5 Limeview Gardens

This is a review of my extremely negative experience with Handles Property, and in particular with one of their staff members, Marc. I rented a house through them in January 2024 with a one-year tenancy. After that year, I was refused a contract renewal. Below are the key points of my complaint:
1. From the very beginning, when signing the contract, I only had one opportunity to view the property — and at that time, the previous tenants were still living there. In one of the rooms, a child was sleeping, so it was impossible to properly inspect the house. When I later noticed various issues after moving in — things I would have wanted fixed — Handles Property simply told me it was too late because the contract had already been signed. I made a number of requests, both minor and more serious, but all of them were ignored.
2. Throughout the tenancy — and even after it ended — I had to deal with a staff member named Marc. His communication style was consistently rude and disrespectful, completely inappropriate for someone in a customer-facing role. At the end of my tenancy, Marc learned that I was planning to write a review about their service, and in response, he actually threatened to contact my employer and “report” me. Seriously? Is that how you treat clients? To make matters worse, Marc lied to me. A very important parcel was delivered to my former address few days after my leaving, and Marc had promised to help me retrieve it — at the time he was still waiting for my confirmation of all their claims against me so they could deduct from my deposit. But once I agreed to all their demands and paid the amount they asked for, Marc refused to return my parcel.
3. Regarding the deposit — I left the property in what I believe was a decent condition. Not perfect, but acceptable. I even left behind some useful items for the next tenants: an expensive vacuum cleaner, a desk, and a bookshelf. Handles Property labelled all of it as “rubbish” and charged me for its removal. They billed me at the highest possible rates for everything. For example, they charged £20 just because three small children’s toys were left in the backyard. They also claimed I lost two keys (which I didn’t — and they knew that), and charged me £50 for each, even though they had previously told me the replacement cost was £25 per key. In total, they came up with a cleaning and disposal bill of £710 by inflating every possible charge.

It’s a very boring place. I’m sure some people might like it, but it’s not for me.