this is the worst property management company I have come across Think twice before signing up

Possibly the worst management/ letting agent company I have ever dealt with. Do not use them. It is impossible to attempt to solve a very simple issue with them and the director, Mark, is impossible to get hold of. Stay clear and do not use. Reply to owner: you are a combined company. I also deal with you - being Northwood. If you can get a hold of Mark feel free to let him know I am seriously dissatisfied. Thanks for reminding me to also put a review on Fisher Wrathall. I will copy and paste it there too.

Baffled as to how you can confirm a viewing for a property both one week and one day before, and then ring up one hour before the viewing to say that they do not have access to the property. And then to not even apologise once for the time wasted both over the phone and in person. I know estate agents basically hold all the cards in this current climate but it doesn't mean you can waste peoples time like this. Still not been contacted whatsoever after another month.

Unfortunately staff member Emma Woods rude and abrupt behaviour was offensive. Needs manners and people skills in order to improve Northwood Lancaster services.

Northwood ‘over and above’ that’s their philosophy. The problem is it doesn’t match up to the reality in Lancaster A couple of months ago I would have said they were an okay letting agent. Yes there were issues with the apartment, communication was slow and maintenance issues were reported but not attended to - that’s perhaps disappointing but sadly not unusual in my experience of some letting agents and I’ve come to accept it. As an NHS professional myself I have rented properties for well over 10 years as a medical student, junior doctor and now a senior doctor in various cities and towns the breadth and length of the UK, so have an extensive practical understanding of the process and expectations of both tenant and landlord. Rarely will you find a property without any defects at all and I’ve learnt to accept some leniency as a tenant. Inventories are there for a reason yes but sane people would not list every last detail of a property and photograph every skirting board, every minutiae of paint work scuffs etc. Its not a practical expectation when you’re moving into a new home. Let me say I could have easily formulated an exhaustive list of issues in decoration and defects with this particular apartment and it’s various items, fittings and furnishings when I moved in last year but I did not, as most were not detrimental to their operation and I’m not an unreasonable person. I don’t have the time to be dealing with unnecessary issues that are not actually my responsibility in a managed rental. Neither was there any mid term inspection of the property to raise any problems. On moving out I spent a long time cleaning the apartment to a very high standard. In the previous 8 properties I’ve let this has never caused issue and the property was left in a much cleaner condition than on occupation. The cleaning routine included removing disgusting unrecognisable congealed gunge from under the washing machine, left from the previous tenant (mentioned on the check in inventory actually) and supposedly I came to later understand still present after a £90 professional clean when I had moved in unbelievably. As I had come to the end of my training rotation in the local hospital I needed to relocate and gave notice on the tenancy. Now here’s where the whole experience changes. It’s a bit like when you hire a car aboard. They’ll let you drive it away on your holiday yet claim you’ve caused all manner of damage to the bodywork when you return the vehicle to the garage. Amongst the list of items they were unhappy with was an undissolved granule of washing powder in the washing machine drawer and a watermark in the drip tray at the rear of the fridge where it had simply been left to defrost! Dealing with the office was an interesting experience in itself. I was branded “petty and unnecessary”, astoundingly told “as you work in the NHS and have had Covid yourself you know only too well how clean places should be left”, accused of being rude because I challenged the deposit deduction and to top it off my family were accused of “liking “ and commenting on misattributed Facebook posts of an unrelated arm of the business called Fisher Wrathall and asked to remove them! I think I had every right to feel aggrieved. At the end of the day it was a £30 pecuniary amount and not worth the bureaucracy of contesting through the protection scheme but nonetheless a point of principle. They’ll give you the usual patter about returning the property to a saleable standard, contractual obligations to the landlord, not benefitting financially yada yada I would warn any prospective tenant to be very very careful particularly when it comes to accepting the check in inventory. List and photo absolutely everything no matter how seemingly trivial, go over the entire place with a fine tooth comb, leave no stone unturned or you’ll live to regret it. I would be very interested to actually know a statistic of how many of Northwood’s Lancaster tenants ever retrieve a full deposit reimbursement after a tenancy comes to an end

Appalling service and customer relations. Complete lack of communication and no urgency whatsoever. Moreover, “short”, unprofessional and contradictory responses, along with excuses. It is clear that absolutely everyone has been dealing with the COVID-19 situation, yet Northwood seem intent on relying on this as an excuse to cover up their obvious shortcomings which were clearly preexisting. I seriously wouldn’t advise anyone to use this Estate Agent.

Very rude and unprofessional. No help at all. Will never rent from them!