Tenancy review for 37 Alan Moss Road in Loughborough Storer, Loughborough rented from Victoria Partridge rented via Donkey Digs

Landlord rating: 1

The landlord was rude, and at times unbearable taking no responsibility for anything wrong with her property always passing the blame onto other people. Often being argumentative, painful and challenging. She was so so horrible and should not be allowed property or control over any property. She is clearly only in it for quick money.

This puts a bad name on the letting agency “donkey digs” when primarily it was the landlord being a horrible person and a poor landlord borderline slumlord. Her HMO licence should be revoked.

I would urge all to not rent from this landlord and the letting agency to have them removed from their portfolio. Formal complaints will be lodged with the council and University.

Agency rating: 5

Once the agency took over management of the property it somewhat improved. It was still challenging to get things done in a timely manner. But largely the team were far more helpful and nicer. Deposit wasn't protected until the agency took over.

Property rating: 3

Dirty:
When we first moved into the property it was dirty with old tenants items still in cupboards the oven had not been cleaned nor had the grease trap above the oven. Fire alarms were not working and the house alarms despite it being advertised as a property with alarms were also not working. Both the front and back gardens were ridiculously overgrown. We didn’t receive all of our keys and were informed one set was with the old tenants making security and significant concern for us as the tenants the landlord however seemed unfazed and frankly uncaring of the security of the property. We however continued on and cleaned the property top to bottom having to rearrange rooms so they were comfortable and habitable. We didn’t realise it was going to get worse as the year went on.

Poor conditions:
When the temperature began to drop we quickly realised it was impossible to heat the house due to “vents” being installed in every room allowing a consistent flow of freezing cold air through the property. No matter how long we had the heating on for the house just never heated up. This eventually resulted in a build-up of mould due to poor living conditions. We reported our concerns to the landlord and this was met with “Don’t dry your clothes in the house” which we already didn’t do.

A shelf near miss:
A shelf was poorly fixed to a wall resulting in it nearly falling onto myself. When reported to the landlord they responded with a rather poor tone and did not fix the issue only blaming me for moving my bed to be near the shelf. The landlord demanded we move the furniture back. We were entitled to move the furniture and refused. Knowing she didn’t have a leg to stand on the landlord said no more on the matter but began to get more and more difficult as the year progressed.

Mould on mattress:
Mattresses to start with were in horrendous condition. But due to the mould build-up on the property mattresses became mouldy as did some of the bed slats. When this was reported the landlord responded with this isn’t their problem and that the tenants are responsible for all mattress cleaning fees, she also put the blame onto a mattress topper I had purchased so I didn’t have to lay on a dirty mattress. As the initial mould in the property was never investigated this was the responsibility of the landlord. Luckily at this point, the letting agents stepped in and cleaned the mattress free of charge.

Rude to neighbours:
The fence (the responsibility of our landlord) had fallen down and the neighbours had dogs. The landlord was rather rude about and to the neighbours who simply asked her to fix the fence. When she refused the tool it upon themselves and the landlord was not happy with the option either.

Area rating: 7

The neighbours were great. Really kind and welcoming only reason why it isn’t full stars is the busy road and the house had huge holes in it so you could hear everything from a bird sneezing to a car going past. It’s also on route for all emergency services made worse by the holes in the side of the house in the form of “vents”.