We rented the property for a

We rented the property for a year, had cold water showers for 2-3 months, no one come fix the boiler we were offered no compensation or anything. They charge absurd fees, deducted over £500 from the deposit, for absolutely nothing at all. They charged us £70 for references...they are an absolute joke!

"We rented the property for a..."

We rented the property for a year, had cold water showers for 2-3 months, no one come fix the boiler we were offered no compensation or anything. They charge absurd fees, deducted over £500 from the deposit, for absolutely nothing at all. They charged us £70 for references...they are an absolute joke!

Crooks. Do not rent a property from these people. House had damp problem which they knew about and are now taking out of the deposit claiming we never told them. That’s just one of the issues. Do not rent a property from them I cannot stress this enough. DO NOT RENT A PROPERTY FROM THESE PEOPLE.

Totally unprofessional and unorganized. I arrived half an hour prior to our appointment, and nobody showed up for the viewing! I called them to find out why and told them I had also received a confirmation text message, they didn't even know who was going to show us the house. They told me to wait a bit more in the bitter cold in order to sort it out. I waited another 30 minutes and nobody showed up or even called me to explain or apologise! My husband (who had to take two hours off work in order to attend this appointment) called them again and they still had no clue, not to mention that they were rude to him (!!!). Very unprofessional. They are an absolute joke.

My experience Mirrors Lucy Taylor in a comment below. Daniel Harris has consistently attempted to bully his way into the property, turning up and taking photos so he can market the property in 3 days when he kicks me out for not agreeing to a £50 rent increase he's just advised me of, with a £100 'admin' fee for the privilege. I'm genuinely surprised he as any staff, or customers, and the police have not been called on him. Currently going through the formal complaints procedure, which coincidentally ends with him as he's the manager. Court action will be taken instead. I advise any and all of you to do the same. This man deserves at best to be out of business, at worst a bit of time in a jail cell to counteract that testosterone poisoning masquerading as small man syndrome. A despicable way to do business. Do not use this company under any circumstances. You have been warned.

I have had a terrible experience with Northwood and found them to be incredibly unprofessional, unscrupulous and would agree with all of the other comments re- bullying tactics. However, since Louise Levinsohn has taken over managing maintenance, the service Improved. She is open, honest and courteous and an excellent negotiator. She is also very organised and remains in constant communication so, even if things aren’t going according to a preferred schedule, you know exactly where you stand. Whilst she does of course serve the interests of the landlords, Louise treats tenants like customers and looks to find win-win resolutions for everyone. I really hope Louise manages to change the culture at Northwood so more people’s experience of renting a home through them could improve as mine has drastically. Prior to Louise, joining the team, the best I could have given was a 1 star rating however, it seems she has been given enough freedom in her role to make a real impact resulting in the much better and fairer service I have experienced. Thank you so much Louise. Update: upon moving out, despite louise telling me upon inspection of my property that it was in a much better condition than it was when I moved in and, given the repair issues that had not been done throughout the duration of my tenancy, she felt it would be unfair for anything to be deducted from my deposit, Daniel Harris (the franchise owner who feels it is within his rights to bully children with learning difficulties and reduce them to tears in their own homes) felt within his rights to hold on to the full deposits. Whilst he knew I would win a case in court he also knew I wouldn’t want to put my guarantor through the ordeal and, even when I told him I was in hospital when he was calling and it wasn’t a good time, he continued to put pressure on me to sign the deposite over to the landlady which, given I simply had no energ to fight, I did. The house is still empty nearly 6 months later and still in a terrible state of disrepair and neglect. Terrible landlady, awful maintenance company- DO NOT USE!!!

They’re the reason estate agents get a bad name. In the initial stage they’re welcoming and can’t do enough for you, but as soon as you’re moved in they become a distant memory with contact near enough impossible and nothing but broken promises. Doesn’t help that they’re ran by a couple of estate agents that genuinely don’t have a clue and always give you incorrect information. That backed up with hidden fees for work they don’t even complete. Absolute tin pot of an estate agency. Don’t let their “friendly” & “great customer service” fool you, nor their detailed explanations on here to complaints, justifying their actions. Would never use again and would strongly recommend against doing so, even if you really like the property!!!

Daniel Harris - one word. Bully. For someone to run a business the way he does is appalling. And it seems most people reviewing this would agree.

Not a positive experience at all. Bullying tactics used to try to force a completion. Raised voice during a phone call - a complete lack of customer service/people skills. I would 100% not recommend.

I wasn’t really going to write this review, because all I want is a quiet life without the fear of being ambushed in my own home. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened today, at the hands of the Northwood Sale manager. In the past week, my partner and I have both been accused of writing a negative review about our experiences of Northwood in Sale (South Manchester). My guess is that it’s the 1* review below. We hadn’t written that review, because we are going through the formal complaints procedure, and had no need to vocalise our issues in this public forum. However after my encounter today, I feel the need to share what happened, just in the hope that I can prevent even a small number of people renting a property through Northwood. We’ve had various issues with Northwood, many of which minor and related to some work we were having done on our kitchen. After several emails back and forth, we decided to embark on the complaints procedure. Since then, the manager, Daniel Harris, has taken a dislike to us. This morning was the icing on the cake. He came round to the property, with NO prior warning or permission (despite this being a contractual obligation) to inspect some work a contractor had done. He’s been very confrontational in the past, and as I was working from home I had no intention of speaking to him. He’s also left me feeling quite shaken so my partner agreed that he would deal with all communication. After looking at the work to our kitchen, he asked the contractor to ‘wait by his van’, pulled the door to our flat to, and began a vicious rant, detailing all elements of our formal complaint and why we have no grounds for a complaint. He called us rude, time wasters, accused us of lying about not writing a negative review prior to this one. This is now the third separate occasion that these same issues have been raised. Each time Daniel masquerades that he doesn’t want to talk about it any more, and then re-starts this conversation aggressively. Other than intimidate us into submission, I’m not entirely sure what his angle was. I mean even if we had left the review, it’s legal, valid and exercising the right to speech. Having now delved a little deeper, it turns out there’s several negative reviews anyway! I tried numerous times to shut the conversation down, both by saying that we were getting nowhere and responding shortly in the hope he would give up. It was nothing short of harassment, and left me quite upset and shaken- the poor contractor was subjected to my tears when Daniel finally left! All I can say is that it is a real shame that people feel the need to behave in such a way to exert their authority. Daniel clearly has a problem when people disagree with his opinion, but the way in which he puts these opinions across is incredibly intimidating. As a woman with a job in a position of authority, I also can’t help thinking that in this day and age, it’s sad that some people haven’t realised that you can be a successful manager without using scare tactics and intimidation. After this took place, I sought advice from another Northwood branch, who were incredibly helpful (and concerned!) and head office, who advised that this sort of behaviour warranted a call to the police, which I then did. It’s such an incredible shame, as the rest of the Northwood Sale team have treated us with nothing but respect, courtesy and professionalism and I can’t thank them enough for not mirroring the behaviour of their superior. EDIT IN LIGHT OF MANAGER RESPONSE: Last week our case went to court, we won. If that isn't proof we did nothing wrong then I don't know what is! :)