2

Hello Whatley Lane. I know you asked me to leave a review when I first moved in but I've honestly been busy with this new job. I would give a 1 star review but Kat and Zach were decent to work with.
Whatley Lane aside, I'd like to talk to to person reading this and is thinking about renting from this company. I'll help you not get scammed. You probably won't even know you are getting scammed but as a landlord of multiple properties myself, I recognized the red flags early. I rented from WL Jan 2022 - Jan 2024.
The first red flag was they ask for a review up front before you've had one day in your new place. Go look at the great reviews.
I stayed at Orchard House in Bury St Edmunds. Always paid rent weeks early and kept the place in good order. An issue WL has is they forget that they forget that a property management company is supposed to be a fair and impartial advocate for the landlord and tennant. They lean heavy to the side of the landlord. YOU are just there to pay rent.
Hot water went out for a week. WL notified. Landlord drug his feet and why am I the one to have to suggest and fight for some kind of compensation for the inconvenience? All WL offered were kind words until I kept pressing the issue.
THE REAL SCAM: Upon move out, they hope your're satisfied simply getting some money back and let the few hundred pounds get taken from you without a fight.
Inside the flat, there was the cheapest, flat paint I had ever seen. If anything with any moisture touches the walls, it leaves a mark. The flat paint even extended to the bathrooms. Bathrooms with no windows. The landlord made it impossible for the paint in the bathroom not to peel. I could see where he painted over the old peeling area on the ceiling. Upon move out, WL tries to hit me with a made up bill from the landlord. Not from any professional company that paints. Just a made up number from the landlord. Ava, without any forethought, decides to send me the bill and debate with me about it. I decided to walk her around on her own incompetence and asked her for a detailed invoice. Needless to say she could not provide that and decided to just insist. Ava if you are reading this, get into another line of work. They also presented me with a bill for wall scuffs that were nonexistent in the laundry room. I asked for photos of that because scuffs were not reported by the inspector and I saw nothing on my own personal photos. WL could not provide that proof to me either. There was also a scuff in the bedroom. WL seems to not understand what fair wear and tear is. That's property management 101 stuff. Even in their own report, it said scuff and in the made up invoice from the landlord it said it required paint. IT IS NOT THE TENNANT'S JOB TO REPAINT THE APARTMENT UPON MOVE OUT. THAT IS THE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LANDLORD.
If you are thinking of renting from them or you currently are, please know that it is not your responsibility to pay for anything paint related upon move out.
Whatley Lane is great on the front end but will try these ameture scams on the back end on unsespectin people.
DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND LOOK UP THE FAIR WEAR AND TEAR LAWS OR GET SCAMMED BY WL. Your choice. If it doesn't feel right to you in any way, dispute it with the DPS who is holding your deposit.
At which point WL will have no choice but to fold and pay you.
If anyone at Whatley Lane is feeling the need to reply and call me untruthful about anything I've stated here, I'll be back with more photos of the move out report and proof of the things you completely made up that had no damage.
Just stop scamming people at move out. Be a fair middle person between your tenants and landlords. Train your people to not push whatever nonsense your landlords come up with onto your tenants. Moving out is already stressful enough.
Also, I thought those deposits earned interest as well? Oh well.
WL, I'm sorry the review took me so long to write but, I am a man of my word.... Read more
15th Jan 2025 (22 days ago)