I am so relieved to see that I am not the only one who has had a bad experience using Belvoir Lettings. The Falkirk branch has consistently let me down in terms of service from the get-go.

Upon deciding to move out of the property, a letter of complaint was sent to the manager detailing everything that had gone on during the year and a half that I stayed in the flat. One major complaint was the presence of damp in our large storage cupboard. I was advised that, in order to keep it dry, I should remove the items in storage and also constantly keep the door open. Not an ideal situation. One of the other major complaints detailed in the letter was an issue with Scottish Gas. This problem started when I first moved in till only recently when I managed to pay off a sum of money that accumulated as a result of Belvoir's mistake. Upon moving in, I was told that I had a pre-pay meter which could be topped up by using the meter directly outside my front door. I was told that a fob would be delivered the very next day. What followed was a saga that involved numerous phone calls to Belvoir and also Scottish Power as I did not receive my fob to make payments. I did not have a landline so these calls added up and resulted in a very costly mobile phone bill. After over a month, I eventually received a fob and began topping up the meter. Despite this, I kept receiving letters from Scottish Power demanding payment and these eventually became threats for court action. I went to Belvoir for help but I felt that chasing up the query myself achieved faster results. After many, many phone calls, it was brought to my attention that I did not have a pre-pay meter at all, and that I had been paying into the next-door neighbour's home while I was running up a substantial bill myself. I ended up having to pay Scottish Power a large amount of money over a short period of time to make up for this error. This was of a great monetary strain for me.

Another major problem (about 6 months ago) was that I reported that my boiler had some sort of fault as I no longer had hot water. I was to go on holiday the next week, so not only did you have the few days before I left to go on holiday, you had that week while I was away to enter the property and investigate the problem. I gave permission over the phone for someone to let themselves in while the property was unoccupied. Upon returning from holiday, I checked to see if there was hot water and it was clear that there was not. I of course called Belvoir again to chase up the problem and I was told that the query had not been followed up on (reasons were not given). This meant that my query had been left without investigation for a total of 2 weeks. This was unacceptable, not to mention a great inconvenience after a flight.

Apart from the problem with our cupboard (which was addressed 4 weeks after the initial complaint) any query or complaint to Belvoir has simply been left unresolved, and the manager refuses to even meet with me! The letter detailing the list of complaints was described as 'frustrating' by the manager. I would advise anyone even thinking of renting a property from Belvoir to STAY AWAY. Even if they are in breach of contract (eg leaving you without hot water) they will use bully tactics to claw the money from you by any means possible