Completion of my house sale was today and I must commend Rise for the very professional way in which they have handled the sale. Paul has to be one of the best negotiators in the property business and a genuinely nice guy who makes the job look easy, when I am sure it is anything but that. Thank you also to the lovely ladies in the office who are a credit to the company.

• Services :
• Rent PCM : £undefined
• Postcode:
• Experience: Would you recommend ? : No

Rise Estate Agents are absolutely horrible to students! I've detailed just some of our experiences with them below.

First of, they left us waiting in the snow for 30 min for a viewing, without telling us the viewing had been cancelled. They only told us after we rang them up multiple times. Another viewing, they had given us a time of 5pm; but they had turned up at 4pm (supposedly), and when we weren't there, just left again, without calling us up to ask us why we didn't turn up.

A few days before we were set to move in, me and a housemate when down in person to their office to check everything was set for us to move in (we'd been confused about some of the information we'd been given etc), and we were told explicitly by one of their agents that we were ready to go and move in on the day, and there was no outstanding issues. Great!

Except the very next day, first me, and then my housemate, were called and told we could not get the keys because our standing order was set to pay on the first weekday of the month, and not the Sunday we were moving in. However, all the information we had received had told us to do just that and had not informed us that we had to pay differently than we would any other month, and they had just confirmed to us in person the day before that everything was alright. It was a Saturday so it was too late for us both to change our payments, for multiple reasons; after a long discussion with their agent (in which I told them they had not informed us this was something we needed to do, and that they should've informed us earlier so we had a chance to fix it; if we could not get the keys the next day we would be effectively homeless, as we needed somewhere to move all our stuff from our current house; and their agent in response told me our discussion was “going in circles”) they ended up allowing us to get our keys on the day anyway, thankfully.

When we moved in the living room/kitchen had not been professionally cleaned despite their promise that it would be so. Furthermore, the previous tennants stuff took up 6 bin bags worth of stuff, that we also had to clean out of fridges, freezers etc. We had to clean it all out ourselves after multiple attempts at getting Rise to do something, but they didnt respond to us in time and we needed the space so we did it ourselves and just asked them to get rid of the bin bags w stuff (which they didnt do either - after a month or two we got rid of it ourselves). About the cleaning, we received £50 in total as they said this is what they would've spend on professional cleaning if they'd paid someone to do it (for reference, this was a 7 person house).

In December our fridge malfunctioned; they send a guy out pretty quickly and he said he'd inform Rise of what needed to be done. After the Christmas break, however, still nothing had been done. We contacted them multiple times and they send another guy out around end of January (approximately), however it was the same guy as last time, and he remembered us! He asked us why Rise hadn't fixed what he'd told them to, was there for 2 minutes, and left informing us that he would be charging Rise for this visit... It took until the beginning of March, and many emails, text messages, and a visit to their office in town, before we finally got a new fridge (so 3 months with a deficient fridge).

When we moved out they said they weren't trying to be unfair about the deposit, then said they had to charge us because the house hadn't been clean when we moved out, and for marks on the walls. First off, we had pictures to prove we *had* cleaned the house to a professional standard, secondly the house hadn't been clean when we moved in (and what they tried to charge us was more than the £50 we got for cleaning the ace for them), thirdly the marks on the walls were there when we moved in. Those of us who disputed the charges to our got our full deposit back from our deposit protection scheme.

After these experiences, and many more, with Rise Estate Agents I would very much discourage anyone from signing with them, at least if you are a student.

• Services :
• Rent PCM : £undefined
• Postcode:
• Experience: Would you recommend ? : No

After some months of inactivity with one of their competitors, I shifted to Rise and immediately had multiple offers in on my house. Paul was an excellent agent, kept me up to date on developments and gave me clear and objective advice on my options - the whole team at Rise helped make an occasionally quite complicated sale go off without a hitch. A very efficient, focused and personal service - couldn't have asked for better!

• Services :
• Rent PCM : £undefined
• Postcode:
• Experience: Would you recommend ? : No

While the house was quite nice, and the rent fair, I felt frustrated at every turn by the lettings agents. Things started out badly when the incorrect amount was recorded on our safety deposit certificate before we moved in, and it only got worse from there.

When we were given the keys we were informed that there was some rubbish left in the garden by the previous tenants that would be removed after a couple of days. This was never achieved, and after three months of the tenancy we were contacted and told that it was "our" rubbish and that we would have to remove it on penalty of fine. Once the issue of the ownership was cleared up they again promised to remove the rubbish within the week, but this did not happen for another several months I largely suspect that it would not have ever happened had an infestation of rats not occurred.

Every email communication seemed to come from a different member of staff, were riddled with spelling errors, and showed no knowledge of all previous communication between us and their colleagues. This meant that any issues reported took weeks at best to be resolved.

While the situation improved when Daniel stepped in after a few months of the tenancy, his help still suffered from the same lack of communication as his colleagues. While we could be sure that if an issue was reported directly to him then it would be resolved promptly should it be within his power (e.g. replacing a broken desk chair) however when the response required him to bring in other colleagues (such as for the removal of the rubbish) the issue seemed to be dropped as soon as it was under the control of someone else.

Frankly Rise need to develop a better system for handling issues with their houses. At the moment they have an online damages reporting system, as well as about half a dozen different email addresses that can be used to report problems, and it seems to be luck of the draw as to which (if any) will respond when contacted.

When Discussing the return of deposits we felt frustrated at every turn. Melanie took 6 weeks to reply to an email, and when we phone the office, I was continuously told that she was on another line, despite being immediately available when I reminded the secretary that I had already called multiple times. Rise took a wildly unfair proportion of the deposit, and refused to back it up with evidence, meaning that we got back a significant amount when disputing with the deposit protection scheme.

• Services :
• Rent PCM : £undefined
• Postcode:
• Experience: Would you recommend ? : No

We viewed 7 properties in one day with 7 different companies as we are relocating. Melanie was taking photos of a property just before we arrived. I was early and the property was on the market with out any photos. But I had a rough idea of the quality of the houses in that area and wanted to in soon to see it which meant she hardly had much time to view it herself. I was aearly and let her know I was there and she was sweet and greeted me and wanted to stop her work to show me around but I told her I will. Come back after I get my baby. She was so kind and once she was done came to the car to get me to come over when ready. She showed me the property and it was gorgeous, took us around to each room and explained. What she didn't know she found out or said will find out for us. She sold the property to us well and let us feel comfortable looking around. She made good eye contact, was polite, professional and sweet, and welcoming to any of our questions. Honestly the landlord is lucky to have a lovely sales/lettings person such as her showing people around. She is a true gem and especially after having views the other 6 properties- some were late didn't appolige, make eye contact, rushed through, didn't show the rooms or potential, or care to be there or didn't even show care for the property( like taking shoes off which I believe with carpets only right to do so) she was good to the landlord of the property as well as for the future Tennant.) She was the PERFECT employee or estate agent at a viewing and follow up. I had a call back from the estate agent for a follow up of my visit that day and the following day from Melanie herself to ask how it went and if had any feedback on the property and herself. Which I thought was a perfect way for any estate agent. Truly perfect and she has made me feel like Rise must be a really good company or done really good training. Honestly her company should reward her as a outstanding gold star becase we went through several agents she was fantastic. Give her a promotion or a huge bonus. Sadly we didn't go for that property as we needed more space and were pressed for time (no time to sell off what we didn't need) as it was a relocation from London. But even with agents through out the country and we have been renting rince 2007, moved 4 times in the past midlands, Berkshire and Surrey get peoliteness and simple greeting and taking us around made a big impression that other agents have not done. honestly. I'm only raving becase I believe someone as good as she was at her job makes a house move/relocation/ new home which is a huge deal at the time a key stepping point on one's life so when they are really good u need to recognise them. I hope she goes far with in the field she works in. All agents need to be like her. Put us at ease and make the daunting task feel wonderful and feel good and show a property with much administration for all that it has to offer.
Simply wonderful.

• Services :
• Rent PCM : £undefined
• Postcode:
• Experience: Would you recommend ? : No