I had a mixed experience with Streets Ahead as a first time buyer, who completed on my flat in June (offer accepted in December). First, the positives: - Viewing was arranged quickly and they offered to take me to another flat on the same street the same night that hadn't yet come online. - They weren't difficult about me not have a mortgage in principle, when I made my offer I just had to have a quick call with their mortgages person to confirm my finances. - When my parents in their mid 70s and I were left in the freezing cold for 40 minutes after Hannah didn't turn up for my second viewing, Phillip stepped up and raced over to show us round despite being on annual leave - this was really appreciated, although it was frustrating that Hannah never apologised or even acknowledged leaving us in the lurch especially as she knew my parents were travelling down from Wales. - Got a recommendation + a discount on a drain survey via Hannah - Towards the end, when things seems to be getting stuck between the two solicitors and it felt impossible to pin down an exchange date, Scott was very helpful at chasing things further up the chain. - I am very, very happy with my flat, most importantly. Negatives/room for improvement: - Some very pushy emails from Hannah and Scott asking what was holding up exchange my end when there was a long list on queries we were still waiting on - I appreciate estate agents don't always know where solicitors are at but taking a less intimidating tone would have been appreciated. - As a first time buyer, once my offer was accepted I felt I was under a lot of pressure to do everything immediately eg I was asked to find a mortgage broker and a solicitor in 48 hours or lose the house which was very stressful especially as this happened during a stressful week at work. I assumed this was standard practice - but found out it was not after speaking to friends who'd recently bought places. - Having not told me she was leaving, Hannah, the main person on my case, sent me the most ridiculous email on her last day asking if we could exchange today because it was her last day (so never mind the outstanding issues with the house then... lol). - The flat was advertised (twice!) with a parking space but the header lease stipulated no parking - and trying to clarify this and negotiate a deed of variation on this significantly slowed down my purchase. I also had to take out indemnity insurance for 'the driveway' a previous owner had created. - A really simple improvement Streets Ahead could make is making sure their agents go out with answers to all the basic questions buyers might ask about a property. When I was shown round, Phillip couldn't tell me how long the header lease was exactly or when the boiler had last been serviced. When I asked on the second viewing if there were any planned building works on the street that might affect me, I was told there was nothing. Yet, the next door neighbour had actually submitted a planning permission application for a basement conversion several months earlier - if I had realised this before putting an offer in, I might not have made an offer. Due to delays at the council, I didn't find out about the outcome of the planning application until March and this delayed my house purchase significantly as I was apprehensive about proceeding until I know the application would be rejected and my surveyor had assessed potential impact.

If I were rating Kallam individually it would be a 5 star review! Only reason why it’s not is because of the lack of communication in our first week with our property manager. When we did manage to get ahold of her, there were speedy solutions but this didn’t happen until the 3rd/4th day of trying to contact her. I understand people don’t work 24/7 but if you know you have tenants moving in, surely someone should be available? Kallam on the other hand has been amazing since the get go! She replies almost immediately and gets things done. She couldn’t be any more helpful if she tried. She’s always so positive which has kept me sane over the past week, a great agent.

On the lettings side of things not very knowledgeable about the area,not very organised. One agent stands head and shoulders above though, his name is Enzo, always request Enzo if possible, very professional.

No listing on webpage

Initially impressed with the speed of a let of my property, unfortunately fell very short on the accounts and charges, have been notified numerous times, but still havent recitifed an issue, would not use again for this reason, and wouldnt recommend.

Worst customer service of any estate agent I have used, had a viewing booked yesterday, waited for 10 mins past the arranged time and no body turned up, called the office and they said the property was now under offer but just didn’t bother to call and cancel the viewing. Attitude on the phone and not one apology. Can see why they call streets ahead the bottom of the estate agency pit.

I had a terrible experience with this company to the point I have had to submit a formal complaint. The general mismanagement and negligence caused many negative consequences such as financial loss, which was only rectified through the mercy of an external company (my surveyors) who felt sorry for me. General inaccuracies in the handling of a property sale where there were typos on official documents, which resulted to delays in the process. Incorrect information and poor communication about access for viewings and surveyors, overall the mismanagement of my case caused me to lose complete trust in this company and withdraw. After submitting a formal complaint I had to chase the recipient in order to have an acknowledgement email in the timeframe they initially stated in their protocol. And finally, in the formal response to the complaint, although they have taken accountability, the email includes a sentence about the complaint that clearly wasn’t intended for me to read. This just goes to show even in the face of a complaint, the mistakes and unprofessionalism is rampant. Would not recommend using this company as a seller or buyer.

DO NOT RENT WITH THEM! they have terrible service and are very rude, if your house is broken into they will not send anyone round to secure the place and will leave the door unlockable so it can just be pushed open also they will not be helpful with any mould or issue you have in the property so for your own sake and sanity please steer clear

Unfortunately we had a very bad experience with Streets Ahead South Norwood. We were interested in a property that they managed, and someone got in touch with us (I won't name any names). This person arranged a viewing for us, but when the day arrived I received a call from one of his colleagues telling us that he was off sick, and no one could cover for him (already a red flag). We moved our viewing, but then a week later we discovered that the property was "Under offer" - without anyone bothering to let us know. They did apologise for the mix up, after we had to contact them ourselves to ask about our upcoming viewing (was it still going ahead?): and our contact person explained that he had apparently assumed that one of his colleagues had in fact showed us the property when he was off sick. I don't believe that this is an acceptable excuse, and my hope with leaving this review is that they learn from this and start communicating with their customers better - and also internally. Also a tip for potential new customers: they ignore their emails, so make sure you always call.

I rented with them sometime ago and they are the worst letting agency probably in the world. A long story short, their staff has high turnover, they work with the worst landlords some of them cannot even rent legally the property. I rent twice with them and it was the worst mistake we have done, the good point is their contracts have a 6 month breaking clause. Me and wife used to call them "Stress ahead".