Do not use Northwood for lettings! Read on for tips to not get scammed by letting agents. On checking out, my housemates and I requested to get the deposit back from the deposit protection scheme. However, there was no response after 10 days (which they should respond after 10 days unless they want to raise a dispute to deduct your deposit). I called Northwood (Will was the one who responded) and he didn’t sound too happy about it, his tone sounded irritable which is odd because the money is ours to begin with and we are your clients! Will claimed on the phone that there were “loads of things to be cleared out” and when I asked what it was exactly, he said “an array of things such as clothes”. Now mind you, we took a video of the house before and after moving in, including the exterior and the front and back gardens. They were time stamped and there was absolutely no rubbish and belongings and we cleaned it extremely well. He said that they will be charging us and that the landlord will be collecting evidence. Well, go on then, we would definitely like to challenge the clothes that you were talking about. Also, future tenants please note. TENANTS IN ENGLAND SHOULD NOT BE CHARGED CLEANING FEES WHEN MOVING OUT. EVEN IF CLEANING FEES WERE MENTIONED IN AGREEMENTS, THEY CANNOT BE ENFORCED SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF TENANTS FEES ACT 2019. IF THEY DO CHARGE YOU, THEY CAN BE FACED WITH FINES UP TO £5000. Though there were no clothes left by us, I would like to also mention that whilst rubbish during the stay was responsible by the tenants, any rubbish left upon moving out is RESPONSIBLE BY THE LANDLORD/LETTING AGENT. Usually I would avoid leaving bad reviews like this as it simply waste my time and energy. However, Northwood so kindly sent and forwarded an email stating that the landlord is not going to deduct anything this year as a “covid goodwill gesture”. It seems like this has been happening for a while now. I would also like to mention that there is no goodwill gesture going on, we are just taking back OUR money and your claim of us not clearing a wide array of items like clothing DOES NOT WARRANT ANY DEDUCTIONS. Even to the last email, you were adamant about charging us and you ONLY returned the deposit because you know that we have video evidence of a clean house and not one littered with clothing. I would be really curious to see your evidence that we have clothes left behind and maybe we can pick these clothes up someday to donate to the charity. For people looking to rent houses, refer to the TENANT FEES ACT 2019 to see your rights and what can or cannot be charged. Challenge your landlords or agents if they do charge you illegally, or simply just report them. ALWAYS take video evidence before and after moving in.NegativeResponsiveness, Professionalism

The house we rented had multiple issues which were either not resolved or completed to a poor standard. The landlord (who was also the owner of Northwood) also took every opportunity to squeeze every penny out of our deposits when we left - even for issues which were present when we arrived.NegativeQuality, Professionalism

Absolutely dreadful - they don't do anything, the mould in the bathroom was never treated and the boiler gas been broken since last October. I am currently trying to move out and they are having viewings! I would never use Northwood again and would advise anyone looking to rent or let out or buy to avoid them. They aren't worth the money.

DO NOT RENT FROM THIS COMPANY. I have rented a number of properties since selling my house to relocate. Northwood lied to us from day one. If only landlords knew how badly their properties are being mis-managed. The property was let to us in an appalling state. We were forced to sign paperwork confirming it was in perfect condition before being handed the keys to discover the truth. Spent our first 2 days taking photos and compiling a genuine schedule of condition, then 2 weeks scrubbing off the filth. They kindly paid us £50 for cleaning lol. A further 9 months spent doing repairs and tidying the place up, at which point we had an inspection and were told the place had never looked so good. Closely followed by a pre-Christmas 'phone call informing us they were putting it up for sale! We live in a lovely property now, managed well, by a reputable agent. A lesson learned, as they say. Northwood are without doubt the rudest, most unhelpful and dishonest people I've ever dealt with. The only repair they carried out (floor) resulted in a bat infestation! I guess they'll respond to this feedback claiming none of this is true. AVOID!! AVOID!! AVOID!!

"AWFUL! STOLEN OUR MONEY..."

NORTHWOOD - EXETER I wish I never used this company it has been nothing but a nightmare since day one. The day we signed our rental agreement we got the keys to the property and were surprised to see a sofa in our "unfurnished" house. We asked northwood to take the sofa away because we had bought our own. they refused to do so and * who was very rude and abrupt and told us it was ' part furnished' despite being 'unfurnished' on the listing! We then lost 10% of the cost of our furniture as it had been made to order. We then spent 2 weeks trying to work out who our gas was with... we called northwood and were told "We think it's british gas" and it was on DD. after much confusion we discovered northwood were wrong and it was with E-on... not only that but it was also a pay meter which they didn't leave us a card for! Shortly after getting that sorted our boiler then broke... Northwood left us waiting nearly 2 weeks without central heating whilst we had a new born baby in the house... disgusting! Luckily we had family who came to our aid and supplied us with electric heaters. When we moved in there was also a leak under the sink each time the washing machine was used, we contacted northwood about this a few times and they never returned our calls, eventually after 4 attempts they said someone was coming out to the property to look at it.... but when the maintenance man arrived he said "Hi, * has sent me here to fit a shelf"... where that come from I'll never know... surprise surprise we never got this fixed and it remained even a year later! We also had problems with damp in this property that we reported to northwood... bare in mind we had a new born in our house *they said the damp was caused by us and we should keep the windows open 24/7.****Although i wasn't expecting much from a person then sends a maintenance man to fit a shelf when you have a water leak **. When we were served notice due to the owner wanting the property back me and my partner decided to leave early after all the trouble northwood caused us. We contacted the office to serve counter notice and the woman we spoke with agreed our check out date was 10/08/19. On the date we were due to leave northwood started acting dumb and pretended we never served counter notice.... they are now trying to steal our deposit and charge us a month rent for a month we've not even been in the property! We complained to *** the director but she was just as unhelpful... she denied that any of her staff accepted our counter notice and was uninterested in looking into our complaint properly. ****when speaking with her on the phone she has been rude, abrupt and defensive. We now have to take legal action to get our money back. DON'T USE THIS COMPANY!

Would never rent off this company again. Property has mould and damp. Rather than address the situation we get given notice to leave. A dreadful person called faye seems to think that we have a condensation issue and not a damp problem! Obviously brains cannot be brought as damp stems from condensation! I've made sure environmental health is aware of the situation, thinking about court proceedings. I will be watching this property once I've moved to make sure that they don't rent it b4 the damp situation is addressed. Faye has proven to be rude, righteous, ignorant and unhelpful

The worst agent if you are tenant.