Tenancy review for Kipling Court Holliers Hill in Sidley, Bexhill-on-sea rented via JFS Properties

Agency rating: 1

The agent only offers six month tenancies to young people who take up a tenancy with financial help from the council and then issues Section 21 Notices before the four months from the start of the tenancy and keeps the deposits paid, citing all kinds of reasons to justify her actions. She gets older neighbours to spy on the young tenants. She also colludes with the council and tells lies in order to prevent the homeless young person from securing alternative housing. The agent believes she is above the law and,unfortunately, she gets away with it, because the young people do not know their rights. The fees are ridiculous and there is no maintenance carried out on the property. The tenancy agreement does not provide contact details for the landlord and the agent will tell you that you do not have any right to know the landlord's contact details. Be very careful of this agent. You may find yourself in a lot of trouble if you do not keep your wits about you.

Property rating: 4

The flat is a two bedroom flat. It is on the second floor. It has a small kitchen, a large living room, a fair size bathroom, a separate toilet and two double bedrooms. There is a balcony which is accessible from the kitchen and the main bedroom. Heating is storage heaters. The flat is quite clean and well decorated. The building that the flat is in is poorly maintained. Fire safety equipment and information was only installed early in 2019. The back door of the building was left open constantly (apparently so that the postman could enter), which meant that anyone could enter the building. The handle on the front door was broken and the door could not be locked, which also made the building unsecure. The neighbours to the right of the flat front door had moved out and the doorbell for the flat was pressed in resulting in a shrill buzzer emanating from the flat 24/7 until I fixed it via the panel of buzzers by the front door of the building. The lift broke down on a regular basis, sometimes with people in it.

Area rating: 9

The neighbourhood is a nice quiet area with large houses. There is a parade of shops about 10 minutes walk from the building, a primary school, a local hospital, GP surgery. The town centre and seafront is 20 minutes walk away.