Review Time
I had a perfectly good experience with Linley & Simpson before and during my tenancy. I thought that they were a reputable agency and would behave with integrity. How wrong I was.At the end of my tenancy I spent an exhausting day cleaning the apartment until it was almost as close to perfection as it is possible to get. A couple of days after checkout I was informed that L&S were not satisfied with some of the chrome and glass and so would be ordering a deep clean of the entire apartment.I said that I would be glad to consider paying for any specific defects identified, but I would not pay for deep cleaning of the entire apartment, which I had already deep cleaned myself. I asked L&S to inform me before instructing cleaners how much they intended to attempt to recharge me with. They did not do this. When I later chased them they informed me that they were withholding a ?260 from my deposit, this being the cost of cleaning the entire apartment.I had to submit a claim via the deposit protection scheme and ended up being awarded a ?120 of the a ?260. I considered making a claim in the small claims court for the remaining a ?140, but decided it was not worth the hassle.L&S also failed to return a few days of rent owed to me at the end of the rental. I had to chase repeatedly, eventually receiving the refund about 2 months after I had handed the property back. I am sick of landlords and agents behaving as if it is normal to withhold a portion of tenants' deposits for routine cleaning. Hotels don't charge their customers for routine cleaning at the end of their stay. Holiday lets don't usually charge for routine cleaning either. So why do letting agents think that they are entitled to charge long-term tenants for routine cleaning?It is long past time that this cynical behaviour be brought to an end.I had expected better from Linley & Simpson, but it seems I was naive. From reading other Trustpilot reviews it appears that L&S are very popular with landlords - I wonder why?My advice about Linley & Simpson to other potential tenants: avoid them - or be ready to lose your deposit through no fault of your own.
Increased rent by the maximum legally allowed 3 DAYS before our lease renewed, so we had no time to find somewhere else to live. Before they told us this, it also took them TWO MONTHS to sort out renewing our lease and changing one of the names on our lease. They did not respond to emails for nearly a month, hardly ever answered the phone or returned phone calls. It also took ages to sort any issues we were having, including a faulty boiler which took three months to sort out. Then when our apartment flooded because our neighbours (also letting with Linley and Simpson and had boiler problems they had reported) boiler burst, we had to move out. It took 6 weeks before they found alternative accommodation and also then we were made move back into our apartment when it did not have any floors. They then tried to increase the rent again. We moved out and they tried to charge us for things that were already listed as issues when we moved in.
Poor service from the Wakefield branch from the start to finish of our tenancy. Accomodation in poor state, promises made to fix up holes in the wall, fix kitchen etc never happened. Yet we lost half of our bond because the bin was missing and there was general wear and tear. Also charged us for cleaning when we had cleaned thePlace thoroughly with a private cleaner. The place was much cleaner than when we first moved into the property and had to payA lot for it to be privately cleaned. Rude staff, not helpful in the slightest. Will never recommend Linley and Simpson.
Agents did not seem to want to help us originally. We were rushed out the door when there was still 30 mins of business hours remaining. It was a struggle to actually move forward. Moving date agreed and paid for well in advance; key collection date agreed. When phoned to arrange time, other agent was borderline rude. Inventory emails not received until reported an issue.
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Linley & Simpson are leading property experts, property managers and mortgage providers with properties in Yorkshire.
