Where to start...well like a previous 'reviewer' on this site who also reviewed Bannisters I too would rate them with less than one star if the website allowed this. After talking to other previous tenants as well as reading many reviews I have come to the conclusion that my experiences with this completely incompetent company are not unique or exclusive. It seems that if you are a tenant then chances are this company will simply treat you as a profitable asset that will later become dispensable. To be fair though many of the problems that I have experienced with them seem to be a recurring issue with the majority of the UKs lettings agents, although, of course it is not fair to 'tar all with the same brush'. So, firstly they will charge you ridiculous admin fees just to apply for a rented property. They dress these admin fees up with titles such as 'application fee' 'guarantor fee' etc (I know many letting agencies exercise the same fees). They completely fail to explain the purpose of these fees even after being asked. I understand that staff must be paid to complete administration tasks, but they completely take advantage of the situation with new tenant fees. Secondly, the lack of professionalism is atrocious. One employee (I refuse to call them agents) will tell you one thing (sometimes rudely or tactlessly) and then either fail to relay important information to other employees or sometimes provoke something completely undiscussed to happen. Example: We needed a new oven hob control installed, I submitted a maintenance report which provoked no action after waiting for 2 days. So I then called them to bring their attention to this. I was informed that the maintenance issue had now been acknowledged and steps shall be taken ( what is the point of their maintenance reporting system if they are going to ignore it?). I informed the employee, over the phone that I would like to be home when the contractor comes round to fix the oven. I gave a substantial list of times and days I was free. This was acknowledged by the employee, however, instead of communicating any further information regarding my preferences, I later found out that the contractor was given a key by the letting agency and he was then given permission to enter the property and fix the fault without any further communication with the tenants (myself). I happened to be at work when it was fixed, I could have been asleep or in the shower! The worst part was, I only found out because I noticed that someone had fixed the oven and left the old parts on the kitchen side. An absolute complete breach of privacy and a typical example of the incompetence tenants experience with this inept lettings agency. I could go one, our checking out experiences were also awful. However, in the interest of not writing any more of an essay than I already have, I will end this review with the following: this agency (if you can call it that) will take advantage of you as much as possible, will not apologise when they are wrong, will create unreasonable fees just because they can, will fail to practice even basic communication skills, you will always be chasing them for answers and you will feel robbed by the end of you tenancy. The only area they exercise any professionalism at all is in their appearance. They do make a lot of effort in positive advertising. However, if you book a viewing with them don't expect the employee to arrive for the viewing on time because they probably won't, but when they do they will most likely be driving an expensive car and wearing designer clothes'. This adds further insult to injury when the property deposit is very high.. IF YOU HAVE SOLDIERED YOUR WAY THROUGH THIS REVIEW PLEASE TAKE MY ADVICE AND CONSIDER ANOTHER LETTING AGENT. Thanks for reading.

Waited all of Thursday for a 'property manager' to call me back- they didn't. Rang first thing the following morning got told the same thing and of course no one bothered to call me back regarding my issue. Unfortunately I'm not prepared to waste any more of time chasing these people who are clearly VERY busy... Not very professional or helpful and this is the second occasion in 12 months 'someone will call you back today' and they have not. Pointless company.

Unfelpfull in every way

Like another person, if I could rate this company less than one star I would. Absolute worst service I have ever received in my entire life. There is absolutely no communication between anybody who works here. Luke Lancaster is the laziest person I have ever come across. He dealt with myself and my husband in the beginning of our tenancy. He didn't send our welcome package until I emailed him twice asking where it was as we needed to pay rent, it didn't arrive until the day before our rent was due. He never sent our inventory until I asked numerous times where it was, when we sent it back we never received a copy of it. After our tenancy had been going for 3 months, I never ever heard from Luke again despite the fact he still worked there, even after sending him numerous emails about important subjects. I then dealt with Sam Lloyd who was also good in the beginning and then also became completely unresponsive to every email I sent. The company is completely money hungry. They were unclear about move in costs and we had to pay £120 each just to apply even if we didn't get the property. We had to pay a shortfall which was fine, however they tried to overcharge us this by a month. Our tenancy ended in June, 2017. I contacted Sam asking about our deposit, she assured me our deposit had been released and would be in our accounts very soon. A week later a lady who I have never spoken to before contacted me and told me my rent was overdue and needed to be paid. WE HAD MOVED OUT A MONTH BEFORE and their account lady had no idea. She informed me the deposit never got released (Sam had just lied and done nothing). We were then finally given our deposit back, however it was short £266. I messaged Sam and Luke multiple times about this with no reply. Finally, my husband messaged them threatening legal action. Sam eventually replied around 2 weeks later and finally another 2 weeks later we have all our money back. If I had not been as onto it in terms of paperwork with this company they would have stolen almost £500 from us and never bothered giving it back. I have never been more happy in my life to end this tenancy and never have to deal with these; rude,lazy, money hungry people ever again.

A V O I D ! Perspective new tenants were shown around our property without our permission at least twice. We were out of the house and neighbours told us they had seen viewings take place. Workmen entered the property with no notification. I was upstairs recovering from an op when I heard two guys in my kitchen. This happened a few times over the two years we rented through them. Regular inspections wouldn’t happen, we would wait in and no one would show up. However the landlady was told they had inspected. We moved in with no working shower, the landlord had requested that this was fixed and Banisters told them it was. I made sure I was present for the check out inventory, we repainted the whole house, fitted new bulbs, spent about a week making the place more clean than when we moved in and the inspector got me on dust on the top of a hanging light bulb in the garage 😒 needless to say we did get our full deposit back...but I would never say a good word about this company! Absolute cowboys! 😡

If I could rate them less than one star I would. The most pathetic agency I have ever dealt with. In Bicester the agency use to be called Tobin & Jones and I was dealing with Sophie Moore as our property manager and everything was fantastic. Now it is called Bannisters and Chris Mackey is the worst property manager I have ever dealt with. They tried to incrase the rent without informing the landlord. They are rude and unhelpful. Thank God, I have managed to get in touch with the landlady whom is really helpful. The worst agancy around!!! Highly not recommended!!!

Unhelpful and unprofessional. Go elsewhere and save yourself the time and energy of using Bannisters.