Heaton Property, Newcastle upon Tyne

I have mixed opinions of the agents. At first they seemed friendly and helpful but as time wore on it was fairly clear that they represented the interests of the landlord ahead of the tenant. Any negotiations were carried out on the basis of the agents having superior knowledge of property law and related matters, and the director was rather arrogant in his attitude, being over confident of his own talents. It was difficult to negotiate a short term extension to my lease to switch to an AST. In the end the solution on offer was not what I wished for as it would have cost me an additional fee as well as put me at risk of being stuck with rent payments after I had left the flat if it was not reassigned to a new tenant. My advice was to stand my ground and try to obtain the extension but I was threatened with eviction if I pursued this path even though a legal notice to quit was not served in writing. After the lease ended the check out procedure went fine until I was forced to wait for over a month for the agents to come to a deal over the return of the deposit. Even after that it still took over 10 days to actually receive my money with a deduction for a minor scratch to the kitchen floor that in my opinion did not need repairing (and certainly should be classed as "fair wear and tear"), if the boot had been on the other foot I suspect that I would have received threatening messages to make me pay up. Overall, I would recommend the agent only in cases where the renter is willing to "play by the book" and not question their decisions nor try and ask for something not out of the ordinary as the agent will not "go the extra mile" for the tenant. I have heard good reviews from landlords who use this agent which doesn't surprise me one bit

I want to like Heaton Property, they were pleasant enough to deal with and generally responsive throughout the tenancy; leaving the property at the end left a very bad taste in my mouth. Heaton Property demanded a large chunk of the deposit for cleaning. When we conceded, they took far too long to return the deposit.

The issues prolonged even afterwards when I was attempting to rent my current property, the reference agency was unable to get a reference from Heaton Property; in fact the person doing the reference told me she'd found them rude. Fortunately my current landlord was willing to go ahead without it, else I wouldn't have been able to move in where I am now.