6th Sep 2026 (8 days ago)
Here’s the updated version with that removed:<br>Review of Whitegates (Letting Agents)<br>We moved into one of their properties 5 years ago. It was a 2-bed house at £725 per month. We liked the area and needed the space, so we took it. We never met the landlord at the start and only later realised the property belonged to the owner of Whitegates.<br>The house was let to us “as seen”, but it needed a lot of work. Paint was peeling in the dining room, small bedroom, bathroom and kitchen because it had been painted onto wet plaster (only one coat). The garden (front and back) was a mess. The hall banister wasn’t fitted properly and later came away from the wall when I slipped on the stairs (my own fault, no one else to blame).<br>We did some of the work ourselves and just got on with it. The more we asked for repairs, the less actually happened. The boiler was nursed along for 5 years until they were finally forced to replace it. They fitted the cheapest one they could find and it still took a week.<br>Earlier this year we went away to visit family. While we were gone, plaster collapsed from the ceiling in the main bedroom – pieces bigger than my hand. If any of that had hit our 7-month-old son he would have been in hospital. When we raised it, their response was basically “you have a spare room, sleep there.” No apology, no concern for the baby, no offer of help. Just cold and dismissive.<br>A painter who came round to look at the main bedroom roof/ceiling told us things that didn’t surprise us at all by that point. We were also threatened when we missed a single payment. Rent went up £50 every year and was heading for £900 by the time we left. They claimed it was just “keeping up with market increases.”<br>It was only when we gave notice that things suddenly started getting done. They also changed our tenancy agreement from yearly to monthly, then switched it back to the original yearly agreement, and then had the audacity to claim we owed them rent arrears because we left early.<br>When we left we cleaned the whole place thoroughly and repainted (I have the photos). The only thing we didn’t tackle was the oven, which had stopped working properly – another email that was ignored. If they try to claim they never received our emails about these issues, I still have them all.<br>How they ever won “Letting Agents of the Year” is beyond me. We would not recommend them to anyone. In our experience they were unprofessional, unresponsive and completely lacking in care for their tenants.<br>I also tried contacting the local paper and the mayor about this, but neither responded to my emails. These days it seems rogue landlords and estate agents aren’t considered big news, but companies like this need putting in the public eye. Hopefully the greedy, nasty people who work there will get what’s coming to them.... Read more