written by on 04/01/2014
This is an awful letting company. It's difficult to know where to begin! Firstly, they charge a holding fee, which under Scottish law they are not meant to do. I contested this when viewing the flat but was brushed aside - I should have known then to let them well alone but after another flat falling through, we were desperate to find somewhere so we went for it. When we had problems with the flat, we were meant to solely deal with the property manager. He is extremely difficult to get a hold of, and often didn't get back to us about issues or didn't reply to messages. When we phoned the office staff to try and reach a resolution, I only once spoke to someone helpful. I think it's a small office and I'm sure the other person I spoke to was the only other person there, and she was consistently rude and unhelpful, constantly referring me back to the property manager despite him not doing anything about our issues. When we moved in we were assured the place had been professionally cleaned - there was dirt on the floors, the bathrooms were mouldy (a mushroom was growing behind the toilet. When we reported it we were advised to kill it and see if it grew back), the oven was filthy and there were tiny flies everywhere. We reported all of this but nothing was ever done. Additionally, the flat was advertised as being flexibly furnished/unfurnished - when we viewed the flat we were assured the removal of items would not be a problem. Initially this seemed fine - we wanted the dining table and chairs removed, and the landlord came over to pick them up. At the time he also looked at a faulty bath tap and 2 broken window locks - he repaired the window locks and did a quick fix on the tap. We also wanted the bed removed, but were waiting on our own mattress being delivered, so the landlord said it wouldn't be a problem to come back for it, and we should contact the property manager when we needed someone out to collect the old bed. Despite repeated contact this never happened, and for 6 months we lived with our bed frame and the old mattress up against the hallway and living room walls (we put our new mattress on the bed as the old one was broken and uncomfortable). All of this would be frustrating enough, but the main bugbear was an issue with our deposit. By law all landlords/letting agents must submit the deposit to a secure scheme within 30 days. These schemes send out a confirmation letter, so after a month when we didn't receive anything, we called and asked about it several times. No one ever got back to us with a proper confirmation. After around 5 months, I realised we still hadn't had anything back about it, so I decided to phone again. I was concerned, due to their earlier unhelpfulness and the general state of the flat, that we may have issues getting the deposit back if it was not held securely. I contacted the property manager but couldn't get through, so I left a message on his answerphone reminding him that we were still awaiting confirmation on our deposit, and asking him to get back to me. The next day, as he had not replied, I phoned again. As I could not get through, I texted him alerting him to my answerphone message. At the end of the message I reminded him that securing the deposit was a legal requirement, and if I did not hear from him within a week I would have to take it further. The next day I had received no word again, so I phoned again, and didn't get through. I phoned the office and was halfway through explaining when the woman I spoke to cut me off, informing me I'd 'have to call the property manager'. She was extremely rude - as I work in customer service I always try and be as polite as possible, but I did say to her that I didn't feel her directing me to the property manager was good enough, as he hadn't done anything about it so far. She said to me 'it's just going to have to be good enough' and hung up on me. Later that day, the property manager contacted me. He gave me a whole spiel about them being great letting agents who had been nothing but good and helpful - citing the furniture removal as an example, when it was the landlord who had done that, and it wasn't even all removed. He told me that me and my fiancé were not suitable tenants, that I was abusive towards their staff, and that they were terminating our contract. He also stated that our deposit was in a scheme and he resented me accusing him of being a fraudster (which I never once did, I was merely trying to chase up some confirmation to ensure this important legal requirement had been met). The next day we phoned all of the secure deposit companies to try and track it down and it turns out it had been placed in a scheme - the very day that the property manager phoned to terminate our contract. I think he was quite aware that I would have sought legal advice which would not have ended favourably for them if the deposit couldn't be found, so they submitted it as quickly as possible to cover their tracks. It has been a blessing in disguise as we are now in a lovely flat with friendly, helpful letting agents, but I thought I was take the opportunity to warn people away from a company like Saxon Hoffa. They are rude, unhelpful, and not complying with their side of their contract or the law.
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Kimsteen's Comment
Written on: 17/03/2014
Had much the same problem with this company but from a landlords point of view its put me off ever using a letting agent again.
Mr Shannon promises quarterly inspection visits and clearly does none, He never returns calls or picks up messages.
Pretends to be out the country but is seen hiding in Tesco car park .
Warning to any landlords thinking about using this company - check them out.
Address used buy them, Ascot house have never heard of them or Mr Shannon
the invisible man. It would seem that this company are intent on taking your money every month but do not do anything to earn it. Steer clear !