Tenancy review for Riverside Drive Staines-upon-thames in Runnymede District, Staines rented from David And How Walker rented via Chancellors

Landlord rating: 1

Worst landlords ever had. Dishonest, actively working to squeeze every penny, absolutely broke and negligent with tenant security privacy. Do not rent here unless ok with fixing stuff your self and ok with no privacy or security.

David and How Walker are truly horrible landlords. David has been removed from something like (38) companies per public records which is not surprising once you kmow him as a landlord. He is smiles but we found completely working against the tenant. Their mindset is blame the tenant, don’t fix even things clearly expressed and sold as part and parcel of the lease and push rents change terms mid contract etc etc.
They are also disconnected from the poor quality of their constructed homes ( as David project managed, he is Uber defensive about the quality and blames all tenants. Reference 6-7 contractors whom came through the house in our 2.5 years all expressed that the installations were cheap poor quality or just not standard practice and rationale for it working. )

David spends his time finding ways to jack rent, not pay to fix things and push costs to the tenants.
Landlords also own neighbor identical (mirror image) home. We know these neighbors well ( go by and visit the property and make sure to knock on the neighbors on both sides for input. Eyes wide open and all)
The previous neighbor tenants (also in Walkers house) are some of our covid best friends and had to to sue for deposit and then won. Our inventory clerk and agents and advisors have all been aghast as they see how these landlords treat all people and their tenants.

In the end, we had just increased rent 7 % in contract for year 3 and a day later he requested 15% more! We said first david please fix all outstanding items and then we can discuss. He promptly served notice and we mutually broke contract 5 months early. Wouldn’t even let’s us serve our contract and we have school age and base our let’s around school year. Simple terrible people to deal with in any fashion beware.

The relief we feel from not living in David and How’s house is incredible. The river and swans in your yard can only balance the toxicity of david and his rants and the house simply not working like you are paying for, for so long.

Agency rating: 8

Chancellors are good and professional. Clearly updated systems to automate as much as possible and our dealings were all professional and courteous. Think a really good agency and they wrote us a great referral and were completely out of sorts with their landlord treatment of us but hands tied for them and tough spot to have to deal with the Walkers for these two homes.

Property rating: 10

River frontage is spectacular. Full width doors open and you literally exist on the river side.
Good long yard. Great neighbors.

That is the good. The rest is not.

House should have been great and new but unfortunately the landlord did a shambles job on the project Mgt when he built the two identical houses next to each other. Medium materials throughout but finishes and trim all super cheap but worst is the installation of all was done by low quality contractors, incorrectly wrong or just missing the components to make things function right. I am a developer so see this before. Ie owners thinking they can build a house. rately works out optimally and in this case the landlords are broke scrounging and it is clear they were in the same position when they built. Heating system cannot keep up though on demand as it was a landlord designed system of components that is impossible to adjust and requires shower scheduling if a family of 4.
Landlords will not change gate codes and invite contractors into the property and gave them my wife’s time home and schedule and mine- remarkable breach of privacy and safety that was persistent through our time until we had to directly prohibit an interaction with them. Nice that we did we had peace and security for last 5 months but for 3 of those had to use a bicycle lock on the gate because landlords would not fix it (of course). Terrible people. Broke, angry, full of blame when anything breaks ( which is constantly) in their 5 year old house that is literally falling apart.
100yard walk with lights but they only work when you first see the house. Landlord refuses to fix them and loose installation means they will never work for more than a few minutes after fixing. Red herring bucket.
Floor heating leaks killed our pet cat, while landlords ignored the leaking antifreeze. Truly negligent people david and how walker. This also caused the loss of the primary family bathroom (only one barely big enough for shower and bath and was unusable for 6-9months due to another leaking under the floor, also blamed on us!?)

Lots of these issues but not going into detail here. Talk to the neighbors when you visit.

Do not rent here unless you can deal with nothing getting fixed, open gate policy (have no young kids or girls as random septic and other contractors will be in your private spaces and every delivery agent knows the gate code, ocado, Amazon dpd…)
People will be in your yard and know your code and school run schedule!

David and How are truly the worst landlords my wife and I have ever experienced in our combined 100years.

Area rating: 8

Fantastic. Look online great place. Water everywhere. Green spaces and trails. Fantastic walks. But no kids around. Very few young children for family stuff as some neighborhoods or would give ten stars.