Tenancy review for 8 Hereford Close in Westborough, Guildford rented from George Popadopolous

Landlord rating: 1

When enquiring about the property, the landlord came across as a friendly and helpful person, he contacted my advert about having properties available and even called me up to arrange a viewing. My first impression was the place wasn't spectacular, but on my time frame and need to sort a place out, I trusted the landlord had good intentions and was a genuine good person, my personal tutor also recommended me George as a good landlord. This was completely false. I describe the landlord as disingenuous, vindictive and dishonest. Firstly, he informed all the tenants who lived in the house during my stay, before we took the room that he would come to the property only to collect tools from his shed and to do the garden in the summer, however the landlord gets a lot of packages and letters sent to the property usually these are arriving every day at the property, in doing this he would come into the house unannounced to collect his packages and letters, which adds stress to the tenants as the landlord is constantly invading our personal space. If anything breaks due to wear and tear the landlord will make up a reason why the tenants broke it and demands tenants pay to replace the items. The landlord accused me and the other tenants of removing the wave guide cover from the microwave (silver lining as referred to by the landlord) and told the lead tenant that we were required to buy him a new microwave. At the viewing I asked the landlord where I could store my bike and he informed me and my parents, that I could store my bike out in the back garden, but after moving in the landlord repeatedly messaged me that we did not agree such thing and that my bike had to be moved to the front of the house and be left tied to the lamppost on the road side, where it could be stolen and the insurance would not cover it. The landlord also, sent us a text that the replaced microwave provided by a tenant and the kettle which was also owned by another tenant, were to be left in the house for the next tenants as these items were brought for the house, even though the tenants did not agree this with the landlord. The landlord evicted a tenant due to an argument they had, the landlord did not inform any other tenants that this tenant had moved out, then he started harassing me over text message about setting up a new energy bill and proceeded to belittle me, when I informed him of my progress. I found it very annoying that he did not provide me with a gas box key when asked, such that I could take my own readings, meaning I had to rely on him to take readings. He was a bit hit and miss when it came to repairs, he usually would sort out repair requests in about half a week. But, it took him months to sort out the leaking tap in the bathroom, in which he closed off the hot water tap, which meant tenants had to use the hot water tap in the kitchen. He was very bad at communication and would often forget who manages the bills and who was assigned to clean which area in our cleaning rota, which he set. We had a group chat in which the landlord and tenants could discuss problems, but often the landlord would opt to message tenants individually on problem, which could concern the rest of the tenants. The rent is fairly expensive for the quality of the house and I was in the cheapest room. His excel tenant assessment rental form, which also serves as a contract is poorly written, contains unreasonable clauses and is not signed by the tenant or the landlord, meaning the tenants are not legally bound to the contract but, the landlord will use this spreadsheet to try and take advantage of the tenants to try and gain from them. He threatened one tenant to pay for the whole professional cleaning of the house as stated in his “contract”, but this was not stated in any of the other tenants “contract”. Overall, my opinion is that the landlord really does not care about his tenants and he will try to bully, intimidate and harass the tenants and is willing to let the property fall apart and never renovate it.

Property rating: 1

The property is old, rundown and falling apart. The landlord loves to brag, about his new high spec boiler which he installed and the fact that he linked it up to the heating system and the radiators, however he isn't as quick to mention that the heating will not come on after certain times, the landlord said we can adjust the thermostat to turn the heating on and off, but past certain times, the heating will not turn on and he didn't do anything about it when two separate tenants told him about the issue. The landlord also, claims the house is warm in the winter, even with the heating on in the winter, it was far from warm and I found my room to be very humid. The carpet is very old and warned out, also it has stains and marks, not to mention the carpet on the stairs has worn away, so much that it has holes in it, which the landlord accuses the tenants of causing the damage on purpose, because he does not believe in wear and tear. The toilet and bathroom are old, and the bath tub has no holder for the shower head, not to mention all the mould on the bathroom panels, which was already there when I moved in. The taps are all very leaky and one tap was very difficult to shut. My bedroom window was infested with mould and looked like it hadn't been cleaned properly in years and I had to clean that myself after I moved in. The bed mattresses are horrible and full of stains. The oven is old and is on its way out, you can hear the fan rattling around in the main oven, but it still works. All the furniture in the bedrooms are old. The house itself is generally humid. The washing machine and the tumble dryer both work fine, and the fridge is fit for purpose. The living room furniture is all old, but none of the tenants really used the living room. The toaster and kettle aren't great but, do the job and the landlord removed the microwave. The building also, had many cracks in it. In the hot summer months, the house is cool.

Area rating: 6

Most of the houses in the street are student houses, but it never seemed to get too noisy and very rarely did any of the neighbouring houses have any loud parties. It is in walking distance of the university and though a bit expensive, the co-op and Salisbury local are nearby make it easy to purchase food. It is also very nice having the Stoughton rec park nearby. The only issue is the property is quite far from the town and train station by foot.