Central Estate Agents

Context: we were 2 working professionals working long hours, one of us worked overseas on projects so was away from time to time for 2-8 week projects.

We rented a property from them for a 24 mth period, within this period we encountered several issues with the property incl:

Damp/mould

A broken front door (that would not lock at all at one point)

The damp: this appeared after the summer we moved into the property and literally covered all of our possessions within the property, including most soft furnishings (clothes/rugs/sofa/bedding), and even damaged a book/magazine collection - all had to be disposed of. It caused lung & breathing problems within the second it was that bad). Central failed to act on this and told us this was due to excessive moist due to our own actions. This was without any inspection btw. It was a huge loss to us and costly when having to buy antibiotics and inhalers to help breathe again. In the second summer they had a damp proofing just to the exterior walls of the property - still the problem lied with the wall's cavity and the interior walls... Which was never examined!

The front door: (this is quite a rare case), we had issues with the front door locking due to the door being a. old, b. weather beaten, so in the winter months the door wouldn't lock properly. We noted this to Central in the first Winter we had (no-one from Central got back to us within a reasonable time frame, we would have to go through 3 members of staff to just get a response e-mail), consequently we were then burgled (and had Police certification to verify this) and it still this wasn't a priority with Central, however they eventually sent someone out to look at the door who trimmed down the section with the most expansion due to the damp weather (We could lock the door again)! But no apology from Central or the landlord, no regard for our welfare whatsoever... Spring/summer arrives and passes again, and Winter is upon us for the second time, the door expanded even more which in the first instance of this we contacted Central anxious to have it fixed or replaced - who completely ignored us... The door got to a state where it wouldn't close, to which one evening after encountering high winds we woke up after hearing a banging noise (the wind had blew open the door) as the door was just ajar into the door frame. This was still no matter for Central! They would not get back to us, and when they did they said that they're waiting for the landlord's response with this generic email, never written in full response, never expressed an inch of compassion or with any sense of urgency, we would wait weeks for a response email. We kept everything in writing (with the occasional phone call and visit to their office in E17) and photographed the conditions as the got worse.

After exhausting our communications, we tried a tactic (as a last resort, we refused to pay rent, we informed them of this and wrote an email complaining about their lack of respect for us, our welfare and the property they're supposed to be managing. They eventually 'managed' the landlord to invest in a decent front door.

It's absolutely disgusting behaviour - this should not exist but it does. I would NEVER recommend using these vile people... They do a great act of acting all nice at the beginning, once that contract is signed (you're doomed if you encounter a situation like ours).

While they may only charge 10% a year for their fee they are so incredibly slow or non existent about getting back you to about queries or requirements for your property when you have tenants. Horrific service.