Elms Estates

Elms Estates has been an extremely disappointing letting agent to deal with. Throughout my tenancy, I repeatedly had to chase them by phone and email to get things done. Their agents seemed unable to find solutions without continuous prompting, and tasks that should have been straightforward became unnecessarily stressful because of delays, poor communication and a lack of ownership. At times, it genuinely felt as though I was managing their job for them rather than the other way around. The most frustrating issue has been my request to leave my tenancy early after finding a replacement tenant myself. Elms Estates demanded £180 for the tenant changeover, described as referencing and administration costs. My understanding of the Tenant Fees Act is that a tenant-requested change to a tenancy is subject to a £50 default cap, unless the agent can demonstrate that a higher amount reasonably reflects their actual costs. I questioned the £180 charge and investigated the referencing cost myself, obtaining a quote of £40 from the referencing company. Despite this, Elms Estates continued to insist that I either pay the £180 or risk having the change refused. I was particularly concerned by the way the charge was presented to the landlord, as it gave the impression that the referencing cost itself accounted for the amount being charged. I find this approach deeply disappointing. If an agent is going to charge more than the £50 statutory amount, I would expect them to be able to provide a clear, transparent and evidenced breakdown of the actual costs incurred. Instead, I was left feeling that the charge was being used as a barrier to leaving the tenancy, despite having sourced a suitable replacement myself. Overall, my experience has been stressful, unnecessarily time-consuming and lacking in transparency. I would not recommend Elms Estates to tenants, and I would also question whether landlords are being given a fair and transparent picture of how their properties and tenants are being managed. I do not recommend this agency to either landlords who care about their properties, nor tenants.