Challenger International, Bath

As our company closed at the end of December 2012 following nearly thirty successful years as we were all of retirement age. It seems that this person is being malicious as well as being somewhat out of date! It’s perfectly normal to use respected & insured professional cleaners at the end of each tenancy – who would want to rent a dirty flat? - Indeed this requirement was part of the high standards we offered to our new tenants and all our landlords alike – it was a selling point for which we were praised. All prospective tenants were advised of this requirement in plain English well before entering into any tenancy or paying one penny in rent or any other money to the company. It most certainly was not in any small print! It seems that this person who claims to be a professional (we note they do not say in what discipline) is unable to read simple and well presented paperwork. All such advice and information was printed under large headings on our invoices and a cooling off period of 24 hours was always given or over a weekend if presented on a Friday. It was also part of the tenancy agreement and set out very simply in the end of tenancy papers together with a helpful schedule and all the required telephone numbers and the order of sequence required. If this person’s bill was for over £500 it was most certainly not paid to the company but to the cleaning contractors directly. We did not have any commission or other benefit from any commercial contractors for cleaning at the end of a tenancy. To suggest otherwise is a deliberate lie. What does this person mean by "cash cow" - these comments are in reality entirely spurious and malicious which seems to be what this person has set out to do. This anonymous person has something to hide or is so ashamed of the false claims made that he or she has not given their name! The £500 expenditure mentioned just confirms the need of cleaning at the end of a tenancy and is a clear demonstration that the firm always ensured that houses and flats were cleaned up properly for the next tenant to enjoy. Over 5,000 tenancies were created in Bath during the years to December 2012 and very few had any genuine reason to complain about our services. It seems that the few people who have made so called "reviews" are only complaining about the genuine need to professionally clean the places they occupied at the end of their tenancy. Our small team of 3 long-term colleagues (each with at least 18 years service to our landlords) continue to meet and socialise as friends. Others who work and live elsewhere do keep in touch from time to time. We have trained many people over the years and a number of these are in Bath, London and elsewhere or abroad, most keep in contact from time to time.

CHALLENGER INTERNATIONAL LIMITED has been established since 1981. We grant many tenancies. This is a generalisation that seeks to complain about us - what is the actual complaint? Why not say what is the problem. Then at least we would be able to answer or deal with whatever this person has against our company. We seem to have a positive approach to maintenance but we also believe in beig responsible for whatever we do. Do not hide, but let us know what you are actually moaning about. Could it be that your comments are intended to try to damage our reputation in some way, What is your name? Why do you hide? Our web site is www bath445445.co.uk and our phone is 01225 445 445 - just let us know and we will reply in detail.

This person is known to us from the information provided. The high quality flat they occupied was in need of a lot of work at the end of their tenancy. The landlord had to reluctantly pay for a lot of damaged items. The good quality double bed was not new but in good order at the start of the tenancy - it was found to be broken badly and had to be replaced at the owners expense for the new tenant. There work in the bathroom was also paid for by the landlord although the damage was to the expensive gold plated taps and other fittings which had to be replaced as the tenant had damaged these beyond restoration by not caring for them pr using some corrosive substance that was so damaging as to cause pitting, the lavatory seat was broken too. The tenant did not pay for these damages but left the landlord hiigh and dry. There were many compaints about adult type music and general noise in the small hours and sub-letting too - things calmed down a little when their lovely baby arrived in the latter part of the two year tenancy. Items were abandoned on the communal stairs including a huge televison set and additional cleaning was required to meet our standards, the landord met most of the additional costs. We believed that the flat was sublet and the tenant tried to suggest that this was his baby which was most definately not the case! In fact it seemed there may have been several different adults there from time to time in addition to the two offcial residents. We refused to provide references which is something we do not like doing.

All of our calls are answered with CHALLENGER ESTATES Good afternoon or as appropriate.

It seems that this person did not ring the correct company. Suggest that you call again and explain what you are wishing to do.

Seems rather odd that you are complaining to a third party when you have not written to us to at least give us a chance to respond before making an annonymous complaint to a review site. CHALLENGER INTERNATIONAL LIMITED 01225 445 445 .

We responded to this person in 2011 as can be seen below but despite the passage of nearly 18 months, no response has been made, nor has the person explained who they are! It seems to us that in truth this person had to clean his property to the standard it was in when his or her teancny commenced, This surely is any agents proper duty? Why should a landlord have to clean up after his tenants? This student seems to believe that he can do as he pleases - this attitude can only give a bad name to all students. Most of our students are 100% great. What of the next tenant? This annonymous student has only set out to try to damage our business in some way as he had to clean up his own property. We do not own any of the property we let so the remark about cash cow tenants is not applicable. We remain old fashioned. We continue to uphold our tradtional values and retain many of our clients for well over twenty years. Not many businesses can make such a claim. We have tenants that have been with us for many years. Some of our former student tenants (we only have 8 student properties!) have become landlords and use us as their agents - so it seems that we are not quite as this person has suggested. Cleaning and repairs at the end of a tenancy is a burden for any tenant or landlord but this is perfectly normal. CHALLENGER INTERNATIONAL LIMITED 01225 445 445

Guest

Written on: 11/11/2011

Review of Challenger International, Bath

\"GOOD PRACTICE - MEANS CLEANING IS AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT\"

Challenger International do a good job and expect good standards. Challenger have a good range of properties and cleaning had to be done at the end of every tenancy which is reassuring to any new tenants. All reviews on this site are practically all complaints that relate to cleaning by students who are ex-tenants and these all appear to be people who dont want to pay for cleaning up their own mess that they leave behind leaving it for the unfortunate cleaners and the managing agent to sort out and pay for to the great inconvenience of any new tenants waiting to move in. It gives good students a bad name. All Challenger cleaning is a required arrangement that departing tenants have to organise with a variety of respected tried and tested, insured and long established professional companies or people. This is explained to each tenant before they commence a tenancy and detailed notes are provided. All tenants need to have a budget for cleaning. A few hundred pounds at the end of a year is not a lot when looking at a large four roomed flat. If students or other residents don't maintain property in good clean order during their tenancy, then its logical to assume that they will have high cleaning bills. Much of the expense needed can be reduced if the residents have high standards, but of course some things such as the carpets will have to be cleaned by professionals. The deep clean of the property at the end of a year or 2 years needs to be done properly so Challenger International insist that the tenant engages & pays for a cleaner that will do the work to high standards. The clealing conrtactors money is not paid to Challenger but to the contractor directly so if all is arranged by the tenant the agent is not involved. Challenger provide a helpful schedule for every departing tenant.

Cleaning arrangements are mandatory - its on the company's web site & part of the tenancy agreement terms and the agency terms and conditions in plain English for all to understand. Challenger even write to each of the parents of student tenants before the tenancy starts to advise them of the obligations for cleaning and of the charges that will arise. Challenger strive to maintain good standards for their clients’ property none of which they own.

Here is an unsolicited letter Challenger received on the 11th November 2011

Dear Challenger

Thank you so much for your swift reply, and thanks for sorting the deposit refund so quickly. I will deal with DPS directly if I have any questions or concerns. Thanks again for all your support over the years. You've been great agents and lovely people to deal with; I will continue to recommend your services to people looking for property in and around Bath. I also want you to know that I very much enjoyed my time at the flat. Wishing you success for the future, Jeremy

We have many tenants over a period of some 25 years. The anonymous commenter seems to have something to hide? If he or she had a genuine complaint, then let us see what that is and we will answer. It seems to us that this particular claimant has been charged for cleaning up a property at the end of a tenancy. Thankfully the vast majority of oure departing tenants who do all that is asked of them at the end of their tenancies. It is those who do not that are in the minority but cause the majority of probems, no new tenant wants to have a filthy property and we have high standards. Regretfully those who fail to do what has been clearly stated as their contractural duty have to pay others to resolve what they have left behind. We value our traditions and good service to all of our clients.

We cannot work out who KIRIT 91 is ? Annonymous complaints are not of much use as its abundantly clear that we cannot respond effectively. We have created literally thousands of tenancies in our 30 year history in Bath. Many of these people will have paid us by transfer which is FREE - we do not make charges for BANK DRAFTS - its the BANKS who do this, it seems that Kirit 91 is unable to grasp this factor. We often have to insist on a BANK DRAFT if there is no less than 10 working days to a new tenancy commencing. We cannot allow a new tenant possession of a property without CLEARED payments. Bankers Drafts are not 100% reliable but its the best we have on offer. Each new tenancy is dealt with on a bespoke basis and if there is a bank charge for this service why complain to Challenger as its the BANK that makes a charge - in any case the charge for a DRAFT is not a very large sum of money and seems quite reasonable for the special service that the bank provides. Had the complaining person given us a building society counter cheque it would be FREE - all of our Deposits are lodged with the DEPOSIT PROTECTION SERVICE and we ask prospective tenants to produce a bankers draft payable to "The Deposit Protection Service" and not Challenger as if a personal cheque was to be returned unpaid the Deposit Protection Service would charge the person who provided the DUD cheque to pay a sum of around £27 - we do not make up these rules. These are the facts. We are willing to comment further on this particular case if the person lets us know who they are and what tenancy they undertook. Thank you for the opportunity to be able to comment. We are a firm that is strict and that provides clear information on all of our terms and conditions and pro-forma invoices BEFORE we accept any payment at all, depending on circumstances, a cooling off time of 12 to 24 hours or over a weekend is usually, but not always, allowed before any payment is made or accepted.

When renting our property [name removed] specified that he would accept only a banker's draft for the deposit. Just a point to Challenger.

This person has remained annoymous but yet has chosen to mention the name of a member of our team. This firm only requires (as do all professional agents) a bankers draft for the intial payment, this could cost perhaps £15 ot £20 but this is a charge levied by the bank and not CHALLENGER! A building society cheque or a bank to bank transfer is also accepted, that is usually free of any charge - so why the complaint?? We know of no agent that would not require this. Naturally a bank reference is required for each tenant and most banks make a modest charge the applicant for a bank reference over which we as an agent have no control. The charge made by a bank is around £10 - hardly a great sum. We do our best to advise all of our applicants in an open and honest way. Our approved cleaners are professionals and will charge an appropriate rate. We use well tried and tested, insured and honest people to contract for our tenancies. We do not receive any commission from any of these firms who will provide estimates in most cases. The allegation that the firms we use charging more than they should is offensive. Our approved cleaners are either well established local firms who will do a thorough job, such as MOLLY MAID and ADVANCED CARPET CLEANING. There are no hidden costs but we do expect our departing tenants to clean the property to a high standard as it was when their tenancy commenced. That is a fair and proper arrangement. We are not afraid to state our name, why is this person remaining annonymous?

I found this review not helpful because th complaint appears to be of a general nature and is of course annonymous - it could well be an invented sour grapes type of complaint. If this person had large cleaning bills, then such bills are self expanatory - the place needed a good clean - the cost of carpet cleaning is fixed unless very dirty and most people will agree that Professioanl Carpet cleaning is essential at the end of a tenancy, we insist on using a respected responsible firm who are insured and operate from an office not a van. No one would want to rent a flat or house with uncleaned carpets, even if they looked clean, the windows inside and out are required to be cleaned at the end of every tenancy too. If there were other cleaning requirements why did these complaining persons not do the cleaning themselves? Deep professional cleaning of the interior is essential, particularly after a group of people have been living in a house. We have standards to maintain and we like to keep our property in good order. If people are complaining about cleaning then we are clearly doing our job properly. No-one wants to rent a dirty home. Challenger International have been respected business people in Bath for many years having been incorporated in 1981. We usually find that those who complain are those who leave property in a very poor condition, thankfully of the thousands of tenancies we have created during the past 30 years, there are only a few. We still act for our very first clients. Its in our interests to deal with all matters as soon as we can for as agents we can make a management charge to our landlord client to deal with repairs - we would be rather silly to turn away revenue. If nothing happens for some reason, then the tenant can email or call us as a reminder. We have a message service and that's on at all times. Each tenant is also given a list of emergency numbers for service outside of our opening times. Annonymous complainants have usually more to hide than their names! We will respond in writing and in full detail to any specific complaint. We are proud to have strict cleaning requirements, its what we are all about.

I found this review not helpful because because th complaint appears to be of a general nature and is of course annonymous - it could well be an invented sour grapes type of complaint. They say the house needed sorting out and that is no doubt why this person had large cleaning bills, then such bills are self expanatory - the place needed a good clean - the cost of carpet cleaning is fixed unless very dirty and most people will agree that Professioanl Carpet cleaning is essential at the end of a tenancy, we insist on using a respected responsible firm who are insured and operate from an office not a van. No one would want to rent a flat or house with uncleaned carpets, even if they looked clean, the windows inside and out are required to be cleaned at the end of every tenancy too. If there were other cleaning requirements why did these complaining persons not do the cleaning themselves? Deep professional cleaning of the interior is essential, particularly after a group of people have been living in a house. We have standards to maintain and we like to keep our property in good order. If people are complaining about cleaning then we are clearly doing our job properly. No-one wants to rent a dirty home. Challenger International have been respected business people in Bath for many years having been incorporated in 1981. We usually find that those who complain are those who leave property in a very poor condition, thankfully of the thousands of tenancies we have created during the past 30 years, there are only a few. We still act for our very first clients. Its in our interests to deal with all matters as soon as we can for as agents we can make a management charge to our landlord client to deal with repairs - we would be rather silly to turn away revenue. If nothing happens for some reason, then the tenant can email or call us as a reminder. We have a message service and that's on at all times. Each tenant is also given a list of emergency numbers for service outside of our opening times. Annonymous complainants have usually more to hide than their names! We will respond in writing and in full detail to any specific complaint. We are proud to have strict cleaning requirements, and to be old fashioned with old fashioned standards- its what we are all about.

i refer to the response from Challenger to this review. It says all you need to know about what a nighmare of a letting agency this firm is. Avoid!

I found this review not helpful because the complaint appears to be of a general nature and is of course annonymous - it could well be an invented sour grapes type of complaint. The remarks made by this person are themselves irrational in the extreme. There is not one specific thing mentioned. Just a few remarks that may have been found in their thesaurus. as a firm how can be be uncouth, irrational etc. We perhaps were inefficient if this person was a bad tenant, we give all of our applicants a set of terms and conditions before they even visit a flat for a viewing, these are in our office on the front desk - we have nothing to hide unlike the annonymous complaint. We have efficient employees and sub contractors most of whom have been with or working with us for many years. Yes it is true that all our tenants are required to clean up their property during and at the end of every tenancy. Deep professional cleaning of the interior is essential, particularly after a group of people have been living in a house, we have many a tale to tell, our job is to deal with such matters. We have standards to maintain and we like to keep our property in good order, the University Welfare office will warn all students of our requirements - these are also stated on our web pages. If people are complaining about cleaning then clearly we are doing our job efficiently - no one wishes to rent a dirty home. Challenger International have been respected business people in Bath for many years having been incorporated in 1981. We usually find that those who complain are those who leave property in a very poor condition, thankfully of the thousands of tenancies we have created during the past 30 years, there are only a few. We still act for our very first clients. Its in our interests to deal with all matters as soon as we can, for as agents we can make a management charge to our landlord client to deal with repairs - we would be rather silly to turn away revenue. If nothing happens for some reason, then the tenant can email or call us as a reminder. We have a message service and that's on at all times. Each tenant is also given a list of emergency numbers for service outside of our opening times. Annonymous complainants have usually more to hide than their names - this is why they are non-specific and also in case we discover who they are! We will respond in writing and in full detail to any specific complaint. Deposits have always been held by our landlords or under a third party even before it became law, there is a dispute service thats free of charge too. We are proud to have old fashioned values and strict cleaning requirements, its what we are all about.