We use cookies to give you the best online experience. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy & you agree to the site's terms & condition

Umega Lettings - Edinburgh

A selection of reviews/testimonials by highest rating
(in some cases, not all reviews/testimonials will be displayed)
1.00 /5

Based on my experience after two years as a tenant, I have found Umega to be deliberately (dis)organized in order to be as dishonest with tenants as possible. I will sum up this review of Umega with the following: if you are considering renting through them, don't. Our most recent adventure with Umega is ongoing. The floor under our en-suite bathroom has rotted (to the point that a black-mold ooze started coming up through the tiles), and we have waited nine weeks (NINE WEEKS) for something to be done, and Umega continues to do literally nothing to help us. First, Umega had to send a contractor to look. Then the landlords decided they wanted to send a second one. Then the person at Umega we were communicating with changed. Then they changed again. Then the landlord asked for pictures under the shower that had been torn up by the first contractor, which I sent Umega a couple of hours later. Then Umega stopped communicating and I had to ask for updates (a situation which continues still). Then the landlord wanted to use insurance. Then the landlord's insurance person was gone for a week. Then they were back but needed to catch up. Then our THIRD Umega employee forgot to get back to us (until, again, I asked). And now, nine weeks without a shower, the landlord refuses to reduce our rent whatsoever, and instead of doing their jobs and doing right by their tenants Umega continues to pass the blame onto circumstances and take 1100 pounds a month from us for a flat we have been unable to use all of for more than two months. Umega's ability to elaborately evade a situation is remarkable. I now get to involve the first-tier tribunal and the housing ombudsman in order to have this work done. I have lost hours and hours of work time, and there is black mold literally oozing into our home, yet Umega can do nothing but claim to understand my frustration and make up new contingencies as excuses. There is more to say, but I will end with this. It has become obvious to me that our landlord wants to kick us out of our flat so that they may re-let it for more money, and Umega is more than happy to enable them to do exactly that. I should have known this the first week we moved in in 2021--when our water main sprung a leak and I had to wait over a weekend for the office to open so I could physically walk in and get someone to answer the urgent problem that I had. Umega does not live up to their contracts, they do not tell the truth, and they do not care. All this would have taken was a quick contractor and a small reduction in rent for a single month, but apparently that was far too much to ask for. I'm very excited to see the comment on this review when Umega once again wields their feigned empathy for my situation and tells me they'll work on it. I have no trust in Umega Lettings, and although I'm aware they couldn't care less I thought it a good idea to warn prospective tenants as to their antics. And now I leave you to go spend more time getting the authorities to correct this easily-fixable situation.

Reply from agent

Calvin. Firstly, and genuinly, I'm sorry that you've had to experience these lengthy delays and have had to cope without a shower. That can't be easy. I assure you that our team are doing everything they can to progress things to a conclusion ASAP. I agree that the timescales to get to the bottom of things, when insurance is involved, can be so frustrating. I appreciate this response is unlikely to make you feel any better about the situation but please be assured that we're taking this seriously and will keep on top of the insurance company and your landlord so that things get back to normal ASAP. Sorry for the change of personnel at our end but unfortunately, this is normally outwith our control. Lastly, just for your own peace of mind; this is not a stategy to free up the property to re-let. It's in everyone's best interests to maintain a long-term tenancy.

1.00 /5

Umega are a weird company. As property managers i don't rate them highly at all, im not entirely sure what they do as they are always 'waiting for the landlord' before they take action. As a tenant I have had numerous problems that just get ignored or forgotten. They seem to have no working systems in place, and repairs or requests take surprisingly long to resolve, even with their new online portal.

Reply from agent

Hello. We'd like to help resolve any issues you've had with our service, and understand more about where this falls down from your perspective as a tenant. We cannot find your details on our system, but if you'd like to discuss your concerns further then please drop us a line to info@umega.co.uk. Many thanks for taking the time, and we are sorry that your experience has not matched expectations.

1.00 /5

Absolutely no surprises here that all of the five star reviews are from landlords and all the lower reviews are from tenants. If you’re a tenant do not go with Umega if you can possibly avoid it. I know it’s hard to get a flat at the moment and most letting agents have a bad reputation among tenants, but trust me, you deserve better than this. They are exceptionally bad. I’m currently in an ongoing dispute with Umega over a cleaning fee which among other things they are deducting from my deposit and dear god... where on earth is the common sense at Umega? Having cleaned the property myself before moving out I was aware that it wasn’t completely spotless but £168 for a 40 square metre flat is absolute robbery. They’re claiming that it took 7 hours to get it up to the standard that they wanted. That’s over 10 minutes per square metre of the property. I have also seen looking at some of the other reviews here that I am not the only person they have done this to. And they respond to me with rudeness and say that it’s fair and a reasonable 7 hour job providing no time breakdown of normal cleaning tasks and how long it took to complete the deep cleaning as if this is not a totally understandable and normal thing to ask after receiving a bill that high. They also initially wanted to charge me with the hallway lampshade being in a cupboard and not being on the light and they also wanted to charge me for a mirror but I got a reduction on those because they couldn’t produce a receipt for the mirror and they probably realised that the lampshade charge is really really dumb but they acted as if they were really going out of their way for those two things so.. thanks I guess? I’m exhausted after dealing with Umega, their rudeness that they have given me in this dispute process (if I’m not fobbed off by them entirely), and their stupid passive aggressive emojis that they leave at the end of all their emails as part of their corporate strategy to be as annoying as possible in the process. I graciously await my “I’m sorry you feel that way” or something else a bad boyfriend would say type response to this review that they have responded to all the other negative reviews with.

Reply from agent

Hi Lindsey, Thank you for taking the time to leave us this feedback. We appreciate it's not where either party wishes to be, but we take every review on board to understand where we can do better, so thank you for pointing us in this direction. We've taken a look into your move out inspection. We do our best to provide vacating tenants with everything they need for a smooth exit, including information on what we'll be looking for at your check-out inspection, and how to ensure you are handing the property back as per the original inventory. We do this in a bid to support tenants through this process. We're not in the business of unfairly instructing works, but we understand where your frustrations are sitting. I can see we've encouraged you to go via the SDS Adjudication process, which we believe is the best and fairest way to reach a resolve. It's hugely disappointing that you've had this impression of our team. We'll take your feedback back to our Management team and ensure any learnings are shared. Thanks, Umega.

1.00 /5

0 Stars Umega POD2 Team. For an "award-winning" agency, I was not left with award-winning levels of satisfaction nor service. This was my first dealing with any letting agency, and the whole experience has left me thoroughly unimpressed. I found them unprofessional, incompetent, and unpunctual for a business that deals with time-sensitivity. They did not acknowledge ANY of my concerns raised on multiple occasions. The main agent I was dealing with, had been called for Jury Duty (a planned absence), and any emails/queries were not picked up thus causing unnecessary delays. The whole process was lengthy, and the closer we came to the original move in date was just causing me unnecessary stress, and left me worrying whether I'd have a home at the end of my current lease. Due to the overall experience so far, it gave me pause for concern for any future matters that may arise within the flat where this agency/team would need to be involved. I withdrew my application yesterday (24th Jan) via email. I notified the tenants in the flat share immediately afterwards. It was only after this that they tried to scramble to rectify their errors, and tried to get me to move forward with the process still. Originally meant to move in tomorrow (26th Jan) but had asked to alter this to 31st/1st Jan/Feb (which was only fully confirmed AFTER I forfeited the room), and they still had MORE stages to complete on their side. I received another email from them this morning after I had already withdrew my application, stating the following, which I just find insulting: "As we haven't heard back from you we will not be progressing any further with your application. Thank you for all your patience with this, appreciate it wasn't the smoothest of rides!"

1.00 /5

We applied for a place in Whitson, they sent the application to the wrong landlord about an address in Newington. When they acknowledged the error, they claimed it was then sent to the correct landlord and within 1hr 30 minutes they had rejected the application and decided to go with another tenant and were taking a deposit from them. Effectively, the application was too late to be considered by the correct landlord as Umega originally sent it to the wrong person. This error has cost us the opportunity of this property. I would not recommend Umega. EDIT: Rebecca has now admitted they decided not to proceed with the application rather than the landlord. In short, Umega lied in the first instance. Avoid.

Reply from agent

Hi Darren, thank you for leaving this feedback for us. We really appreciate you taking the time to do. It helps us recognise any blind spots we might have and any ways in which we can improve. I have taken a look over the application process here. The current market is moving very quickly, and is very competitive. It's not unusual for a property to be snapped up within the hour. We're happy to support tenants to strengthen their applications for future to aid them in their search as we know finding the perfect home at the moment isn't easy. We're so sorry to read that you won't be recommending Umega. It is unfortunate that a small error was made here and left you feeling disappointed. With dealing with the volumes we are, these things can happen, and I can see efforts were made to remedy. We wish you the best of luck with your search for the perfect home. If our paths cross again, hopefully we can get an application over the line for you in future.

1.00 /5

I currently rent a flat in Edinburgh and I’ve had various problems over the last year. The main issue is relating to a window which can’t be closed and swings open when there is a strong wind. This problem has been ongoing for well over 6 months. Umega has done nothing to correct the issue. I have never experienced such a terrible service before. I’m now very worried about winter and the increased cost of heating my flat. I would not recommend Umega. Ian

Reply from agent

Hi Ian, thank you so much for providing this feedback. I've reached out to your management POD, who are going to follow up directly. There's certainly been action from our side, but we'll make sure to update you and keep you informed of progress. I hope that we can turn your experience around to give you some peace of mind that you're looked after by a team that genuinely care. We're disappointed that you wouldn't recommend us, but appreciate you flagging the feedback so we can improve where we need to. Thanks, Umega.

1.00 /5
Reply from agent

Hi Rafael, thanks for reaching out. We've not been able to narrow down the address that you are linked to, so we would love it if you were able to reach out to us directly at erin.whyte@umega.co.uk so that we can dive into this a little deeper and see where we might be able to improve. Thanks so much, Umega Team.

1.00 /5

Umega seemed good at first, but things quickly took a turn. If you have the option, please, please avoid renting with this company. They put our health at risk and never respond to correspondance. Firstly, the landlord had taped up a pipe under our sink with duct tape. When this inevitably broke and flooded our entire kitchen one weeknight evening, Umega responded relatively fast - though to this day have not fixed the moving floorboards caused by the leak. The first major problem came when a sink was broken in the bathroom. Umega took a month to replace this sink - the only sink in our bathroom - which meant we had to go to the kitchen to wash our hands. This is obviously a hygiene hazard and there is no reason why a sink should have taken over a month for replacement. Next our toilet broke, again no help from Umega with an extremely long wait for replacement. Let me restate this: we only had one toilet so had no toilet for weeks on end and no way to flush, you can imagine how awful that was. Then lo and behold, our boiler broke. Not only did this break but also our back up water heater. This meant we had no hot water - no showers etc for almost an entire month in December - one of the coldest months of the year. Until I chased up Umega multiple times they didn't even offer us electric heaters or alternative methods to shower. Because of the dangerous and unsanitary conditions of the flat, we went away for a week - during which Umega was supposed to fix our toilet and hot water. (By this point we hadn't had hot water for two weeks). We come back to a cold flat and guess what? Still no hot water. We then had to have our flat pulled apart for a whole day - especially disruptive as we both work from home, in which a lot of woodwork was damaged. Since then, I have been falsely harassed by Scottish Power for a bill which doesn't belong to me. Umega has been 'trying' to fix this despite ignoring my emails and leaving me to face potential legal action over a bill that is not even for my flat. If you are considering renting with them, please save yourself the hassle and avoid them. They have honestly ruined my mental health and they are not worth working with, even if their properties look good on the surface. I will be looking into legal action now that our tenancy is coming to an end with them.

Reply from agent

Hi Olivia, thank you for taking the time to provide us with this feedback. We are constantly looking to ensure we are meeting our own standards, so this provides us with an invaluable insight into anything we might be able to improve on. As I understand it, after digging a little deeper, one of our Team Managers has followed up with you directly to understand your concerns a little further. I'm disappointed that this has been your experience of Umega as this is certainly not the way we operate. We're happy to have a call to discuss anything further if you wish. Please do reach out to Sarah (your POD TM) who can assist in this. Many thanks, Umega.

Contact details

Unknown

Opening hours

Unknown

Address

Umega Lettings 10 Lister Square, Edinburgh, EH3 9GL, UK, EH3

About

No about information available

Our team

No team information available

No memberships information available

No marketing information available

No awards information available

No memberships information available

No marketing information available

No awards information available