67% sales valuation accuracy
33% sales fee satisfaction
100% lettings valuation accuracy
50% lettings fee satisfaction
Aug 14,2013
Aug 14,2013
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I'm a Brit who currently lives between the UK and France. I decided to let my flat in London out in May. The agent first told me they would take 8% commission, and that they would get loads of viewings as they said the flat was amazing. I went back home in Paris feeling confident.
Two weeks passed and I heard nothing. After asking, I got an update saying there were some viewings, but no offers. They told me to put the flat on at 950 a week initially, then suggested going down to 895 to attract more viewings. I was disappointed, but agreed. Still no takers, and no updates, unless I specifically asked first (which usually incurred a long distance call on my end). I also hired Green & Co to put the flat on the market. They said it was initially overvalued and suggested 850/wk.
Shortly after, around 2 months from the initial instruction, the flat was let out by John D Wood in August. At that point, my husband was told that he would be permanently relocated to London in October, but as our flat is a 3 bed and we are just 2 people, we decided it would be cheaper for us to downsize into a 1 bed and continue letting out anyway.
I explained this to the agent, Emma, and told her that as we will be back permanently in the UK in under 2 months and have UK bank accounts, she should not consider us to be overseas landlords, even though the only address we would now have is our French one, as the British one was about to be let out, and we hadn't found a new, smaller flat to let yet. She agreed to this, and when she presented the agent's terms and expenses to me, we agreed that the overseas tax they would normally take off for foreign landlords would not be applicable.
She then told me that their terms were 10%--this clearly went against the 8% I was initially told by Stuart! Unfortunately, he only told me that orally, not in writing, so when I called him out on it, he denied it. But I am 100% sure he told me 8%, as that is the same fee Green& Co told me. Stuart's 'mistake' ended up costing us thousands more than expected.
I asked to meet the renters in person, and Stuart told me they would be moving in on August 5. I stayed in London to meet them face to face, and no one showed up. I stayed another day, and still no one. Eventually, I really had to get back to France, so left without knowing the people who were renting my flat out. To avoid paying their £75 inventory fee, I drew up an inventory myself, yet none of the tenants were there to verify and sign it! I still don't have a signed copy of this.
The worst part of this is that after telling Emma that we will be back in the UK permanently in about 5 weeks, she charged us BOTH income tax on rent earned over the entire year--a total of over £4,000--even though we would only be 'foreign' landlords for two months, and still paid taxes normally, as Brits! She was on holidays (her second in the 2 month period I began doing business with the company) and couldn't be reached for comment.
When I finally did get hold of her, she denied ever having the overseas landlord conversation with me (though I still have the paper where she crossed out that part of the contract) and I was told that I would have to undo this mess on my own. Of course, this will cost even more extra money, to pay an accountant and/or lawyer to 'undo' John D Wood's mess.
Overall, this agency doesn't communicate well with clients OR between their own staff; lies about fees; cheats clients out of thousands of pounds by giving them misleading information; overvalues rental properties; can't be bothered to make much effort to do anything for the client.
Terrible agency. Avoid like the plague, unless you like being lied to and paying thousands of unexpected, extra pounds for nothing.
Two weeks passed and I heard nothing. After asking, I got an update saying there were some viewings, but no offers. They told me to put the flat on at 950 a week initially, then suggested going down to 895 to attract more viewings. I was disappointed, but agreed. Still no takers, and no updates, unless I specifically asked first (which usually incurred a long distance call on my end). I also hired Green & Co to put the flat on the market. They said it was initially overvalued and suggested 850/wk.
Shortly after, around 2 months from the initial instruction, the flat was let out by John D Wood in August. At that point, my husband was told that he would be permanently relocated to London in October, but as our flat is a 3 bed and we are just 2 people, we decided it would be cheaper for us to downsize into a 1 bed and continue letting out anyway.
I explained this to the agent, Emma, and told her that as we will be back permanently in the UK in under 2 months and have UK bank accounts, she should not consider us to be overseas landlords, even though the only address we would now have is our French one, as the British one was about to be let out, and we hadn't found a new, smaller flat to let yet. She agreed to this, and when she presented the agent's terms and expenses to me, we agreed that the overseas tax they would normally take off for foreign landlords would not be applicable.
She then told me that their terms were 10%--this clearly went against the 8% I was initially told by Stuart! Unfortunately, he only told me that orally, not in writing, so when I called him out on it, he denied it. But I am 100% sure he told me 8%, as that is the same fee Green& Co told me. Stuart's 'mistake' ended up costing us thousands more than expected.
I asked to meet the renters in person, and Stuart told me they would be moving in on August 5. I stayed in London to meet them face to face, and no one showed up. I stayed another day, and still no one. Eventually, I really had to get back to France, so left without knowing the people who were renting my flat out. To avoid paying their £75 inventory fee, I drew up an inventory myself, yet none of the tenants were there to verify and sign it! I still don't have a signed copy of this.
The worst part of this is that after telling Emma that we will be back in the UK permanently in about 5 weeks, she charged us BOTH income tax on rent earned over the entire year--a total of over £4,000--even though we would only be 'foreign' landlords for two months, and still paid taxes normally, as Brits! She was on holidays (her second in the 2 month period I began doing business with the company) and couldn't be reached for comment.
When I finally did get hold of her, she denied ever having the overseas landlord conversation with me (though I still have the paper where she crossed out that part of the contract) and I was told that I would have to undo this mess on my own. Of course, this will cost even more extra money, to pay an accountant and/or lawyer to 'undo' John D Wood's mess.
Overall, this agency doesn't communicate well with clients OR between their own staff; lies about fees; cheats clients out of thousands of pounds by giving them misleading information; overvalues rental properties; can't be bothered to make much effort to do anything for the client.
Terrible agency. Avoid like the plague, unless you like being lied to and paying thousands of unexpected, extra pounds for nothing.
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Latest Reviews
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reviewed by 'Bob.'
11th Oct 2016
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Opening Hours
Address
John D Wood & Co
166 Regents Park Road
Primrose Hill,London
Greater London
NW1 8XN
020 7717 5135
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 67% | 33% | £620,000 | £620,000 |
| Lettings | 100% | 50% | £1,650 | £3,800 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Areas covered
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
- Home Builder
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Latest Properties
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Nov 16,2023
Nov 16,2023
0
people found
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Kudos to Kate!! She's just amazing. As an overseas landlord, it's nearly impossible to know what's going on in my flat. But Kate is super communicative, and goes above and beyond the call of duty. In addition, I had my flat listed with another agency ...
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Mar 04,2022
Mar 04,2022
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Overrated at one star. Came to end of tenancy - agreed deposit return with landlord. Nearly three weeks on and nothing but lame excuse after lame excuse. Also never tell you about faults with properties that they know about. Avoid....
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Nov 15,2018
Nov 15,2018
1
people found
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this helpful
A pleasure to deal with. The team here a efficient, communicative and friendly - whats not to like? Very Highly recommended...
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May 09,2018
May 09,2018
2
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I have to only bought my property through this agency but also let it though them. Never again. On buying there was a mysterious last minute buyer which pushed up the price I had to pay and then on letting though them, they presented me ...
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Comment on agent fees
Their fees are high, I wouldn't have minded if the service wasn't terrible and if the manager had the decency to address a complaint rather than say nothing, and respond only over the phone with patrony. Clearly he's well versed in handling complaints.
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Oct 11,2016
Oct 11,2016
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
This is by far the worst letting agency I have rented through. They gave us our keys TWO days after we were supposed to move it. The whole year we rented via them, we had multiple issues with our house and it always took them ...
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Oct 22,2013
Oct 22,2013
0
people found
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In my experience, JD Wood offers exceptional service- efficient, friendly and very reliable. Both Stuart Small and Emma Wood went out if their way to be helpful and accommodating to my needs- which is not the norm in most real estate agents. For me, they ...
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Aug 14,2013
Aug 14,2013
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
I'm a Brit who currently lives between the UK and France. I decided to let my flat in London out in May. The agent first told me they would take 8% commission, and that they would get loads of viewings as they said the flat was ...
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Aug 03,2013
Aug 03,2013
1
people found
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this helpful
I have to say that I am very disappointed with this agent. As I landlord I instructed John D Wood 8 Weeks prior to my existing tenancy expiring. They marketed my flat with lots of promises, and only achieved 5 viewings in 8 weeks. I later (with two ...
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What agent could do to change your mind?
Been more proactive. The sign of a quality agent is one who gets results in tough timesAttached Filesnbsp;
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No fees information available
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.
Complaints Procedure
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