[Closed] Edinburgh (Leith) Letting Agents - recommendations?

we had a dreadful time with edinburgh property management (as tennants). rotten window frame in the bedroom lead to part of the frame falling out. we had such strong drafts that we could only make the temperature tolerable in the flat by having the heating on continuously whihc cost us thousands. we got environmental health involved and EPM about the window then EPM lied and told the council they'd carried out the work to fix it. then the council visited a second time and strongly seemed to no longer care - quite the about-turn from their initial shock and concern. very fishy. we then were evicted without being given any reason as to why, with the sherrif's office serving the papers. awful awful awful. although it i bet the landlord probably wasn't too stressed about their unprofessional attitude as it was mostly her who seemed to benefit.

Never had ANY good experiences with agents in Edinburgh. A shower of robbing arseholes, each and every one.

Two in particular to avoid - Braemore on Dundas Street and Broughton on Broughton Street. Braemore ripped us off on our deposit and Broughton, tried to do the same, and were grossly incompetent the whole 3 years we were in the flat.

HTH.

then were evicted without being given any reason as to why

Sorry, that just doesn't add up.

Braemore were a bit of a shower to me too - but they double paid our deposit back 😀

then were evicted without being given any reason as to why

Sorry, that just doesn't add up.

what? says who? you? because they're such a decent, honest company? i take umbridge at your response.

MrK MkII

I have no idea about the company, I just struggle to see how you could be evicted without knowing why...let alone without having a Writ served on you at the start of the action, tell you what it was about.

I used to work as a lawyer with some experience in this area.

Avoid JVR as well. Their data security is appalling, regularly mailing all their landlords so mail addresses are visible to all. Secondly, they keep sending me newsletters that have no stamps on which cost me to collect them.

All this and I'm not even a client !

us: "what's going on?"
sherrif officer: "i'm not allowed to say"
us: "can't you give us a clue?"
SO: "well, usually it's because the owner is in trouble"

later, when moving out, neighbour: "oh, i spoke to the landlord, she's not in trouble, it's not that at all"
no reason given by anyone. letting agency wouldn't tell us anything, papers just said the landlord requires the property.

Did you seek advice at the time? did you not get papers served on you?

Doesn't accord with evictions as I knew them.

we saught advice regarding the broken window. were told it'll cost us, and they can just deny everything, and they will always have more clout than the tenants, and will win. that was from two different CAB officers. this put us off seeking advice regarding the papers being served. and to be fair, why on earth would we want to stay?

So papers were served on you, and therefore you could have worked out why you were being evicted, but choose to say you were given no reason/warning?

how? there was no reason given, other than the landlord requires the property. this is all that was stated in the papers.

So far so good with the Property Letting Centre. Had a bad experience with Alba a few years ago. Only stayed in that tenancy for six months - but they handled a few things quite badly and tried to rob us of our deposit.

To the OP, check here: http://www.landlordaccreditationscotland.com/ A property search will reveal letting agents who are registered with this scheme, which is supposed to act as a gold standard of good landlord/agent practice.

To MrK mkII, next time you end up in a situation like that, your first port of call is Shelter, who will likely advise you to contact the Private Rented Housing Panel (PRHP) who I believe act as independent arbiters in situations such as you faced. Believe it or not but landlords/agents do not wield almighty power over tenants! When you were "evicted", was it without notice? Had your lease expired and you were on tacit relocation?

Try Oniells.

O'Neill Property Edinburgh Office

6 North West Circus Place
Edinburgh
EH3 6ST

Tel: 0131 466 6606
Fax: 0131 220 5752

I've been using them for 12 years. Courteous, professional & never had a problem.

Cheers guys. I've had a bit of a nightmare with Factorum in the past. Interestingly, I also use Braemar, for another flat (signed up with the Letting Service originally, who were then taken over) but I thought that their office was too far away for the Leith property.
I'll have a look at O'Neills and the PLC.
Ta

Letting agents in Edinburgh are notoriously awful. I have been on both sides (tenant and landlord) you have to decide what level of incompetence you are prepared to suffer.

At the moment I use Fineholm who seem pretty good. Whoever you choose, keep on top of them and make sure you know what is going on.

NOT DJ Alexander. My sister is unfortunately with them and basically has heard nothing FROM them for 3 years. Turns out neither has the guy renting the flat. None of the annual checks they promised have been carried out all this for £100.

NOT O’Neill Property agency,
they rip off me 194 GBP
You can read my full history with all the details in

http://jordicastello.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/oneill-property-letting-agency-rip-off-us-edinburgh/

I used to do work for DJ Alexander, I would suggest not them.

My brother's using Ryden's, they've been mostly fine, currently being surprisingly helpful with a problem tenant (who has some sort of gas-smell-imagining psychosis). But he's only had 3 tenants I think so it's not really enough to form a strong opinion on.

try steyn lettings they were really good while I rented from them for about 3 years or so. They are Edinbugrh wide but have some properties in Leith.

Also just started with your move in Leith and seem good so far.