“The house has everything you expect e.g. microwave, sofas, ......”
3 Star Review
Apr 27,2013
By:
'plymouth'
Apr 27,2013
Branch: Plymouth, 96 North Hill
Services: Lettings (as a Tenant)
Would you recommend?: No
Postcode: PL4
Branch: Plymouth, 96 North Hill
Lettings (as a Tenant)
Postcode: PL4
9
people found
this helpful
The house has everything you expect e.g. microwave, sofas, desk, shelves and a built in wardrobe and it was completely redecorated and refurbished during the summer before we were to move in. Mr Conyers promised myself and my parents that the house would be completed within the 2 weeks before I moved in on the 15th September 2012.
On arrival there was no carpet, only one bathroom working, the locks hadn't been put on the bedroom doors and the decorators were still painting. There was dust everywhere and any scrap wood and builders tools hadn't been removed from the property. These tools weren't fully removed until a month later. The only fridge between 6 tenants also was dirty inside even though a 'cleaner' had been present when we had arrived. My mother and my twelve year old brother cleaned out the fridge together. The cleaner was only using special dust wipes in the rooms but this made little difference when the decorators were still working and not all the dust had settled. Safe to say that myself and my parents were not impressed.
The price is reasonable although I think it could be reduced in comparison to similar houses that have a cheaper rent.
The main downfall in my eyes is the poor communication between office staff and Mr Conyers and those two parties to the tenants. As a tenant you want a problem solved as quickly and efficiently as possible and you hope that the landlord and the staff have the same interests. However on several occasions I have ended up chasing up information from the office staff. There is one particularly efficient lady called Claire but I cannot recommend listing any problems to the other members of staff. Mr Conyers isn't always easy to get hold of and neither was the Dan, the member of staff who was supposed to be on call for problems during the day time. The work men that the company use/used were very helpful and friendly during their visits to sort out our problems in the house but even they commented on the poor communication of the staff, particularly when relaying information from the tenants to the workers.
Another point to mention is that Mr Conyers did not give us any written or verbal notice before coming to see the house on one occasion. Approximately 10 minutes after Mr Conyers had arrived and looked around the whole house, a group of prospective male students came to see the house, of which we were also not informed about.
Most of the communication that has occurred this year was directed between myself and one other tenant in this house. Therefore we were possibly expected to relay any information passed onto us to the other four tenants. I feel that it is in the company's interests to make sure that all the tenants are provided with the same information and the same time. Particularly as the six tenants in this house are all individuals who happen to live together and lead completely separate lives.
Any problems with the house were not resolved in an adequate time. For example the landlord had offered us a second free standing fridge freezer at the beginning of the let (September) of which at least two of us had said yes to. A waist height freezer and a separate waist height fridge had been organised to be placed in our lounge, however these two utilities were not meant for us and were taken away after a week. A free standing fridge freezer was then delivered but after leaving the fridge on for over 48 hours and the temperature not decreasing resulted in separated yoghurts and milk. The last fridge they delivered has been working for over a month know, however the whole process of chasing up for a replacement took two weeks and thats not including the 6 months it took for us to get a second fridge in the first place. The toaster also took more than a couple of months to be replaced even though a couple of staff had been alerted on separate occasions that the Tesco value toaster had broken.
The house has been a nice place to live in besides several problems such as the monthly cleaners not fully carrying out their roles, damp in the front room, roof leakage at the back of the house and an unreliable boiler. However, the standard of furniture is good throughout the house, including the very large TV and there is lots of room for personal belongings.
The location is great with only a 10 minute walk to uni, a 2 minute walk to the local shops on Mutley plain, under 15 minutes to walk to the train station and 20 minutes to the city centre. There is residential parking and the street is quiet with no traffic noise so Unity Lets did pick a good house they just need to organise themselves to cope with the large number of houses and tenants they look after. I wouldn't mind living hear next year if the communication was better but I haven't renewed my tenancy with them again for September 2013.
What agent could do to change your mind?
The staff and Mr Conyers all need to improve on communication and efficiency between themselves and with the tenants to provide the tenants with exactly what is promised in the contract and a pleasant experience so that they will use Unity Lets the next year.
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