Poor experience as a tenant Our experience with Manning Stainton's property management over the 3 years we rented through them was disappointing. We understand that their role is to represent the landlord's interests, but we often felt this came at the expense of treating tenants fairly and reasonably. The main issues we experienced were: - At the end of our initial 1 year tenancy, we were asked to accept a rent increase of £170 per month (21%!) to renew our agreement. Although we negotiated this down to a 12.5% increase, it was still above the local market rate. This left us feeling that the initial rent was set to attract tenants before being increased significantly after the first year. - It took more than 6 months for a broken and dangerous back gate to be replaced and removed, despite us reporting it numerous times. - At the end of our tenancy, £395 was deducted from our deposit, which was a surprise as we had consistently received positive feedback during property inspections. £300 of this was for gardening, which involved mowing a small front lawn, trimming a few shrubs and weeding a paved back garden. We felt this charge was excessive for the amount of work involved, but they weren't willing to accept our counter-offer. Based on our experience, we would not recommend renting through Manning Stainton as we felt that charges and costs were prioritised over treating tenants fairly.