Tyne & Country

I used this agent to sell my house and they valued the house at £285k. I questioned their valuation as it seemed high as asked them to look into it again. They amended it to £280k and were confident this was the correct asking price. They are the local agent in the area so I assumed they know the area best. We got very few viewings after weeks of little progress we were asked “what would you like to do?” As they are supposed to be the professionals I was hoping they would guide me, instead we felt we had to then come up with a price and we dropped it to £260k. Still very few viewings. I then got other agents from out of the area to value the property and was told it was vastly over priced and should be listed for £220k. I totally lost confidence in this agent and served notice to end the contract. I found the manager to be wholly unprofessional and would use the words huffy and stroppy with a very bad attitude. The day after our contract ended, the property was still listed on Rightmove and their Website, preventing another agent from listing it. I had to call and let them know that as our contract had ended I wanted it removed with immediate effect. We went on to sell the property with another agent for £215k. They were off by a whole £70k and wasted months of our time.

So, that was that….

I now have my eye on a property I would like to buy which is being listed with Tyne and Country. I tried to arrange a viewing on this a few weeks ago, and it was painful giving my details over the phone, having to repeat myself several times. I asked some basic information such as what state of repair the property was in and why they were so few photos. I was told by the person I was speaking to that they couldn’t give me that information because they hadn’t been in the property. Fair enough, but most people would find this out. Arranging a viewing was also painful. I had to chase up several times because they hadn’t come back to me. Eventually, I gave up! I did not view this property. More recently the property has been reduced so I tried to arrange a viewing again. The person I spoke to asked for the postcode (if the postcode is not listed on the advert, why would you expect me to know this!), they didn’t seem to know the area and asked which office was selling it. I called the correct office, I called direct from Rightmove where the property is listed. I was on a bad line so called back with the full address as they stated it on the listing and was cut off. I almost felt this was deliberate.

I don’t know how this agent manages to sell anything. I have had a bad experience as both a seller and a buyer and would avoid them at all costs.

Had been waiting to view a property that was under renovation, was told would be unable to view until they had completed works. I stressed we were very keen to view as it was the only place that met our specific needs and we were told we would be contacted asap. A few days later, checking up on progress I call to find it has already been viewing and a deposit taken. Terrible service.

irresponsible, unprofessional, they wrote the wrong detail in the contract, and provided something that not what I want. need to stop the contract and I can't get any refund. they made a mistake on the contract and let me to take the responsibility at the last. Finally I got nothing and lost my money!

Unprofessional. Rented with them for several years. Not flexible when after hours or weekend appointments are required. Allow contractors to access the property without informing the tenant. No relationship with landlords, i.e. tenants' request are not being processed in a timely and efficient manner. Repairs are carried out by friends of the staff, rather than professionals. Periodic inspections take about 5 minutes and inspecting member of staff shows no interest in possible issues. Annual gas service is being carried out with up to 6 months delay. Avoid.

I have rented a property with them for nearly five years, but I can't and won't recommend them to anyone for several reasons:

1. They seem overwhelmed with the amount of tenants they have to deal with, and in my particular case they have no relationship and hence no regular contact with the landlord of the property that they're letting.

2. We provided them with issues that need fixing and in all those years they only fixed one issue. The windows in the property were are old and needed replacing. They did replace ONE (!) of them in the kitchen, and they did this in our absence. They entered the property while we were away for the weekend and didn't even bother to inform us. When I confronted them, I was told that the contractor that they had hired to sort the window hadn't told them that he'd sort it while we were away.

3. This list of repair issues mentioned above was to the agency about 10 months after I have moved in. Since then issues have been added but bar the window none of the other issues have been sorted. However, as soon as I am behind with cutting the grass, I receive phone calls/emails with suggestions who to contact to get my garden sorted. Needless to say, all suggestions are friends and/or family of the staff working in the branch. I work full time and I am expected to put a holiday in for every inspection, as they show hardly any flexibility when it comes to arranging appointments around my working hours.

4. According to our tenancy agreement an inspection every 3 months is mandatory. In the first 1,5 nobody came to check on us at all. Once the inspections started, they lasted 5 minutes. In and out, not questions asked. But they expected me to take time off from work .. for a 5 minute look around.

5. Over 5 years we have always been complimented by them on what reliable and clean tenants we are, and how they never have any bother with us. Upon moving out I was informed however that I hadn't cleaned the property properly and that they have to get a cleaner in, i.e. they'd take this money off our bond. This is an utter disgrace as I have cleaned the property and even if I had left it in a right state, it would still have looked better than it did when we moved in. When I confronted the woman about the actual state of the house when we moved in (no carpets, food and medical waste in and around the kitchen, dirt on the walls, pet excrement in the kitchen not-working cooker etc etc) I was informed that they shouldn't have let the property out in the first place as the condition it was in was hazardous. Rather than explaining themselves, they pushed the blame on a co-worker who no longer works there and ended up telling me that it was my responsibility because I decided to take the house in this state.

As it has turned out now, the property that we used to rent is going up for sale, and the landlady is coming up from London to check the state of it. It seems that the estate agents who are aware of the issue that they haven't fixed are now concerned about being taken to court for not keeping up with their duties.

I hope that we might have been an exception, but we have been very much let down by Tyne & Country estate agents. Avoid them if you can.