Solid and decent, apart from maintenance

I've rented 4 properties in my life, 3 of which were through agencies (3 separate agencies). Reliance Properties has been by far the least unpleasant lettings agency which I've had dealings with. The flat in I rented from them for 1 year was not particularly nice and the rent was not particularly cheap, but it was cheaper than similarly sized flats in similar areas. The office team and the agent managing the property have been consistently respectful, polite, and decent, and Reliance are the only agency I've rented from which I can say this about. The return of the deposit was quick and painless, they took a very small amount for cleaning which I think was completely reasonable given the condition I left the flat in. My only gripes with Reliance were the time it took to get maintenance (sometimes urgent) work done on the property, and the quality of the work done. I think they were employing the cheapest possible labourers, who had no particular skills either in terms of the work they were doing or their organisation and communication with ether me or the agents themselves. I suspect that this issue was a problem simply due to the agents not seeing the quality of the work being done, and the last people to come to the flat to do work were new and much better, so the problem might be fixed. However, given the seriousness of the problems I was having there (a huge leak, essentially a flood, in the cellar, coming from a water mains pipe which ran through one wall of my flat - also affected - into the flat above, which also caused a serious damp and mould problem in my flat), and given the time it took to get this fixed (~6 months) I can't give 5 stars. I would give 3 stars except that this would probably make it look as though Reliance are comparable in all areas to other lettings agencies, and I believe they are generally a cut above and deserve that recognition. I'd recommend them to prospective tenants as long as there are no issues with the property which need attention.