Tom, bob I hear you. 2016 and nothing has changed...

Hi Tom,

Your review has almost taken the words out of my mouth, I moved out of my flat on 25th October and have still not received my deposit back, I left the flat in excellent condition when I moved out so there are no issues there but Stephen Oates just don't seem to want to give me my money back. I keep emailing and phoning and they keep saying they will sort it out but nothing. I get the impression they think if they keep ignoring me I will go away. A previous estate agent that I rented from gave me my deposit within 3 working days of me moving out so I don't know what the problem is. They were excellent during my tenancy with any problems I had but they now treat me like they don't give a dam!

Dear Tom,

I would like to take this opportunity to respond to the post you left, regarding our service on Google.

We are more than disappointed and bewildered to hear what you have to say given the time and dedication that we have spent in rectifying the situation that was caused by yourselves with our client.

Throughout your tenancy, and afterwards, we believe we have been nothing but professional.

You repeatedly state in your review that you are unable to speak to anyone in Lettings, and that no messages you leave are replied to yet I am more than aware of how members of staff have spoken to you and reassured you that we were trying to get an agreement from our Landlord regarding the deducible amount from your deposit. It wouldn't benefit us in any way to drag our heels on this issue. We were understanding on your urgency, yet were governed by our Landlord and then the DPS for timing. It wasn't our decision to make. I am sure you understand this.

On your Check Out, it was evident that the property was left in an uninhabitable condition. We went on to obtained quotes on your behalf (as you asked us to do for you) to get the property cleaned, which is something that is carried out by all departing tenants. The original quote was £190 but on the cleaners arrival they realised that a lot more work was needed to ensure that it was in a condition fit for the new tenants to move into the next day hence having to work through the night and early the next morning. This could be deemed as poor planning on your part but we did everything we could to help you. Given that time was not on our side, (as the new tenants were arriving the morning after your departure), we in hindsight should have made you aware that the cleaning cost would be higher once the cleaners had fed back to us about the extent of the clean needed. However if you wasn't happy for things to be done and carried out on your behalf, you should have taken responsibility for the state of the property yourself. We make it very clear in our tenancy agreements that any property is to be left in the same state as it is taken on in, wear and tear aside. The property was professionally cleaned before you moved in. The extent of mess and dirt that you left the property in is by far beyond wear and tear, and completely unacceptable. Ask yourself if you would have been happy being the next tenant in the property, having found it in that state? We have a duty to look after Landlords and Tenants alike. No Landlord should have to pick up the cost for the basic cleaning on their property, if it was given to the Tenant in a much better state-which we check before letting.

So that you are aware, we have been transparent in informing you that it took Steven Oates Lettings three weeks of negotiating with the landlady to release your deposit as she wanted to keep the entire amount, with the aim of still taking you to court for the rest of the cost in getting the sofa reupholstered (This is our Landlords choice, not ours.)

As a result we managed to negotiate with the landlady to accept a figure of £100 for the damage.

We are not interested in keeping or delaying peoples deposits. ALL deposits are held outside of our company, in the DPS-preventing issues like you have intimated.

The cleaning company that we used was ‘K L cleaning services’ who can be contact on 077784925234 or 01992536697 a copy of the invoice has been sent to you previously.

Your post on Google is untrue and wholly unjustified to the service that Steven Oates provided during and after your tenancy.