Hotblack Desiato Estate Agents, London

Don't know where to start, but every bad review that has been written in the hundreds of other bad reviews is true and has happened to us.

Within the first month of our tenancy we noticed that the paint was chipping in the bedroom. We contacted Hotblack and very little was done, not even any sort of apology or accountability. It took them a month to send in a painter, who on arrival said "I hope it is not the wall in the bedroom that they have sent me to look at?" - It was.

He advised us that it was not a paint issue and that there is in fact mould and damp within the wall. He then went on to explain that he had made them aware many times of this issue, especially before we had moved in. He advised that Hotblacks response to him before we moved in was "Doesn't matter, just paint over it and look pretty". So the fact that they (Hotblack) were aware of this issue before we moved in and did not mention it is remarkable to say the least. We were tenants for just under two years and not once during that tenancy was there any sort of apology or efforts to resolve this, neither from Hotblack or the landlord.

None of the issues in the house were ever fixed. Expect constant emails (as many others have stated) and issues trying to get your deposit. We had the property professionally cleaned before leaving and they still billed us for their "professional cleaners" as they said our standard was not theirs, which is odd because when we moved in there were stains in and around the toilet (won't go into detail), dust everywhere, pieces of food in the oven and mouldy food under the cabinets. So again, we are not sure to this day what their "professional cleaners" standard is.

We could go on but again, all other reviews have said it all. If you receive an email  stay well away and ask to speak with someone else. Her name and others are mentioned in many reviews and there is a reason for that. Her dad is the director/owner so it explains a lot, you know the type.

We handed in our notice on a Friday afternoon, the following Monday she had emailed asking if we can let people in to view the property the next day (Tuesday). We advised that we were away that week and that we would need to reschedule. Her response was "So let me confirm that you are refusing people to view the property as we will need to advise the landlord of this", we responded with "No, we are not refusing. We are away and will need to reschedule as we have just mentioned in our previous email". This is the type of email and communication that will be constant. Again - AVOID.

Awful service and they should be ashamed to mention "approachable and trustworthy estate agent" on their site.

As I never write reviews, I hope this will underline my dissatisfaction with Hotblack Desiato (HD) and its employees.

Renting an apartment from HD has been a nightmare. When moving in, we struggled with leakages for half a year in the kitchen and one bedroom, which the apartment had been struggling with for years according to our neighbors (which the agents won’t tell you about on viewing). When moving out, our main contact, are deducting unnecessary costs from our deposits and forcing through viewings while we’re in the apartment. I would highly suggest to burn your contract if the his name is written on it - you will not regret it.

All the nightmare-stories you’ve heard about renting apartments is guaranteed to be a reality with Hotblack Desiato. I would rather increase the amount I pay for an apartment and rent through a different company, rather than renting cheaper through Hotblack Desiato. They WILL deduct you money and you WILL spend countless hours on telephone and emails with them.

Instead of a tenant they got a man who used the premises as a brothel. They verbally said not to worry about the fee for finding my next tenant. When I was in a position to rent again they reneged on this offer and wanted to charge me the full amount for finding a new tenant. Naturally I have not engaged with them since and would never do so in future.They even wrote to me recently after seeing my property online and offered me a `deal;. No waiver of fees was offered. I lost 6 months rent after trying to evict the brothel keeper. If you choose these people to act for you do not be surprised if you end up in the same position

I have water that keeps on leaking from one of their tenants.

They refuse to get me the manager, refuse to follow complaints process. Terrible agency.

This outfit conform beautifully to the estate agent stereotype. They appear professional, organised and trustworthy right up until the deal is done. They don’t pay bills or carry out maintenance and will cheerfully lie to your face. When I called one of the contractors used by them directly to ask why work hadn’t been done he stated it was because Hotblack hadn’t paid the bill for a year.

This lot have no interest in your interests – they just want to collect their fee. Avoid.

Where to start... Unfortunately I don't have several weeks to write this review so I'll have to focus only on the particularly outrageous behaviour, since literally every single thing which could have been shambolic about their conduct came to sickening, disgusting fruition - nasty, rotten fruits made from deceit, unprofessionalism, and unaccountability.

 We were told upon viewing a property that the leak in one of the bedrooms was just a stain, and that it would be sorted before we moved in if we accepted the flat. Obviously not. Super leaky for 1 entire year. They blamed the council, council blamed them - round and round it goes, meanwhile my health is deteriorating in a damp, mouldy, smelly room. The only action we saw in response to our leak for the first 6 month of the tenancy was for them to send some  contractor round with 2 huge sheets of MDF. He proceeded to build a new wall over the top of the other one, by loosely nailing these sheets of MDF over the top. Needless to say this buckled immediately and let the leak through anyway. Nice one guys. We did eventually get 3 months of half price rent as compensation (and that was only after we were forced to sign a letter saying we'd never ask for or receive any more compensation after that)... thanks Hotblack, I've never seen such unabridged generosity.

Next, they hire INCOMPETENT SEMI-LITERATES to do their shady bidding. There's nothing wrong with a person being less intelligent than another, but when said stupidity starts making life very difficult for tenants, that's where I'd draw the line. We had the displeasure of having to liaise with a semi-literate sandwich for the whole of our tenancy regarding any problems we had. Fortunately for her we got along okay (all things considered), and I showed her mercy for the most part of the tenancy. I wish I hadn't been so kind. When it came to returning our deposits at the end of the tenancy, we were at odds regarding what was a fair amount to return. Considering the nightmare Hotblack had already put us through, and the condition of the property when we left, we were expecting all of our deposits back. They had other plans, and a discussion ensued regarding the nature of the charges. After about 10 emails from me to her asking for a detailed breakdown of how much we were being charged and why, I still had not been given a straight answer, instead she sent over a series of confused invoices from various cleaners, inventory companies etc., and a completely different and very none conclusive figure each time. After literally months of this, my other housemate (who was not part of the discussion between me and Hotblack) decided he no longer cared, and needed the money back more than he needed a breakdown of what he was getting back. So, independently he contacted her and asked for his part of the deposit back into his account. Meanwhile I was still far from satisfied with the answers I was getting from Hotblack, and very much still in discussion about it. At this point I should point out that Hotblack had no idea what my relationship with my ex-housemate was, and for some reason they then decided to send the entire of our remaining deposit to him. A series of emails and about 2 months later, and I STILL haven't managed to get my deposit back from my old housemate, and Hotblack have until now STILL refused to accept responsibility or even apologise for this.

So, now I'm £800 out of pocket, with no prospect of that changing any time soon, and through no fault of my own. Hotblack won't do anything about it, and I'm going to have to take my old housemate to small claims court to retrieve it.

DISGUSTING ETHICS AND BUSINESS PRACTICES, NO ACCOUNTABILITY, AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

I have rented properties in London for more than 10 years and I never found such cunning and unprofessional agents in my entire rental experience. I was waiting for more than a year to have some issues repaired and they only sent someone to fix those one month before I left the property. They do not get back to emails or phone calls, even chasing them every 2 days. They put so many inconveniences to refund you the deposit, i.e. asking you for money for things that are obviously aged in the house and they ask you to repay it, ... I would never ever use them again and would not recommend them AT ANY TIME.

My partner and I had the worst experience with Hotblack Desiato Islington last weekend. We had an appointment to see two properties. The agent who made the appointments was in the office on the day but did not find it necessary to even greet us. Another staff member made us sit down and wait for an agent who would be coming in "5 minutes". After 30 minutes the person showed up. Getting into her dirty car we had to drive to another office to pick up the keys for the properties we were about to see.

On the way she told us that her workload was ridiculous and that her colleagues assume she is "superwoman" to schedule all these appointments. Casually, she mentioned that out of the two properties we made appointments for, one was not available. Apparently, the landlord did not want any more viewings. No one thought it necessary to inform us in advance about this. When we arrived at the apartment we could not believe the "professionalism" of the agent and the whole procedure was topped when the keys did not fit and the doors could not be unlocked.

So in the end we were not able to see any apartments and we were speechless about wasting our afternoon like this. There was not alternative offered to have a different viewing or see another place. Going back to the agency office to voice our disappointment we were cut off by an agent who wanted to close the door in our face. He was neither open for feedback nor did he apologize on behalf of his colleagues or the agency. I cannot emphasize enough on how unprofessional, superficial and ridiculous this agency is and can only advise to stay away from ever contacting them.

I am glad their slogan is "providing a high quality personal service combined with knowledge and expertise".

When I had my property valued by Hotblack Desiato I definately found them the most professional and friendly; they had extensive knowledge of the local area and market. Despite having higher valuations from other agents I decided to go with Hotblacks, they got a lot of people through the door and were open and honest in their feedback in why it hadn't been let yet, I made a few small changes to the flat and ended up getting over the asking price and good tenants. Have since let another of my properties through them and will continue to use them.

I saw over half a dozen agents and chose Hotblack Desiato as they were very professional in a low-key way (took time to listen to me, didn't boast or try to scare me with stories about the market). I got the impression they knew the local area and really cared about my sale. Within 4 weeks of appointing them I had a cash offer I was very happy with, and Hotblack worked hard to keep things moving right till completion.

A few weeks ago, I got a follow-up call from a large estate agents who asked me in quite a sniffy way how things were going ('Hotblack who??' he said, 'Never heard of 'em'). When I told them I'd sold at a price way above what this agency had said my property was worth, he was so annoyed, he hung up the phone. Definitely made the right choice!