Due to my previous landlord dying, we were forced to move last September. The bungalow we moved to was superb for EXACTLY ONE WEEK! The heavens opened and the Belvoir inspectors concluded it was condensation. Which I answered with credulity! Turns out to be a leaky roof and a roofer was duly summoned. Whatever he did, the problem has not gone away. My wife and I have recently been demanded to attend a meeting at the local Belvoir office regarding the state of the property and was accused of not maintaining standards. I have enquired about compensation.As personal property has been been destroyed.They have turned nasty and personal. To the point of asking my wife if she takes a bath! Family forewarned me about Belvoir But we had no choice. It was either that or a hostel.

I rented my house out with the Bolton branch to 2 tenants who were living there with a child, for a 12 month contract, which specified that no pets be allowed in the property. I provided 4 months’ notice for the end of the lease and, it became apparent, closer to the date, that the tenants were struggling to find a place to move to as they were purchasing a house and had not planned accordingly to account for any delays. We had to keep chasing the agency for an update about what was happening and, by this stage, it was too late to extend our contract where we were currently staying or to find another place to stay. The agent we were dealing with in particular, the director of the office, was always out of the office and would either take a very long time to respond by email/calling or would ignore. When he would eventually respond, he was unable to offer any updates and there was absolutely no urgency in chasing the matter or communicating what was happening to us. He kept asking us whether we could extend our contract, which was not possible, probably as he was too lazy to do his job and also so he could potentially try to get a couple of months’ extra commission. When it did get to the stage of my partner and I having nowhere to live, despite providing 4 months’ notice, and having to look into pursuing a legal eviction, he also had no knowledge of how to proceed and said this would just be something that we had to sort ourselves, with no guidance on the matter. In the end, we spoke directly with the tenant, who was also difficult to get hold of, as we did not trust that he was actually following up with them on his end. We spent the entirety of the past month and a half chasing the agency and the tenant for an update, and were prepared to go ahead with legal proceedings on the end date of the tenancy. Fortunately, the tenant managed to secure a new place a couple of days after the end of the tenancy. However, the whole process was incredibly frustrating and upsetting, being so difficult to get an answer from the agency or any advice. My partner and I would not have had anywhere to move and were uncertain of how to even plan our future, plus had to spend a lot of time chasing the office when we both work full-time and have other commitments. The agent would also say one thing on the phone and then contradict himself later in an email. Even the day of the move out, he had promised that he would be at the property in the morning to complete the check-out and return the keys by midday but did not contact myself or my partner on the day to keep us updated. My partner rang the office and he said he didn’t know what was happening, which made absolutely no sense. After a great deal of chasing, we managed to pin it down to 3pm. My partner and I work full-time and yet we had to keep chasing. He seemed to think we should just be at the mercy of his disorganised schedule (if one actually even exists). We kept having to chase right up until the end when it should have been a simple, transparent process. He had no sense of caring about his role, or even basic competency and communication skills, when supposedly acting as an agent on my behalf. I have now also discovered that, from several neighbours to the property, that the terms of the contract were actually violated and there were 8 residents living there, along with a dog. This would have been picked up on, had the inspection checks been carried out correctly. I was sent a monthly inspection check by the agency and yet it’s become evident that they did absolutely nothing - not even the bare minimum - to warrant their commission on the property. Furthermore, we were assured by the agent that the tenant would pay for the days extended beyond the contract end date and we have had to chase this yet again, with no update received. If you want a lot of unnecessary hassle and stress, a negligent agency that does not work in your best interests, a complete lack of communication and competency, and a breach of contract, then go ahead and use Belvoir. If I could give zero or even minus stars, I would! Avoid at all costs!!