Oak Student Letts in United Kingdom

Where to even begin. Our landlord is actually Lidl but we deal directly with Oak Student Letts. The Lidl property manager has attended on two occasions to do inspections, which he was not happy with. 1) For the leak that remains unfixed and 2) for breaking health and safety regulations with some of our window locks being broken from the day we moved in.

Oak themselves are very difficult to contact and get answers from. On many occasions we have reported issues/made complaints over the phone and by email and they have been completely ignored. They do arrange for some issues to be resolved though, I.e. the boiler and showers. But nothing is ever consistent.

Not long after moving into the flat, the lock became faulty and keys would work, then not work etc. To the point where we were locked out and phoned Oak’s out of hours service, they advised us to arrange for a locksmith to attend and they would reimburse the money if we provided them with the old lock. This was all sorted and fine. Approximately two weeks later, without any communication, somebody from Oak came and changed the lock back to the old faulty one and did not provide any keys. It was lucky one housemate was in as this was on a Friday afternoon and we would have all been all locked out all weekend. We went back and fourth with Oak trying to sort it out and we ended up having to get new keys cut ourselves. The lock remains faulty and quite often people are locked out. We have given up telling Oak they have put a faulty lock on, as it is a losing battle - we have been very lucky that somebody has been in when its decided not to work.

During the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, I was isolating in the flat on my own as I work in a hospital and tested positive for COVID. I let Oak know straight away when I got my test results via email and to therefore advise all colleagues that nobody should be attending the flat. I have email evidence this was received and that employees would be notified. A few days later I heard somebody enter the flat and when I checked a maintenance worker was in the hallway. I kindly asked him why he was here and advised him I had COVID therefore he now needed to isolate. He was very shocked and stated nobody had told him.

A few days ago I received an email stating I owe £594 worth of rent from April on this current tenancy and if I do not pay this I will incur charges. This was very worrying as I remember making all the payments. I checked my bank statement and provided this proof and still today, I am being told that I owe this money. The way it is being handled is very unprofessional, as I have been having to chase them up as to why I owe it and still don’t get a straight answer. I have contacted my bank to ensure these payments went through which they have. I’m still unclear and worried as to where this now leaves me.

These are just a few of the issues we have had.

very poor they did pick up the phone however when we needed someone to come out and fix something it took days and as mentioned they never fixed the sink as they regarded it as not an important problem.

Our original agent was terrible! He has left now and someone else has taken over who seems to be doing a much better job.

Poor communication when arranging viewings however repairs are usually carried out quite quickly

The agency is what truly lets the potential of this property down. Months on end we are left in wait of repairs; the leak in the corridor ceiling is constantly “being chased up” but cannot be solved, despite it getting progressively worse and leaking into one of the tenants bedrooms and exposing electrical wiring; a shelf has fallen down in one of the rooms back in December, when reported a simple “can’t be fixed” was the response, after being called back 2 months later they claim to have ordered the part and it would be done within a week, still waiting for the repair; two shower lights have broken - one now being fixed but after nearly 2 months of showering using her phone light to see, the other waited 2 weeks for repair; a shower door was broken for a couple weeks, maintenance came and bodged it and would “order a new one”, 3 months on and still awaiting the new door; the lock was faulty when we first moved into the property, leaving 3 flatmates locked out, they advised us to call a locksmith and we would be reimbursed (we had no problem with this), after waiting over a week for the £90 to be reimbursed we finally received the back payment - only to be locked out a few weeks later because they had again changed back to the original locks without informing us; another tenants door handle broke, after 2 months of constantly complaining for it to be fixed it was finally done when she grabbed one of the maintenance team who were at the flat for a different reason, this meant the tenant went 2 months without being able to lock her door.
Phonecalls are almost dismissive whenever we have called up to complain, their maintenance process for logging issues is generally replied to with flippant lazy replies,

Poor agents- don’t respond to any issues. Had problems since the start of the year and nothing has been sorted.

Don’t see landlord, not great for repairs, problem more with letting agency than landlord

Hard to reach sometimes and can take a while to get back to you after making an enquiry

Hasn’t fixed any of the problems around the house as requested, very slow to answering phone calls and has came round with house views without any notice, even been in our been in our bedrooms without knocking!!

Repairs have generally been carried out within 3 working days although one of the repairs with the broken sofas has not been seen to for 5 months