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Landlords - the good and the bad
I've recently been searching for my 3rd year house and have been trying to find reviews on some Leeds landlords but it seems theres not much about so I thought i'd start a bit of a review of good landlords and the ones to avoid.
We're with ACADEMY PROPERTIES at the moment and despite being Unipol approved are awful! I'd stay away. The owners daughter shows potential tenants round and is (and still is) lovely but the real landlord Bill is a nightmare. He turns up unannounced, checks our house over holidays when we're all away without prior consent, he took pictures of our house (which is relatively tidy compared to some!!) complaining its dirty and sent them to our parents
. He has also recently managed to find us liable for the rent of a spare room in our house and is holding on to our deposits for payment of it.
He seems to cause an arguement with us every single time he visits! Stay well away.
I've never been with them but MY HOMEZ is the new PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES who were named and shamed for being dodgy. I'd advise anyone to be careful and not pay them a deposit.
Add your stories of good and bad landlords, especially has anyone been with AVTAR?
We're with ACADEMY PROPERTIES at the moment and despite being Unipol approved are awful! I'd stay away. The owners daughter shows potential tenants round and is (and still is) lovely but the real landlord Bill is a nightmare. He turns up unannounced, checks our house over holidays when we're all away without prior consent, he took pictures of our house (which is relatively tidy compared to some!!) complaining its dirty and sent them to our parents
. He has also recently managed to find us liable for the rent of a spare room in our house and is holding on to our deposits for payment of it. He seems to cause an arguement with us every single time he visits! Stay well away.
I've never been with them but MY HOMEZ is the new PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES who were named and shamed for being dodgy. I'd advise anyone to be careful and not pay them a deposit.
Add your stories of good and bad landlords, especially has anyone been with AVTAR?
Scroll to see replies
Reply 1
I was with Avtar for a couple of years. They seem to have a bad rep but I found them fine.
They are one of the ones who have stacks of houses so they will have a lot still unlet in June with time ticking down to get rid of them, at this time you can get some pretty good deals from them, we got a good house for £50 a week off them one time. Its a family business, the big guy who owns it all is Avtar (he must be one of the richest guys in the area) and his son Suki does most of teh hands on stuff, but when we had a leaking toilet one time I hassled Suki and Avtar himself came round and got on his hands and knees to fix it, which I thought was fair enough because at some of the other companies the big cheese would never even talk to you never mind get his hands dirty.
They have a handyman and decorator employed for them so if you need something doing just hassle them, leave messages for Suki every day asking what the progress is on getting something done, and they will get someone round.
Best advice if you go with them is don't commit too early, don't fall for their pressure deals (eg "its £58 a week but I'll give it you for £55 if you sign up today"....chances are if they havent let that house in a week they will ask you if you're interested in it for £55 anyway), and you'll get a good deal. I think if you're reasonable with them, be polite but politely persistent if they are slow sorting problems out, they are fine as an agency. I think they are better than some of the other cowboys out there.
They are one of the ones who have stacks of houses so they will have a lot still unlet in June with time ticking down to get rid of them, at this time you can get some pretty good deals from them, we got a good house for £50 a week off them one time. Its a family business, the big guy who owns it all is Avtar (he must be one of the richest guys in the area) and his son Suki does most of teh hands on stuff, but when we had a leaking toilet one time I hassled Suki and Avtar himself came round and got on his hands and knees to fix it, which I thought was fair enough because at some of the other companies the big cheese would never even talk to you never mind get his hands dirty.
They have a handyman and decorator employed for them so if you need something doing just hassle them, leave messages for Suki every day asking what the progress is on getting something done, and they will get someone round.
Best advice if you go with them is don't commit too early, don't fall for their pressure deals (eg "its £58 a week but I'll give it you for £55 if you sign up today"....chances are if they havent let that house in a week they will ask you if you're interested in it for £55 anyway), and you'll get a good deal. I think if you're reasonable with them, be polite but politely persistent if they are slow sorting problems out, they are fine as an agency. I think they are better than some of the other cowboys out there.
Reply 2
stellartuesday
He has also recently managed to find us liable for the rent of a spare room in our house and is holding on to our deposits for payment of it.
did someone leave the property part way through the contract or were you always "one short" when you let the property?
because if you were always one short then the total amount would have been written into the contract at teh start and he cant ask for extra now - if somebody left part way through then they are still liable for their rent (and if they dont pay technically you are all jointly liable), in this situation they usually expect you to advertise the spare room eg on gumtree
Reply 3
MagicNMedicine
did someone leave the property part way through the contract or were you always "one short" when you let the property?
because if you were always one short then the total amount would have been written into the contract at teh start and he cant ask for extra now - if somebody left part way through then they are still liable for their rent (and if they dont pay technically you are all jointly liable), in this situation they usually expect you to advertise the spare room eg on gumtree
because if you were always one short then the total amount would have been written into the contract at teh start and he cant ask for extra now - if somebody left part way through then they are still liable for their rent (and if they dont pay technically you are all jointly liable), in this situation they usually expect you to advertise the spare room eg on gumtree
Its a long story, we were one short when we moved in - 6 of us rented a 7 room house on the promise we'd find a new housemate. We found a girl, she moved in ... then moved out, we found a boy after, he moved in ... then moved out (apparently we're pretty hard to live with lol). Our landlord messed it up anyway, he never got rent cheques from the 2 who moved out (they both claimed not to have cheque books) so he's literally thousands down in rent from the tenants who moved in and never paid. We thought we were going to end up in court at one point!
We are all jointly liable for rent, its in the contract but still, he's messed up ever since we moved in and isnt a landlord i'd recommend.
As for Avtar, we payed our admin fees on a house today with them. I've heard bad things but after reading the specimen contract, its alot better than what i've experienced with Academy! We got it for £65 p/w after them telling us it may be £75+. It is a gorgeus student house so at the moment i'm happy!
Reply 4
My 300 quid deposit is currently sitting (or not sitting) in Providence's illegal bank account. I'm not too hopeful that I'll get it back.
Keep away from My Homez. I walked past the other day and one of the Providence 'workforce' was sitting behind the desk.
Keep away from My Homez. I walked past the other day and one of the Providence 'workforce' was sitting behind the desk.
Reply 5
15
Why anyone would choose to rent from a place called "My Homez" anyway, I do not know. If that doesn't scream dodgy, I don't know what does.
Reply 6
We had a great private landlord, none of this agency malarkey, go out and look for the gold star unipol owners, we found ours in that free newspaper that gets sent around.
This guy did everything we ever asked (and we asked a lot, my dad did a professional list of problems with the property and we agreed what would be sorted before we moved in) And on top of that we also got our washing machine fixed, a new dryer, a new fridge and a new cooker plus new beds and flooring!!!!
This lovely house was £52 a week, bargain!
This guy did everything we ever asked (and we asked a lot, my dad did a professional list of problems with the property and we agreed what would be sorted before we moved in) And on top of that we also got our washing machine fixed, a new dryer, a new fridge and a new cooker plus new beds and flooring!!!!
This lovely house was £52 a week, bargain!
Reply 7
Despite what the threadstarter says, I reckon that landlord is alright - it's better to see too much of them than too little. Plus if he's been told you'll find someone, you're gonna have to.
Go with Unipol accredited landlords. It's as simple as that. Go with any of the dodgily-named places or the ones with flash offices (Park Lane, say) and you're almost certainly waving goodbye to your overpriced deposit and any support for the next year when things inevitably break down.
Go with Unipol accredited landlords. It's as simple as that. Go with any of the dodgily-named places or the ones with flash offices (Park Lane, say) and you're almost certainly waving goodbye to your overpriced deposit and any support for the next year when things inevitably break down.
Reply 8
A friend of mine at Southampton Uni says that their has been advertising around town for a website set up to review your landlords. I think its called 'love your landlord', or something similar.
Check it out, it might help everyone
Check it out, it might help everyone
Reply 9
Has anyone ever been with central properties? i cant find any negative info on them so i guess they cant be bad.
Reply 10
Hey guys!
It might be worth checking out the Student Advice Centre at Leeds uni- they do contract checks and inform you previous dealings (good or bad) with landlords. I used Student Advice because of the problems that I was having in Eldon Court and they were very helpful!
would defiantely recommend trying the Student Advice centre. 
...or get a landlord unipol approved
Hope this helps
It might be worth checking out the Student Advice Centre at Leeds uni- they do contract checks and inform you previous dealings (good or bad) with landlords. I used Student Advice because of the problems that I was having in Eldon Court and they were very helpful!
would defiantely recommend trying the Student Advice centre. ...or get a landlord unipol approvedHope this helps
Reply 11
The only way you'll get a good landlord in Leeds is if you're paying over the odds for a nice place from a proper landlord. And when I say 'proper' I mean what you imagine when you think of an estate agents. Not any of the unprofessional offices you see around hyde park or Headingley, some of which look like cheaply converted store fronts designed to get the maximum amount of students in while spending the least amount of cash.
Even something flashy (compared to some of the businesses) like Pickerings in Headingey is run by con men who gave someone I know nothing but trouble.
There's also one at the bottom of Victoria Road near the Premier off license that is an offshoot of Providence Properties as far as I know. I made the mistake of walking in to MyHomez in second year with my housemates and a guy named Alex was working there. He took us to see a house which it turned out was owned by the company at the bottom of Victoria road, so I assume that Alex was either stealing clients from MyHomez or that the other company was part of MyHomez.
Either way Alex was the sleaziest guy I've ever met. He tried to keep my deposit by citing all sorts of bank related reasons and I think he was hoping that I would either forget about £300 or assume that it was my fault and stop bothering him. He sent me a cheque that it turned out was from an empty bank account, he 'transferred' my money then it never showed up. He was never in the office whenever I went back to Leeds to get my deposit. Luckily I had his phone number and left him a message telling him that if I didn't get my money back within the week I'd see him in court. It was in my account within the hour.
The best experience I had was with Apex which is across from the Hyde Park Pub. I say it was good because the landlords were extremely friendly and nice to be around even though some of them seem like bad guys from a James Bond film. But even they were awful with maintenance. Our boiler was knackered and it seemed like my house was being held together with poly-filler. They didn't try to steal my money though and they were really understanding when some of my rent was late.
Even something flashy (compared to some of the businesses) like Pickerings in Headingey is run by con men who gave someone I know nothing but trouble.
There's also one at the bottom of Victoria Road near the Premier off license that is an offshoot of Providence Properties as far as I know. I made the mistake of walking in to MyHomez in second year with my housemates and a guy named Alex was working there. He took us to see a house which it turned out was owned by the company at the bottom of Victoria road, so I assume that Alex was either stealing clients from MyHomez or that the other company was part of MyHomez.
Either way Alex was the sleaziest guy I've ever met. He tried to keep my deposit by citing all sorts of bank related reasons and I think he was hoping that I would either forget about £300 or assume that it was my fault and stop bothering him. He sent me a cheque that it turned out was from an empty bank account, he 'transferred' my money then it never showed up. He was never in the office whenever I went back to Leeds to get my deposit. Luckily I had his phone number and left him a message telling him that if I didn't get my money back within the week I'd see him in court. It was in my account within the hour.
The best experience I had was with Apex which is across from the Hyde Park Pub. I say it was good because the landlords were extremely friendly and nice to be around even though some of them seem like bad guys from a James Bond film. But even they were awful with maintenance. Our boiler was knackered and it seemed like my house was being held together with poly-filler. They didn't try to steal my money though and they were really understanding when some of my rent was late.
Reply 12
Useful thread, seems like we may have got a bad deal in hindsight! 
Will be moving into a house on hyde park road provided by rentinc come September. Basically my flatmate had a quick look on the internet we found this company and was the only one we visited. They have been a decent company so far and whilst going back numerous times due to the disorganization of my flatmates for next year and stupidly signing a contract whilst still drunk, we got our intial deposit back 2 months after we were meant to have all required paperwork in.
This being said, when looking at a house near the Carnegie Stadium Ben asked the usual, ''is it a safe area?'' on the way out, to which the guy replied ''oh yes, very'' literally 5 seconds later we saw a man loading drugs into his car from a big biffa bin.
Will be moving into a house on hyde park road provided by rentinc come September. Basically my flatmate had a quick look on the internet we found this company and was the only one we visited. They have been a decent company so far and whilst going back numerous times due to the disorganization of my flatmates for next year and stupidly signing a contract whilst still drunk, we got our intial deposit back 2 months after we were meant to have all required paperwork in.
This being said, when looking at a house near the Carnegie Stadium Ben asked the usual, ''is it a safe area?'' on the way out, to which the guy replied ''oh yes, very'' literally 5 seconds later we saw a man loading drugs into his car from a big biffa bin.
Reply 13
We found one through Unipol so we thought he'd be alright. He's proven to be unhelpful, and is currently trying to wrangle our deposits from us. My housemate mailed him his key as part of moving out first class, with people watching him put the key in. He gets the envelope, says there's nothing in it, but it's not been tampered with or opened. The key seems to have just vanished and he wants money from us for it. Strange.
The house was a state when we moved in - mould around the place, the oven disgustingly greasy, dust and hair everywhere, and the toilet was caked in limescale. But after a few weeks he started saying that we had made those messes - limescale like that doesn't happen after a few weeks, none of us had children's fridge magnets to shove down the back of the oven, none of us have the long blonde hair that cakes the tatty old carpet covering the stairs (in fact we're all dark and short-haired). He announces house viewings two hours before he's going to arrive, completely ignores us if doing an inspection, and then later in the night sends a vague and angry email complaining about some problem or another that he's decided we must have caused in the last week with our super grime skills or something.
Just... urgh. He's even kicking me out a day early so he can prepare for the next renters. Poor sods.
The house was a state when we moved in - mould around the place, the oven disgustingly greasy, dust and hair everywhere, and the toilet was caked in limescale. But after a few weeks he started saying that we had made those messes - limescale like that doesn't happen after a few weeks, none of us had children's fridge magnets to shove down the back of the oven, none of us have the long blonde hair that cakes the tatty old carpet covering the stairs (in fact we're all dark and short-haired). He announces house viewings two hours before he's going to arrive, completely ignores us if doing an inspection, and then later in the night sends a vague and angry email complaining about some problem or another that he's decided we must have caused in the last week with our super grime skills or something.
Just... urgh. He's even kicking me out a day early so he can prepare for the next renters. Poor sods.
Reply 14
We were tenants of Avtar and from our experience they suck. if anyone asked me I would say never ever deal with them, they are trouble, at least that is how we found them. They were aggressive, all sweetness before you sign, total inactivity to repairs requests afterwards, and just damn rude to us all, never cared, never answered the phone. Never ever rent a flat from them is what i say to myself and i regret doing that.. Good luck if you are dealing with them.
Reply 15
I can highly recommend David Cardus of Parade Properties. Good, honest man.
Reply 16
Mine in my 2nd year insisted on 12 predated cheques up front, didn't answer the phone all year, and then withheld our deposits for no apparent reason.
Reply 17
One of us got electrocuted in our house let and owned by AVTAR. We never got urgent repairs sorted so we left, abandoned the tenancy, had to get lawyers involved through our parents, what a nightmare.
Avtar are so aggressive, unpleasant and uncaring to us. They sued us for contract breach and even then they were so incompetent that their legal claims got thrown out by technical default because they could not even attend to that process, what a bunch of losers.
Be warned, our experience of AVTAR was just DREADFUL DREADFUL DREADFUL
and we now know of soooooo many others stories of them from unhappy Leeds Uni. students.
Avtar are so aggressive, unpleasant and uncaring to us. They sued us for contract breach and even then they were so incompetent that their legal claims got thrown out by technical default because they could not even attend to that process, what a bunch of losers.
Be warned, our experience of AVTAR was just DREADFUL DREADFUL DREADFUL
and we now know of soooooo many others stories of them from unhappy Leeds Uni. students.
Reply 18
Original post
by stellartuesdayI've recently been searching for my 3rd year house and have been trying to find reviews on some Leeds landlords but it seems theres not much about so I thought i'd start a bit of a review of good landlords and the ones to avoid.
We're with ACADEMY PROPERTIES at the moment and despite being Unipol approved are awful! I'd stay away. The owners daughter shows potential tenants round and is (and still is) lovely but the real landlord Bill is a nightmare. He turns up unannounced, checks our house over holidays when we're all away without prior consent, he took pictures of our house (which is relatively tidy compared to some!!) complaining its dirty and sent them to our parents. He has also recently managed to find us liable for the rent of a spare room in our house and is holding on to our deposits for payment of it.
He seems to cause an arguement with us every single time he visits! Stay well away.
I've never been with them but MY HOMEZ is the new PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES who were named and shamed for being dodgy. I'd advise anyone to be careful and not pay them a deposit.
Add your stories of good and bad landlords, especially has anyone been with AVTAR?
We're with ACADEMY PROPERTIES at the moment and despite being Unipol approved are awful! I'd stay away. The owners daughter shows potential tenants round and is (and still is) lovely but the real landlord Bill is a nightmare. He turns up unannounced, checks our house over holidays when we're all away without prior consent, he took pictures of our house (which is relatively tidy compared to some!!) complaining its dirty and sent them to our parents
. He has also recently managed to find us liable for the rent of a spare room in our house and is holding on to our deposits for payment of it. He seems to cause an arguement with us every single time he visits! Stay well away.
I've never been with them but MY HOMEZ is the new PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES who were named and shamed for being dodgy. I'd advise anyone to be careful and not pay them a deposit.
Add your stories of good and bad landlords, especially has anyone been with AVTAR?
WE went with AVTAR in our 2nd year and they were DREADFUL RUDE AGGRESSIVE and we abandoned our tenancy when one of us got electrocuted from a dodgy cooker. We have heard of loads of complaints about AVTAR, we obviously would not recommend them
Reply 19
Avtar are absolutely shocking. I have never in my life come across such appalling service.
We were forced to live with mice and damp, and the property was filthy with broken furniture when we moved in. On reporting it, we were completely ignored. When I went in to discuss the mice, I was screamed at by the owner/son of the owner. He is aggressive and vile. The other staff, particularly the women, are snotty and ignorant, they have no time for any complaints and spend their time trying to belittle you as soon as you have a problem.
They repeatedly let themselves into my house for viewings with no warning, to the point where it would be 9am and they would walk into my room while I was asleep, with a group of people in tow. When I got wise to it after this happening twice in one week, I started leaving a turned key in the front door so that I would have to answer and let them in. They on one occasion, physically pushed me out of the way to get in, and on other occasions, such as the time when they had arrived with no warning and expected to be let in, when it just wasn't a good time, shouted in my face before calling me offensive names in front of the potential tenants and stalked off.
As of now they are trying to withhold my deposit from me because one of my flatmates damaged a smoke alarm. It has been widely acknowledged that none of the rest of us had anything to do with it. They have lied through their teeth about our deposit, claiming that it has to be released in one go, when I rang the DPS directly and found that this is a complete lie and that they have no grounds to hold my money, only the flatmate who damaged the smoke alarm's deposit can be held. Their email correspondence has been aggressive, and unprofessional with frankly absolutely appalling spelling and grammar - it sounds like a 5 year old is writing some of them.
I am seriously debating taking them to court. Do not use them.
Lea x
We were forced to live with mice and damp, and the property was filthy with broken furniture when we moved in. On reporting it, we were completely ignored. When I went in to discuss the mice, I was screamed at by the owner/son of the owner. He is aggressive and vile. The other staff, particularly the women, are snotty and ignorant, they have no time for any complaints and spend their time trying to belittle you as soon as you have a problem.
They repeatedly let themselves into my house for viewings with no warning, to the point where it would be 9am and they would walk into my room while I was asleep, with a group of people in tow. When I got wise to it after this happening twice in one week, I started leaving a turned key in the front door so that I would have to answer and let them in. They on one occasion, physically pushed me out of the way to get in, and on other occasions, such as the time when they had arrived with no warning and expected to be let in, when it just wasn't a good time, shouted in my face before calling me offensive names in front of the potential tenants and stalked off.
As of now they are trying to withhold my deposit from me because one of my flatmates damaged a smoke alarm. It has been widely acknowledged that none of the rest of us had anything to do with it. They have lied through their teeth about our deposit, claiming that it has to be released in one go, when I rang the DPS directly and found that this is a complete lie and that they have no grounds to hold my money, only the flatmate who damaged the smoke alarm's deposit can be held. Their email correspondence has been aggressive, and unprofessional with frankly absolutely appalling spelling and grammar - it sounds like a 5 year old is writing some of them.
I am seriously debating taking them to court. Do not use them.
Lea x
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