*DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE* I lived in Nottingham for 5 years, between 2020 and 2025, due to university and work commitments. Each year, I was in a new shared accommodation under a new letting agent. In my final year in Nottingham, I lived in a shared house in the centre which was managed by John Shepherd. It was absolutely the worst experience I've had with a letting agent, and it's not even close - and I don't even know where to start with the issues. When we initially moved in, we didn't have floorboards for well over a month. The "cleaners" who were present when we moved in advised us that the sofas were broken, and then proceeded to leave the house in a state. Over the year-long tenancy, we had issues with sinks not working, windows not closing properly during winter which lead to us freezing and getting ill, and other niggling issues which didn't get fixed for the entire tenancy, despite us raising these issues consistently over the course of the tenancy. I recall one afternoon when I was working from home, the landlord arrived in a Land Rover which couldn't physically fit on the driveway for an inspection of the property. I explained the issues we were facing, to which he responded with "I'll get round to it" with a cheeky smile, and promptly left. To my knowledge, these issues have still not been fixed. To add the cherry on the cake, they tried to change the locks of the property whilst we were still living there. I happened to be working from home one day when I heard maintenance men enter the property (this often happened with absolutely zero notice, when we are legally required 24 hours notice). I came out of my room to ask what was going on, and they explained they were there to change the locks of the property. If I didn't happen to be home, then me and all of my housemates would've been locked out with no way in. Furthermore, they are also impossible to contact. It got to a stage where we would be redirected to another number, and then we would receive no answer whatsoever. We would send SEVERAL phone calls & emails in reference to issues we had with the property. When we finally got to the end of the tenancy, we tried to claim our £1,000 deposit back - which John Shepherd tried to claim 70% of for "damages". We obviously disputed this, and it ended up going to a third-party adjudicator. We managed to get a lot of this returned back to us. They tried to charge us for "bin removal" and "damages" but the adjudicator found no sign of this. We didn't get the whole deposit back as were charged for items such as "dust on bedroom furniture" and "water marks in the sink"... make of that what you will. Oh, and we only got our deposit decision today - around 4 months after we moved out. I implore you - please go with literally any of the other hundreds of letting agents available in Nottingham to save yourself the headache.

The photos attached are the condition the property was in upon moving into. Our tenancy started in August with uni-2, a branch of John Shepherd. Aarti Sharma, our property manager, which has refused to respond to any email since beginning of September, used exceedingly inappropriate language during our meeting on the condition of the property. During this meeting she shouted at us to ‘shut up and leave the property’ after raising our concerns, despite keeping composed in the meeting, which took place 2 weeks after unresponded to emails and phone calls. A witness from the council also attended this meeting and saw the shocking state we were treated in. After stating we would be taking this to the property ombudsman due to no cooperation regarding contract termination in unsafe living conditions and contract breach, we were connected with Chris Blick, a senior at John Shepard, as this followed the complaints process. He stated that due to being understaffed - which is not our responsibility as tenants - there’s been complications with the house. He then promised both bins and a damp specialist to attend due to the inhabitable living conditions. Neither has occurred since that email was provided early October. There’s also been no communication from Chris despite multiple emails and phone calls to the office which stated ‘he would call back.’ We’ve now had accumulation of bins in a five bedroom house for over a month, aswell as sickness of immunocompromised house members from the damp which has been reciprocated to Chris yet dismissed. They have also not responded to emails requesting landlord details within 21 days, which is a criminal offence. Do not book with John Shepard, especially as a student, as they will take advantage of your living situation.

if i could rate 0 stars i would. communication is non existent until you have to go into the branch and speak to somebody in person. they have no problem reaching out when they want money though. staff are passive aggressive, condescending, and speak down on you just because you are a student. the whole "joint tenancy" contract is a complete exploitation of students and the agency refuses to help when there are any issues regarding lousy tenants, their morals and ethics are nowhere to be seen. there were several occasions where staff and handymen turned up to the property with no notice at all. this letting agency is nothing but money hungry. at the end of my tenancy i am being charged for £50 to remove a bag of rubbish, £50 to slide the tv back into its bracket on the wall, £55 to replace "mattress protectors" on the beds which were never even there in the first place when i moved in, £275 for a "deep carpet refresh" even though when i moved in the carpets were completely soiled and ridden with stains; they obviously charged the previous tenants the same carpet refresh, just to not even do it. when you eventually do get an answer from somebody at the agency, you will be told one thing only to be told another thing by somebody else when you contact again. not only is there no communication between yourself and the agency, there is no communication amongst them either. this letting agency is exploitative, money hungry, careless, and contradictory. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

John shepherd’s Nottingham Student services have been horrendous. Overcharged us rent as our tenancy was less weeks than we paid for. Tried getting in contact for the past 4 months and have heard nothing back. Now they aren’t even answering calls or emails. Honestly feels like they have tried to scam us just because we are students. Honestly awful.

This company is not trustworthy. Poor communication & professionalism. Could not possess my property- served notice wrong my agents, second time court struck out claim as agents failed to serve deposit prescribing information to tenant. I would urge current landlords to move agents urgently to protect them self. These agents are incompetent.

Avoid at all cost. They constantly harass tenants and they never fix anything. I rented 8 apartments before this but this is the most shocking ans abnoxious estate agency I had to deal with.

Still waiting for repairs i reported in October, happy to contact me when they put my rent up but won't fix any problems, disgusting.

The worse agents in the country. Avoid at all costs!!!!! If you have any issues you’ll wait months waiting for anyone to respond. Never reply to email and never call back.

John Shepherd are the worst letting agents I have dealt with. Staff are poorly trained and don’t understand tenancy deposit laws and rules. Failed to return undisputed deposit funds back for 6 months. Please avoid them at all costs.

5 stars for damp and mould