D & J Lettings and Property Management

The letting service provided by Manning Stainton has been generally satisfactory, especially John Sheader, whose prompt communication and efficient handling of issues have been very helpful. …

The onboarding process is well set up and pretty hassle free. We didn't have a property managed by D&J so only had interactions with them at the start and end of tenancy. D&J contract out their check in and check out inventories to a company called Saffron Inventories and this is where we experienced difficulties. Although Jo Swinton/Saffron Industries doesn't directly work for D&J, she is listed on their website and seems to do all their inventories. She prodcues reports with overly inflated costs, including for things which are clearly wear and tear. We disputed a lot of our charges, were happy to pay for somethings, but not at the rate Jo calculated. When we went through the dispute process, any charges we disputed we either didn't have to pay or paid a reduced rate compared to what Jo calcualted. Her report also included a charge for a missing postbox key, even though we had no postbox. I'm not sure if she copy and pasted parts of the report or had saved over and used a version of a form which had previously been filled out. D&J also managed to send us £70 in error which was supposed to be sent to our former landlord. First we knew about it was when our former landlord had to contact us a couple of months later and request we send it to them. Not a big deal for us as we could just transfer the money to the landlord, and it wasn't us paying D&J for a service, but it seemed odd they'd make that mistake. Realistically housing is in short supply and you're not going to avoid a property due to D&J using Saffron inventories and sending money to odd places, but be prepared for the check out report, try not to take it personally, and dispute the charges...and maybe double check they have your details correct if youre expecting money from them.

Very mixed bag with Tom. He was very pleasant and helpful when he was signing me up for a tenancy, which I paid in full, but the after care was quite poor. Pre-agreed terms were not met until I pushed for them to be met, and coming towards the end of the tenancy, he seems to be attempting to label enforcement of legally binding terms as "aggressive and childish" and called me a "knob". Definitely a buyer beware situation.

Spoke to lady on the phone who was very gruff and impolite. Think staff need a reeducation about telephone etiquette as the lady sounded like she really could not be bothered to do her job or she had no interest in us as callers. Also took them over a day to read a form which initially said would take a few hours and she only read the form as we called as they most likely forgot about it. Would advise to look for a different letting agents as these guys seem like they really can't be bothered.

Spoke to lady on the phone who was very gruff and impolite. Think staff need a reeducation about telephone etiquette as the lady sounded like she really could not be bothered to do her job or she had no interest in us as callers. Also took them over a day to read a form which initially said would take a few hours and she only read the form as we called as they most likely forgot about it. Would advise to look for a different letting agents as these guys seem like they really can't be bothered.

Was a tenant for more than two years with prompt rent and the place was returned in better condition than i moved in. Newmans tried to abstract some of my deposit due to a water stain which was caused by a leak. This was disappointing as …

Do not rent from this company. Awful experience, hard to get hold of and don't fix any issues in reasonable time. Rented for 3 years and they tried to get £500 of our deposit after leaving the place professionally cleaned with receipts. Disputed through TDC and got most of it back - don't put up with these people.

I would give zero stars if it were possible. I would urge anyone to stay away from properties managed by them. We received a property that was not cleaned and was also utterly filthy upon moving in. It also had plenty of structural issues that were never disclosed, leading to issues such as leaks and structural damage. These were never fixed while we were there since it takes so long for them to provide people to check up on the property. Additionally, note that they will take an exorbitant amount of money for the cleaning fee at the end - we spent days cleaning the property before moving out and nearly £400 was still taken from our deposit purely for ‘cleaning purposes’. You will lose much of your deposit and unless you go for a legal dispute, there is nothing you can do about it. Avoid at all costs.

The worst customer service and worst agency to rent through. After then end of my tenancy they urged me to return keys, before checking on property state, and then accused me of non- existent damages, fortunately I had video records of everything in the flat before I leave. They refused to return my deposit until I went through a complaint to the deposit scheme. Very rude and never fixed any issues I reported in the property. I highly disrecommend