’ our objections with the landlord and dropped all charges, deposit in full returned within the day. Now I finally get to tell all...BEWARE, in fact don’t even look, there are a few credible agents out there, Astons are not one of them, their business practices are questionable to say the least, taking advantage of young people and getting away with it.
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Opening Hours
Address
Aston Properties
10 Ash Road
Headingley
West Yorkshire
LS6 3JF
0113 293 6080
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Aug 26,2024
Aug 26,2024
0
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I recently had the pleasure of staying at Aston properties, and I must say, it was an absolutely delightful experience from start to finish! The staff were welcoming and the accommodation was a perfect blend of comfort, luxury, and hospitality. I would highly recommend!...
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Sep 15,2023
Sep 15,2023
0
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Sadly have just left our property, we have had a brilliant time there and have never had such a good team looking after us…the office staff were friendly and even at busy times tried to rectify any problems we had fairly quickly. Would recommend...
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Aug 30,2023
Aug 30,2023
1
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Please avoid this company at all costs they will exploit you. They charge high rent for very poor housing. I have had the displeasure of dealing with them regarding my son’s shared house which is in disrepair, huge hole in the bathroom wall, dirty ...
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Jan 11,2023
Jan 11,2023
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AVOID ASTON PROPERTIES AT ALL COSTS!!!
Awful company to rent from. They are completely negligible over an awful black mould problem in our house. They refused to fix it and blamed us. They refuse to admit its a health threat when we are experiencing bad ...
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Dec 22,2022
Dec 22,2022
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The most horrific company to deal with. Do not rent through this landlord he does not care about you he just wants your money. He is illegal underhand and racist.
His staff are incompetent and under qualified to do the job especially the manager woman....
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Aug 12,2022
Aug 12,2022
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Moved in and there were many issues which were not solved. None of the smoke alarms worked and no one ever came to fix things. They ignore your emails and right now they're doing their very best to avoid returning any of our deposit....
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Aug 05,2021
Aug 05,2021
0
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Horrible agency, they are unfair and do not meet basic maintenance requirements. The property was unclean and dirty when we moved in with dog hairs and a whole door missing. When we moved out they didn’t give us our full deposit back as they ...
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Aug 04,2021
Aug 04,2021
0
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Terrible agent who deals with tenants unfairly. AVOID at all cost. Unethical and underhand behaviour to tenants and be prepared to have to make a formal complaint!...
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Jul 27,2021
Jul 27,2021
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Terrible company! Got here to a broken fire alarm! Old furniture that is mouldy and doesn’t open and close, damp walls, torn up carpet, gaps between skirting boards and walls, sofas torn up! Just a horrible state, we sent an inventory and had no ...
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Dec 20,2020
Dec 20,2020
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My experience with Aston properties can be summed up in one word. Dreadful.
Aston properties is very money oriented. To the point that when I no longer felt safe in the property they weren’t bothered and said I can only leave if I pay ...
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Jan 15, 2021
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Feel your pain, i used these in 2008 - awful experience. ripp students off..!!! Got broken into, took ages to rectify and charged us damage to house from blue tack and scrapes which added up to the whole deposit we paid to move in..!!! Richard should be named and shamed..!! ...
Oct 13,2020
Oct 13,2020
1
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Avoid this letting agent at all costs. They ignore most maintenance requests and when they do eventually get round to them they are done below par and seem to use the same 'maintenance' man regardless of the repairs, and having seen him work on numerous ...
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Feb 25,2019
Feb 25,2019
5
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Aston properties routinely ignore basic maintenance requests. Their are rats in our kitchen, and for the last 6 months they have not sent anyone to deal with this, despite multiple polite requests. They have refurbished the floor and changed lightbulbs only when they have house viewings, ...
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Jul 23,2020
Jul 23,2020
20
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I rarely write reviews but I feel a moral obligation to warn others following our experience with Astons. My son and his 3 flatmates viewed 73 The Turnways, Headingley in January 2019, they liked it and attended the agents to sort out paperwork. They were told they should ...
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Last updated at 9:25 AM 10/10/2019 by heather heather
