Mar 23,2023
Mar 23,2023
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Mears Group have a a ONE BILLION POUNDS government contract to house asylum seekers.
As a letting agency, We have been renting a high number of properties to the various companies operating these contracts over the last 15 years and had very little issues, until the MEARS GROUP won it in Scotland. We are now trying to recover just about all of the properties that are let to this PLC company and severe ties with them.
They are constantly looking for properties with the incentive of guaranteed rent, They offer 3 and 5 year lets. however here are a few things that you need to know about them. This experience is based on the Scottish contract, managed by Steve Robbins
* Unless you own your property outright, you may be breaking your conditions with your mortgage lender or insurance company. Many mortgage companies would not allow you to sign 3 or 5 year tenancy contracts. However please read below, as this may become 3 or 5 years plus of hell!
* They use their own company leases, geared heavily towards them. These come under commercial leases, not residential. In Scotland, if a landlord has any issues, they can apply to the First Tier tribunal free of charge for payment orders or evictions. With Mears group, you have to go through court to evict or chase for rent arrears. This requires employing expensive lawyers, particularly with evictions. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AS YOU NEED TO READ BELOW
*They pay low low rents. You would be better off letting to tenants on housing benefit and certainly get more rents in the private sector. Some of the rents are 50% less than what we can achieve in the private sector
*Now the MEARS GROUP operate to a more stricter standard that is required by law. This means that a landlord has to carry out much more work for them than a normal tenancy required under the repairing standards. They simply go in and carry out works, then withhold the rent until its all paid off. Most if not all of these repairs are extortionate and not all necessary required. There is nothing that you can do. They know that individually a landlord has to accept this unacceptable behaviour as they do not have the financial means to challenge a PLC company in court. Even if they do give you notice of repairs, there is strict timescales you have to action them in otherwise they go ahead and do it anyway. We have witnessed this on many occasions. Some of our landlords have been close to nervous breakdowns financial ruin because of them.
* Now here is the BIG thing you need to be aware of. The Mears Group DO NOT vacate your properties. We have about 12-15 properties where the blatantly refuse to leave. Even our lawyers (Matthew Currie of Jones Whyte) is not getting a response for them. They know it is expensive to raise court action to evict and you will find it difficulty to recover all your legal costs. So you are left with having to let with them until THEY DECIDE if they want to hand it back. This is the big issue we are having with them. The are refusing to leave and refusing to pay the increased rents that we would get had we let to anyone other than the MEARS GROUP.
Avoid the MEARS GROUP at all costs.
As a letting agency, We have been renting a high number of properties to the various companies operating these contracts over the last 15 years and had very little issues, until the MEARS GROUP won it in Scotland. We are now trying to recover just about all of the properties that are let to this PLC company and severe ties with them.
They are constantly looking for properties with the incentive of guaranteed rent, They offer 3 and 5 year lets. however here are a few things that you need to know about them. This experience is based on the Scottish contract, managed by Steve Robbins
* Unless you own your property outright, you may be breaking your conditions with your mortgage lender or insurance company. Many mortgage companies would not allow you to sign 3 or 5 year tenancy contracts. However please read below, as this may become 3 or 5 years plus of hell!
* They use their own company leases, geared heavily towards them. These come under commercial leases, not residential. In Scotland, if a landlord has any issues, they can apply to the First Tier tribunal free of charge for payment orders or evictions. With Mears group, you have to go through court to evict or chase for rent arrears. This requires employing expensive lawyers, particularly with evictions. THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AS YOU NEED TO READ BELOW
*They pay low low rents. You would be better off letting to tenants on housing benefit and certainly get more rents in the private sector. Some of the rents are 50% less than what we can achieve in the private sector
*Now the MEARS GROUP operate to a more stricter standard that is required by law. This means that a landlord has to carry out much more work for them than a normal tenancy required under the repairing standards. They simply go in and carry out works, then withhold the rent until its all paid off. Most if not all of these repairs are extortionate and not all necessary required. There is nothing that you can do. They know that individually a landlord has to accept this unacceptable behaviour as they do not have the financial means to challenge a PLC company in court. Even if they do give you notice of repairs, there is strict timescales you have to action them in otherwise they go ahead and do it anyway. We have witnessed this on many occasions. Some of our landlords have been close to nervous breakdowns financial ruin because of them.
* Now here is the BIG thing you need to be aware of. The Mears Group DO NOT vacate your properties. We have about 12-15 properties where the blatantly refuse to leave. Even our lawyers (Matthew Currie of Jones Whyte) is not getting a response for them. They know it is expensive to raise court action to evict and you will find it difficulty to recover all your legal costs. So you are left with having to let with them until THEY DECIDE if they want to hand it back. This is the big issue we are having with them. The are refusing to leave and refusing to pay the increased rents that we would get had we let to anyone other than the MEARS GROUP.
Avoid the MEARS GROUP at all costs.
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Opening Hours
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Mears Group
Calder House, Ellismuir Way
Tannochside Park
Uddingston
South Lanarkshire
G71 5PW
01236 793300
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| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
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| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
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| 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
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Mar 23,2023
Mar 23,2023
6
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Mears Group have a a ONE BILLION POUNDS government contract to house asylum seekers.
As a letting agency, We have been renting a high number of properties to the various companies operating these contracts over the last 15 years and had very little issues, until the ...
read full review
read full review
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Mar 11,2022
Mar 11,2022
4
people found
this helpful
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We gave Mears our property to let, now they have went and withheld our rent claiming unwarranted upgrades are required
Despite being advised not to. I signed a 5 year agreement with them believing this would give me piece of mind, now there is nothing i ...
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Oct 02, 2023
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Hi there! I hope you don’t mind me reaching out here . We would be very interested to have a chat with you about this issue, as we are currently looking at Mears Groups and potential breach of contracts with the Home Office as well. ...
“We haveThis is why the Mears Group Asylum housing contract will fail in 2021 been renting a considerable number o......”
Jul 28,2021
Jul 28,2021
9
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We have been renting a considerable number of properties to Asylum seekers ever since the home office contracts began. We have gone through the teething problems of the Angel Group, right through to Orchard & Shipman, Serco and now The Mears Group in 2019. During this journey, ...
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May 17,2021
May 17,2021
3
people found
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MEARS began OK, but as of late, it has engaged in a campaign of intimidation, harassment, denial of service, sexism, heterophobia, and cover ups. It is disgracing the government....
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Jan 26,2021
Jan 26,2021
4
people found
this helpful
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Yet again Mears have cancelled an appointment with no notice or attempt to contact me. I am disabled and have been with no heating since 7am. When speaking to a very rude member of Mears staff they hung up. I was trying to make a ...
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Nov 25,2020
Nov 25,2020
0
people found
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Unprofessional, unhelpful, time they got their act together, sending arrears letters out to an 87 year old on the day he moves in to a flat when it's already been paid....
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Oct 17,2020
Oct 17,2020
1
people found
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The worse service I have ever came across! After waiting for two weeks for an engineer to turn up, he only came to say it’s beyond repair! Another few days added without hot water and heating... eventually boiler has been fitted and worked for ...
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Jul 22,2020
Jul 22,2020
3
people found
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Mears Group / YourMK, YourMK /Mears Group it doesn't make any difference which way round they go, in Milton Keynes they're one in the same and they all hang out with and get paid by Milton Keynes Council at the expense of disabled council tenants. They ...
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Mar 14,2020
Mar 14,2020
0
people found
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Very very very bullshit house company
They have given a three bedroom house, for a family of 7. All the bedrooms are tiny and it stinks.
They are liars and trick u to move house by giving false description
They are really forceful and give fake ...
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Feb 28,2020
Feb 28,2020
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We reported we had no access to hot water on the 16th January as our immersion tank needs replacing - it is now the 28th February (over 6 weeks later!) and they have done nothing. We have a newborn son, which they are aware of, and ...
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Dec 21,2019
Dec 21,2019
5
people found
this helpful
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The mears group have taken over the contract to house asylum seekers in Scotland. We relet properties with them on the promise from Chris that everything would improve , however it was just rubbish. The problem is that they have refused to pay us the last 3 ...
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Oct 25, 2020
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Mears group are renting my fathers house and subletting to a tenant. My father depends on the rental to cover the cost of his sheltered accommodation. Mears group have been raising a catalogue of expensive repairs and demanding my father pays them, leaving him little to cover his rent. They are now trying to say that if he doesn’t approve repairs that they will get them done and charge my 94 year old father the cost. ...
Steve
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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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