Westken Estates www.westken.co.uk

My girlfriend and I rented a flat in West Kensington with another couple through Westken Estates. As soon as they had our money, our experience was terrible. They are reluctant to reply to emails and calls are vetted by a receptionist so you never speak to anyone useful. Promises to return your call are rarely kept.

They didn't carry out an inventory and were not present when we moved in, but at the end of the tenancy they claimed that the flat was left "filthy" and tried to charge us £150 for cleaning. Luckily we had cleaned the flat thoroughly and taken plenty of photos to prove it. This was in stark contrast to when we moved in - the flat was dirty and not cleaned but we eventually gave up trying to get them to sort it out and cleaned it ourselves. Speaking to other tenants in the same building, this opportunistic £150 charge is a part of their normal procedure, whether you clean the flat or not.

We eventually gave up on trying to contact Westken and dealt with the landlord direct, who was in fact entirely reasonable (though completely eccentric!) The major problems came when we moved out. After giving a month's notice to Westken and the landlord we arranged a moving out date via email AND phone. Nobody from Westken arrived to collect the keys or carry out a check-out inspection, despite us being assured that someone would. We were told over the phone by their office to leave the keys in the flat, which we did. Big mistake! Several weeks after this we had an email from E.G., the man who seems to be in charge of the whole operation, claiming that we hadn't yet moved out and would be charged for several weeks' extra rent! They claimed that we were keeping extra sets of keys, and threatened to charge us for replacing the locks in the entire building.The accusations continued, and got out of control, to the extent that Garmen threatened to charge us for replying to our emails when we attempted to defend ourselves. Thankfully, we took this to the deposit protection service, provided full evidence of when we moved out and the condition of the flat, and have now received our deposit in full.

Please be extremely careful with this company. It's hard enough to find somewhere decent and affordable to live in London, so you often don't have much choice when it comes to agencies. If you're forced to go with Westken, play EVERYTHING by the book - only correspond by email and save copies of everything. Take detailed, dated photos when you move in and insist that someone is there at checkout. They will be unresponsive and negligent so you will have to go the extra mile to cover yourself. Make sure your deposit is protected and don't stand for any unreasonable or extra charges. We're now living in Yorkshire and have had a wonderful, professional, friendly service from the agency we dealt with. It has only served to remind us of how bad Westken are.

Over the two years that we lived in the flat I did have some email replies from E.G., the man in charge. Strangely enough, the few positive reviews on this site are written in a strange stilted English extremely similar to that in his emails. What a coincidence!

I am glad I met with westken estates. I have secured my property on line from France before I arrived to London. It was a great time and money saving. Actually I have a little concern if the property would be the same as seen on the pictures despite they told me the pictures of the property was up to date. However it was even more then I would imagine when I arrived to the property on the 1st of April. But only the hot water. They send the engineer with 30 minutes but I find out it was me who did not turn on the boiler. I will stay here until I turn back to France.

Angel

I was told on Saturday that we would be invited in on Saturday afternoon or Monday morning to sign for a property. I then phoned back on Monday morning and the person who was dealing with the property was away but would phone me back in the afternoon. I phoned again Tuesday morning and was told that he is not in yet but somebody would be in contact with me. I phoned again on Tuesday afternoon and was told the property had been let to somebody else! I asked the lady how this could of happened and she called me a liar saying that i could not of been offered an appointment on Saturday. I asked her whether the calls were recorded and she said yes, but she refused to listen to it. I asked to come and discuss it with them and was told that it was private property and i would not be welcome.. All i can say is that in my experience westken are unprofessional in showing properties to 10 people at a time so you have to wait outside in the cold for 30 minutes after the time you agreed to view it. And they will also say and do anything to get a sale. I hope people read this as i have only just started spreading the news and hope people avoid these agents as its the worst experience i have ever had.

We let a flat via West Ken estates from January 2010 - Febraury 2011. Before seeing flats with them, I was super hesitant as I had read tons of horrible, negative reviews online. Yes, some things that they do are a little peculiar.... but in the end, we received a great flat.

My fiance and I went to see another flat on Barons Court Road with the estate agent. She met us outside and showed us the flat. It looked like there were some works happening in the building, as there was plastic tarp down on the floor of the entryway. Besides that, the flat was great (despite the tube right outside the back window). It was a cute studio flat for 200 pounds a week.

We walked with her to see another flat on Avonmore Road, and there was another couple waiting there to see it, too. A bit strange - as I'm not used to group appointments. We weren't actually able to see the flat, as there was some mixup with the keys and the estate agent had the wrong set.

Because we needed to move straight away, my fiance and I ended up putting in an application for the Barons Court flat. We emailed over the required application information and that was that.

When it came time to do the deposit, etc., we met at Westken's offices. Yes, it does look like the front room of a house near Paddington in a small mews. I was a bit uneasy in paying then to receive keys later, and all that stuff. We had one issue when signing out lease about our cat. We were told verbally that the cat would be okay, but when it came down to sign everything, we were being charged about an extra month’s rent in case the cat ‘damaged anything.’ We came to a solution that we would sign the lease, as is, and pretend we didn’t have a cat. If the cat messed anything up, we would be liable. It felt a bit sneaky, but honestly – she was an indoor cat. What could she do?

We came back a few days later and picked up our keys, and that was that.

We didn’t have any other encounters with the letting agency during our tenancy.

We rented a flat from Westken in Bayswater and it was the worst six months of renting I have ever experienced. They would never respond to any problems we reported and made up lies. There were cockroaches in the unit from the time we moved in and when we reported it they would not do anything about it. They claimed that there were none when we moved in and that it must have been because we kept the place dirty (we did not and we saw the cockroaches in the week we moved in). They then made threats to us claiming we were breaking the conditions of our lease by having extra people living there which was not true. The day our 6 month lease expired we moved straight out into a different unit through a much better real estate agent.

After I have reserved my flat online without viewing it. On my arrival the flat was exactly seen on the pictures and the description.

As they have been very attentive and answered all of my questions, they sent me all of the necessary information I needed to rent a flat.

Their online application system was so easy I could upload all of my references online from where I was, within minutes. Very shortly my application was accepted well before then the time limit.

After then I saw this website by chance and became terrified by some of the negative reviews. As I had already transferred the monies online. I was not sure what to expect.

So far everything was perfect with my dealing and I realized previous reviews were probably misleading or written by people who were rejected those were not fit to rent a flat.

It is not only my experience but all my neighbors are very happy with Westken's services. Even some of them have been staying in their flats more then 6-7 years.

I told to my self I must right about my headache free experience with Westken against to this negative reviews those disturbed me unnecessarily.

I can recommend them to anyone without a doubt.

I have just rented my flat from westken estates. I am amazed with their efficiency, professional and reliable services.

All I can say is westken estates is the best if you are looking to rent a property.

The apartment I have rented is also perfect.

Angel and Arno xxx

I will never suggest anyone to deal with Westken Estate.. The most unprofessional agency ever!!!

My worse experience ever!

They don't reply emails.

They lie about phone calls, "forgetting" half of them. They try to manipulate you.

They ignore you for weeks and start to put pressure on you when they realize they are loosing money.

They would not let you see the flat or give you any proof that it is given in good conditions, when the first viewing, a month ago, happened when the former tenant was still living there.

They give you a rental agreement where they state that the Landlord is a company who seem more than suspicious.

The rental agreement is full of grammar mistake, which prove they can't be bothered.

They are not professional.

I wish I had never been in contact with them.

they require an appointment if you need to visit their office which i never seen with any other estate agent. they never answer phones after phones after 6:30pm

while many other agents even arranging viewings for the properties till 8 and 9 pm. i called and remind them why they are not answering the phone and arranging viewings for properties after 7 pm. they came up with a funny answer such as we are not a letting agent we are a property management company. We don't have a viewing after 7 pm but we have 24 hours emergency services to the tenants currently residing at our properties. How can they say we are not a letting agent while they have listed many rental properties on their website in many areas.

I have called them many times in order to arrange a viewing for a property which is just near my work place i was seriously interested however due to my late shift they never been able to give me appointment. when i called on Saturday to see the flat t earlier time in the day. They said the flat has been taken. This is not acceptable to say that someone who called at least 10 times to visit this flat.

I can not give this agent more then 1 star while many professional agents our there.