Edit again. For those also having difficulty it is worth noting that there is an ongoing case being built against them by other tenants in the same boat via local government. Contact your MP! I hope you do not read this too late. Edit. Now being evicted. This is exactly why I waited within my statute of limitations. Whoever rents from them avoid like the plague, they also put me back in touch with the abusive staff member today. The worst experience I've had renting and this is the fifth property I have. Go to literally anyone else. They have lied from the very start of our tenancy. It's very obvious we are being moved to avoid necessary work being done on the property that should have been highlighted previously but JS did not do their jobs. I know for a fact the landlord has been qouted considerable sums to bring the property to a decent standard. Whoever moves into Friday Bridge be warned. Original post - Firstly have to say absolutely no issues with the lettings team however the block management has cost myself and partner hundreds due to them not meeting their own agreements. My contract details explicitly that all appliances must be checked and working before we move in, they were not and I even have in writing that they never check these despite contract, the worst one being the Fridge Freezer which instantly destroyed the £50 worth of food I bought from my old property and all the food I bought first day as it in fact heated the space instead of cooling. We reported this two days later as we discovered this 24th Saturday night and it would have cost us on the out of hours service to do report on the weekend. Baring in mind, this should have already been checked as detailed in black letter of the law, they are out right ignoring that despite the contract terms stating with no doubts that it should have been working and inspected prior, the contract also details that the landlord should cover any costs incurred from this not working, I believe JS should cover these costs as they have not met the landlords agreement of maintaining his property, I am writing to him myself with a list of multiple failures and I hope he demands some of his payments back as what he has paid for has not been provided. So far JS have ignored their own complaints procedure and insultingly only offered £50 reimbursement after already being offered prior £10 per day per person, whilst refusing to acknowledge their own contract terms and how they have failed myself and the landlord by incurring these charges. They also have no sense of reasonable timeframes. Apparently 12 days is an acceptable wait for replacement key item that should have been provided with the property, despite finding multiple same day delivery options myself also. It would have been considerably cheaper for me to buy a brand new fridge freezer given the costs of eating out and takeaway that they are refusing to cover despite contract and advising to do this as costs would be supposedly covered. It is by no means acceptable, they aren't even offering to cover 50% of the charges and have openly stated they do not meet their own contract terms. They have also left this complaint so long despite stressing urgency that I now will not be able to pay my bills incurring further charges and due to those being council bills auto summons will no doubt be issued also. It is at this point I am glad that I have legal cover as it will definitely be needed if I am summoned and I will stress chain of causation based on failure of contract. Edit. Having queried this with the legal advice provided with by insurance I am advised to take further if the response is unacceptable. My case is in their words straight forward and supported by their own supplied inventory, the staff email stating they don't follow contractual checks on any property yet alone mine, and contract terms not being met are all challengeable. I was also advised to raise to ombudsman which I have already began the process of.

TO ANY CURRENT OR FUTURE TENANTS!! BEWARE!! They will try charge you for every speak of dust and every little issue or item they can when you leave! When you move in look at the apartment or house with a fine tooth comb and mention (in writing) the differences between your place and the inventory they send you, because if your a chilled person that doesn't mind if your blinds don't tilt or if theres a label missing from your mattress they will try charge you for it even if it wasn't you who damaged or removed something. So just be as analytical as they are and contest things if it really wasn't you who damaged something and your likely not have to pay what they are trying to con off as your fault! Other than that while your living in the place they are fairly responsive and good agency, just when you leave they will try squeeze every penny out of you.

Rented a property in Harborne for one and a half years. Overall I have to encourage people to avoid John Shepherd. The general state of the property we rented before and during our tenancy was extremely poor. Windows leaked, shower leaked. Poor communication and buck passing from everyone meant we were left living in unsanitary conditions for months. Been in touch with new tenants and house still in state of disrepair with rent increased by £200 a month.

The worst rental experience we have ever had! The way we were treated is an absolute disgrace. We rented through Acres/John Shepherd from Feb 21 to April 22. In Jan 22 we received a call from the estate agents at Acres asking to come round to get the house ready for sale. This came as a complete shock to us as we hadn’t even been told by John Shepherd that the landlord was planning on selling the house. A complete lack of communication from John Shepherd, and clearly incompetent staff who couldn’t even be bothered to give us the heads up that the house was being sold. During our time in the house, we had the displeasure of dealing with Julie Sargeant who is possibly the rudest, most condescending person I have ever dealt with. Emails were constantly ignored, she only replied to emails if she needed something from us. We also had many contractors visiting the house during our time there who made comments about Julie, so it was interesting to note that it is not just us who she was unpleasant to. We requested to be present during the inventory check out (as is our right), however we were denied this due to “Covid restrictions”. We found this very odd as this was in April 22 after all Covid restrictions had been lifted. It was also odd that this didn’t seem to be a problem when we lived in the house and the agents needed to come over, this was while restrictions were very much in place. John Shepherd have also not given us any of our post since we moved out. Julie said we had some post quite soon after we moved out so I gave her our forwarding address. We never received this post which Julie claimed she sent - which incidentally coincided with us disagreeing to the deposit deductions! I have since contacted multiple times asking to collect our post but have been told there is none. Having been in contact with the senders, I am aware of multiple pieces of post so I know that this is untrue. Absolutely appalling experience, do not deal with John Shepherd!

A tenants perspective - from a year at a flat in Harborne, Birmingham. Slow to reply to emails. Passive aggressive during correspondence. Unhelpful and frequently 'out of office'. Aloof and will not chase matters with the landlord. Appalling lack of courtesy in providing updates. When trying to book viewings post-covid we had frankly disgraceful service, outright rude staff operating the phones, promising to return calls and ignoring you. They were saved by Janusz - he was the only member of their team with any manners, replied swiftly, was friendly and helpful - thank you Janusz! Once in the flat, they clearly had not cleaned or even inspected it - with the flat littered with rubbish, previous tenants items, cobwebs and an actively leaking ceiling. They were also distinctly unhelpful throughout the tenancy, for example we waited over 2 months for them to replace our broken washing machine - they tell you what you want to hear over the phone / email and then do not action anything. We thought we wouldn't have to deal with them anymore at the end of our tenancy but we are still awaiting our deposit back after ending the tenancy 2.5 months ago. No disputes, just emails asking for our payment details then silence for weeks on end. We've had to submit a dispute which will hopefully get this resolved. Would definitely not recommend their company to friends or colleagues. An absolute disgrace to the services sector in the UK.

This is probably the worst letting agency I have ever used in my life. I have been renting for nearly 7 years in the UK and I definitely had the worst possible experience. The staff is extremely unhelpful, arrogant and ridiculously rude. I had no water in the flat when I moved in, missing letter box keys, fob is not working, broken wash machine, the flat was dirty, messy and not even been cleaned! It took them weeks to fix the problem, definitely wasn't a livable condition when I moved in!!! When I moved out, they tried to charge me £180 for cleaning fee, and blamed me for broken items which were already broken when I moved in and the flat was dirty on arrival! I can guarantee that the flat was 100% cleaner when I moved out compared to when I moved in! I would not recommend that you use these guys to deal with anything from sales to lettings to maintenance. Inaccurate descriptions, lack of timely support, manipulative practices, disrespectful and disgusting services!

Very rude. Impolite.

Very bad form John Shepherd! Made a service request back on 19th November 2022 and still awaiting their response over 6 weeks on (and this was to their management team)! Calling this agency dynamic and responsive would be a gross exaggeration. You've got my emails and telephone number so don't be shy and call me!

Rude Customer service