Bridgfords in United Kingdom

We rented via Bridgfords / Countrywide. They were quick to take our money but almost impossible to get to fix anything. We could not unlock the back door and were afraid we would be trapped if there was a fire. After a few days the estate agent came and agreed to call a locksmith. It took several months for anything to be done about the toilet that was blocked when we moved in - it was due to a blocked outside drain and only fixed when sewage flowed into the garden. The bathroom basin that did not drain and the massive damp patch and resultant mould were never attended to in spite of multiple messages over months. Several tradesmen came to assess the damp problem (chimney problem they said) and give a quote for fixing it but nothing happened. The final insult is that nearly £1000 of our deposit is being withheld for 'damage' including the mould caused by the untreated damp and minor scratches to fitted wardrobes that were there when we moved in. Nobody went through the inventory with us when we moved in or checked the property during our rental. We left the house immaculately clean and had actually fixed some of the broken items that we found when we moved in. I suspect Bridgfords will simply rent the house out again without the necessary repairs being done.

Genuinely the absolute worst estate agents I have ever dealt with. They lied on several occasions, failed to make any repairs to the property in the entire 1.5 years I was there. They never picked up the phone. They attempted to get an extra 2 months of rent from me because they didn’t realise I had moved out due to their poor communication. They also attempted to charge me a days rent simply because I handed the keys in first thing on a Monday morning, because my tenancy ended on a Sunday when their branch was closed.

If you’re a landlord, beware. Their branch is so disorganised that when my payments were bouncing back, it took them 6 months to rectify the issue and provide the correct bank details. They failed to repair anything i had flagged up, including the light fixtures, and also failed to make any claims on the deposit scheme because they failed to do this on tim (they typically have 28 days to make a claim). Which means it probably came out of the landlords pocket.

The landlord was also unaware that I had moved out, and the check in report was done 2 months later. That means he has missed out on 2 months rent from a different tenant.

Bridgfords was terrible they never got back to me and when I told them there were problems they would just brush it off its the worst letting agency ive been with.

Repeatedly lied to us. Left us without a bathroom for over three weeks. The day we moved in, there were builders and electricians working on the property and we essentially moved into a building site.
The worst agency I’ve ever been through. They show nothing but contempt for tenants, lie to you and fail to do anything.
We told them our back food didn’t lock in January, contacted them about it several times... they fixed it in June, a week before our tenancy was up.
We had dry damp in the hallway and bathroom, which we got told by a woman called Victoria, was down to us being messy...
they let us down repeatedly and talked to us like we were less than human.
I urge anyone thinking of renting in York, avoid this company. They will make your life a living hell.

The staff spoke to their tenants with open contempt, which is not very unusual when you're renting low-priced (for York) accommodation, and I always had to call a lot of times before I could get them on the phone. They had some basic competency when it came to routine tasks, but not everything. Both the oven and our boiler needed repairs while we were there and they both waited a long time. Also, they charged me £100 to make an addendum to my contract saying that I was allowed to keep pet rats, and then a few months later, told us to move out, citing damage done by the rats as the reason. The rats lived in a cage so there wasn't any damage, and during the check out, they weren't able to indicate what the damage was supposed to be, so I suspect that the reason for them ending our contract was actually so that they could get the fees for relisting the flat.