*** AVOID AT ALL COSTS *** - Please see below if you want an objective and unbiased review, it will be worth taking 5 minutes to read this. I moved into a house share which was very reasonably priced and cannot knock the actual facilities within the property. As for Northwood Bolton however just don't even bother - save yourself a world of stress. I don't know what Northwood admittedly are like when it comes to an unshared property and maybe they treat these individuals but if you are moving into a house share I would certainly think twice. These people will withhold your deposit at all costs beyond reason, they hide behind legislation and unreasonable contractual arrangements to protect their position and have absolutely no consideration for common courtesy or customer service. All they want is your money. They do not seem to care about professionalism or your needs, just their own. From the very beginning it was a nightmare. The contract was done wrong, they didn't tell the landlord that I had moved in so the heating and water wasn't set, they started my payment date from the wrong date and then blamed me for it, there was just problem after problem. Before and during the COVID 19 pandemic I requested very reasonably that I (we) simply be notified out of courtesy if any viewings were taking place and if any new tenants were to move in. I also requested the same for any maintenance being carried out. They have a fix flow site to report any issues, for example the front door came off the handle and they did not fix this for almost 3 weeks, yet the very day rent was alleged to have not been paid they were straight on the phone to me despite me having actually have paid the rent anyway. In house shares, they seem to just arrange viewings and move people in, they don't make any effort to let you know out of courtesy and then if you call and complain about it, in a nutshell cutting out any legal jargon their response is pretty much "We can do whatever we want because we're not coming into your room". I would point out that one time however their maintenance people had not properly fitted the doors and they were a fire hazard which delayed a second Tennant moving in by a week. They did not give me any notice to come into my room (despite this actually being in the contract) and they just started lifting the doors and painting them which meant the door had to stay open and I could not leave my property for two or three days despite having annual leave booked. I complained about this and surprise, surprise they were not really interested. In the end because of all the stress, hassle and multiple problems, I moved out of this property and we had many arguments about what was owed to who and who was to blame. They demanded their rent and I wanted my deposit back (They didn't request any reductions to it either). I had no sensible or empathetic discussions with any of their staff members. They were rude, dismissive and just dug their heels in. They actually addressed my complaint letter advising they were DISAPPOINTED that I had complained - what a way to open your response to a complaint! Scolding the complainer for making it in the first place! Everyone knows you start a complaint response APOLOGISING for the issues even if you don't actually agree with the complainer! They just don't have any compassion or courtesy. It wasn't until I spoke to their branch director that I got any degree of a sensible and meaningful discussion. In summary, all these guys care about is lining their pockets, they won't look after you as a tenant and they definitely don't care about you - Save yourself the hassle. I re-iterate they won't acknowledge their own flaws and will probably say they're DISSAPOINTED with my review! However I certainly won't be bothering to read it. I just hope other letting agents don't behave in this way, if I could have rated them minus stars I would have. You definitely won't get your deposit back from these cowboys so good luck to you if you rent with Northwood Bolton - you've been warned!NegativeQuality, Professionalism

Took me weeks to get my

Took me weeks to get my deposit back even though the house was clean and no damage. Rip off merchants these lot. Avoid at all costs.

"Took me weeks to get my..."

Took me weeks to get my deposit back even though the house was clean and no damage. Rip off merchants these lot. Avoid at all costs.

Quite an unprofessional company in terms of their communication, both with tenants and within themselves as a company. It seems as though the staff are quite inexperienced when it comes to providing documentation to tenants throughout their residency in a property. Only to charge the tenant for the lack of documentation when they are leaving. Perhaps they're just money-suckers.

Terrible service, living with black mold for over a year, property hadnt even been hoovered when I moved in. Was immaculate when I moved out yet was still charged 175 just for light cleaning. They rarely reply to your emails. When I complained about damp, they just replied that it wasnt!!

I rented for 6 months. They cannot answer simple questions easily and will pass it between the office so that a Chinese whisper effect seems to happen by the time they get back to you. They didn't tell me the additional fees to move a pet onto the property even though I specifically asked these questions when first enquiring (complete professional flea spray service £££ even though it is uncarpeted and unfurnished and my cat has ZERO fleas!). MOVING OUT - I checked out of my property with the agent who said everything was fine. A week afterwards, they try to take £125 from my deposit. Here is a part of my letter to them. On check out day, someone from the office whose sole job it is to check in tenants and then check them out came to inspect the property. Whilst the agent was checking the condition of the property she made a couple of observations. 1)There was rubbish outside the back gate. 2)I’d forgotten to clean the oven grill. For point 1) I said that I was going to remove it as I left the property, which I did immediately. For 2) she called their cleaning company and quoted me £20 for this service and wrote this on her notes. Items which have since been bought to light were not an issue on check out day and I strongly believe that they have no legal case to charge for these issues as I had no chance to check the evidence for myself, take photographs if I should disagree or given any opportunity to correct the problems. A) Bathroom One such issue is that the bathroom apparently needed cleaning. I cleaned it thoroughly, the agent didn’t think it needed cleaning and it is only after I have vacated the property that this is an issue. I have had absolutely no opportunity to take photographs to make a case against them. B) Rubbish removal Another point which should the agent done her job more thoroughly was check the items under the stairs for which they would like to charge me an extortionate removal fee to take a few items to a local tip less than 2 miles away. In fact there was some debris when I moved in, under the stairs which didn’t bother me so it stayed there. As I had no photographic itinerary to compare it to sent to me, I feel very angry that they should put this on me too. Additionally, I forgot about 2 small and inexpensive plastic stools from Ikea. If the agent had taken a second to check this part of the property I would have picked them up and taken them with me. This is her job. I am not going to pay for this if she is inadequate and could have very easily prevented this. C) Garden Lastly, the agent checked the garden and said that there were some weeds. I told her that when I moved in there were a similar amount of weeds and there were carrier bags strewn all over the garden which I have picked up. The garden was in a better state now than when I first moved in. She showed me the photo which had a fairly neat looking garden. I asked when that was taken, she said the day before I moved in. I told her that it was a very old photo as I noticed that the fence in the photo was in a very good condition, newly painted etc, whereas the current fence shows signs of serious deterioration with discolouration, the top of the fence has rotted and become jagged and even the last slat has completely broken. She agreed with me that it must be an old photo and therefore I thought that was the end of it. Conclusion I do not understand why this agency employs a person to deliver a checkout service if they are going to then falsify issues after this appointment. They may as well just ask the tenant to lock the door and put their keys through the letter box. ........ I am still waiting for my deposit back.

Totally let down. Rang 12 days ago to enquiry about a house to let Was informed no viewings will take place till the week after As diary was full Called back and left another message last week No return phone call Rang yesterday Mon 30th and was told house has several applicants and I was not able to progress Why not book my appointment on my original call? Total let down. Almost shambolic Jerry