“I feel as if I have to share my story, ......”
1 Star Review
Jan 05,2013
By:
'Claire'
Jan 05,2013
Branch: Reading, 23/24 Market Place
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: RG30
Branch: Reading, 23/24 Market Place
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Postcode: RG30
10
people found
this helpful
I feel as if I have to share my story, because I don't feel anyone should go through what I have gone through. I am currently fighting for my deposit from Atlantis, I'll let you judge who should get the deposit...
My tenancy began on the 10th March 2012 and ended on the 9th September 2012. Our deposit was £937.50 which was given to Atlantis properties. We were not sent an inventory until 14th (after we'd moved in,) and did not receive this until a week after we moved in. We did not see the inventory or sign it, we only signed a later one. We signed all the contract on the day of picking up the keys which they assumed we'd done. Atlantis were rushing us into signing in, when we didn't even have a chance to read over it.
At the beginning of our tenancy we discovered that it was NOT furnished as advertised but PART furnished. We had no furniture except a sofa which was stained and smelt. Later on that evening, my partner was hoovering and moved the sofa to discover maggots of some sort. They seemed to have been eating the carpet as there were many bare parts of carpet(we have photos to prove this.) The maggots were under a sofa we had been sat on and eaten on. By maggots I mean small, white wiggling LIVE creatures, and not just a few. We hoovered the carpet constantly that night, because they kept appearing out of the carpet and dropping out of the sofa. But Atlantis were not as concerned about this as we were, after being passed round from person to person, I eventually just emailed photos of the maggots to Matthew Watkins who constantly tried to get this resolved for us. I never got a reply from anyone when I rang, I left numerous messages with Mr Sykes secretary and with Atlantis themselves. We had to wait OVER TWO weeks for them to even have a look at the property. When Atlantis did come, John Sykes (the owner) came over to see what the issue was. I had put the sofa outside and covered with a garden cover found in the shed. John Sykes was concerned we had DAMAGED it and said we would have to pay for it! After he saw the state of the sofa he said he saw no evidence of maggots. I had to explain that they had probably completed their lifecycle and have left the sofa as flies. He finally asked his maintance men to take it after much discussion with me. He tried to get us to have the sofa back in the house, which I refused much to his disgust. He said it wasn't up to me what happened to the sofa, when infact I think it is a basic right to not LIVE with bugs in the house. Once they removed it they tried to fit it through the archway which damaged that and get it out the door, which created a dent in the wall. Eventually they decided to break it and got it out that way. During his visit John Sykes said he used to live at this property and had never had damp, once I had shown him the areas of damp. He told me it was merely condensation (in the check out report this is confirmed as damp.) There was a large area of damp in the cupboard by the electrics and two areas by the television connections in the lounge and in the corner of the bedroom. We had an electrician come and look at the electrics and he confirmed it was a health hazard as the electrics were hanging off the wall. We then discovered mold around the shower, which we were told had been eradicated. And on a visit to the property which was for 'maintance' they told us the mold was gone, when it wasn't. There was also rotting of the skirting board from damp in the hall
In the checkout report it also states the carpets were new at the beginning of the tenancy, they were not, they were maggot infested. They were put in almost a month after we moved in, in the process of this; our wardrobe was broken along the top from being pulled, our electronics were sprayed with insect repellent and my photoframe was smashed. The photoframe was fixed and the carpenters attempted to mend the wardrobe for us.
The impact damage mark as I mentioned earlier was from Atlantis Maintenance attempting to remove the sofa. There was already an impact mark there but this was made worse by them.
The fridge and freezer were heavily frozen. At the beginning of the tenancy Apple Electrics came out (to fix the kicked in trays,) and said it seemed someone had tried to hack the ice away. The seal was shredded because of the knife used and he said he would put it in his notes for the landlord. He recommended the insulation was repaired, this was never done. This took over 3 weeks to get sorted, even though this wasn't on the checking in report.
Let me attach their costs for making the property 'back to how it initially was' (they won't send me scanned copies of these invoices and where has £912 come from)
Cleaning £144.00 8 Hours cleaning at a costs of £15 per hour
Maintenance invoice £366.00 cut grass to the rear of the garden, make good impact damage to wall, repaint hallway.
We lived in a three room apartment, it had a shower room, a kitchen living area and a bedroom, I do not feel it should take 8 hours to clean, nor cost Atlantis that much to do.
And the maintenance invoice speaks for itself, the garden was cut too weeks prior. The impact mark was done by Atlantis men (removing the sofa) and why did they need to paint the hallway? We were told we weren't allowed to edit the property in anyway without permission including painting.
I feel I have addressed everything, I personally am disgusted with Atlantis for the state of the property when we moved in. It was disgusting and I hope they've fixed the damp and mold for the next tenants. I hope people read this review and realise how Atlantis treat their tenants. Because of them we had to live in disgusting conditions for the 6 months we were forced to have in this property. The message of this is DO NOT believe the check in reports, be more thorough when looking at properties. I didn't notice maggots, or damp or rot when I looked at the property but the people doing the initial check in report should have. And please THINK before you go with this estate agent, they may be cheap but they're absolutely shocking. Please ignore if I sound angry, but this company have messed me over financially for the future. They ruined my experience of moving out for the first time and I hoped it would be different.
I will be happy to answer any questions, and if anyone doesn't believe me, I can happily email photos to you.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Where do I start...
I think the major issue was next time react to a situation - when I say I have maggots do not LEAVE me with them for over 2 weeks.
-Give me back my deposit, which I know you won't do HENCE why I have got TDS involved
And please, business' like you won't be around for long. Nobody likes liars and nobody likes getting mugged off.
- many thanks.
Attached Filesnbsp;
10
people found
this helpful
Was this helpful?
Yes