I never usually feel compelled to review things online but the amount of problems we've experienced with homes 4 u over a 2 year letting have made me want to warn prospective clients of their disorganised and sloppy service. Our property was a homes 4 u managed property so any problems we had were to be reported to homes 4 u themselves as we had no contact with the actual landlord. The first year was OK, fairly slow in dealing with issues but no major problems that wouldn't be expected elsewhere. The second year was a completely different case. On return from Christmas, in early January we found that our house was without central heating. We reported the problem immediately, but very little seemed to be happening. Numerous trips into their branch and eventually a letter of complaint were not dealt with and the usual excuse was that they were waiting for an answer from the landlord or that they hadn't heard about the problem. Clearly there was a major communication problem here, on their part. Our letter of complaint was never addressed, we were fobbed off with a number of excuses and waited eventually until late April/early May for our whole heating system to be replaced. The best part of 5 months with temperamental hot water and no central heating throughout most of the house. The plumbers eventually bought in to replace the system told us that the boiler in use was suitable only for heating a small flat (the house we rented used to be 2 separate flats) and that in a house of our size it was no wonder we had experienced such problems. As we were all third year students it was a real hassle having to constantly visit their branch for an update on our situation, often to little or no avail. By which time they had managed to sort the repairs not only was the weather a fair bit warmer, we also had exams and dissertation deadlines so the work being done on the house was inconveniant to say the least. This wouldn't have been such a problem had it occured in January or Febuary when the problems began. We had pretty much given up on trying to resolve the issue until reminded of how frustrating homes 4 u's service has been when trying to reclaim our deposits. Once again, unanswered emails, no response to voicemail inquiries and eventually the standard claim of not having received anything in the first place. Not once have we received an apology, or have Homes 4 U attempted to address our complaints or compensate us for our time without heating, we've had very little time to look into the legal implications for a landlord of letting a house without proper heating but I understand in most cases the landlord is obliged to compensate for the inability to provide such services. Now with a bit of time to research the matter, we will have to see what can be done. My advice would be to avoid using homes 4 u at all costs as they do very little to justify their agency fee and seem to be shrouded by complaints and problems, a result of their inefficiency and incompetence. read more

Cowboy agency students avoid at all costs Viewed a house through homes4u in Manchester for the price of £76 per week all bills included, this however turned out to be false only one of the rooms in the house advertised on the website was £76 the others where £86 with one other being £79, this had all come about due to the fact that homes4u had not been in proper communication with the landlord of the property or more likely just couldn't be bothered to find out the exact prices off the landlord. That was the first mishap by homes4u but me and my friends where not bothered as £86 a week all bills included is reasonably good deal. The second mis-hap me and my friends encountered with homes4u was whilst we where being shown round the property, the agent showing us round told us that for the house over the summer months rent would be half if you did not move in to the property during these months (July and August). This was the carrot that pretty much sealed the deal for me and my friends on wanting this property. Now comes the stick once we had signed the applications forms for the tenancy of the house and handed over a hefty deposit, plus £90 agency fee which is just basically daylight robbery, we then had our guarantors get there paperwork sorted and we filled out direct debit mandates. Only then did we find out that this particular property was not half rent over the summer months and we would have to pay the full amount, even though the agent who showed us round the house said it was. We were also told that this property we would be put on our own contracts for our own rooms, bonus of this being if one housemate would couldn't pay the rent then it wouldn't fall to the rest of the house, turns out however homes4u put us through as a group so we all ended up on one contract which of course meant if an individual of the group fell behind on the rent then the rest would have to pay to cover the cost. I will say one positive thing about homes4u it has been a learning experience for me on dealing with incompetent estate agents. In summary homes4u have poor communication and are in the habit of false advertising and not researching the properties they are letting. So please new students coming in to Manchester in 2013 do not use homes4u when looking for a house in your second, if you do however make sure you get everything in writing about the property you are interested in before you sign anything and don't make the same mistake me and my friends made by rushing in and siging papers becuase we were star struck by the amazing deal they falsely advertised. Plus you only have to google search homes4u Manchester and look at the top three results which are all 2 star review ratings or below. Finally just remember if a property looks too good to be true, you're probably viewing one through homes4u. read more

Had student house with these cowboys. Went with them because their website, offices etc. seem very modern and professional, but I got the impression this was for the benefit of the professional lettings customers, rather than student lettings, as we were talked to like dirt (despite paying, in total over a grand a month for what should be a two bedroom house - converted to four - in a not especially nice part of Manchester). For viewings, we were told to just knock on the tenant's door and ask if we could look round ourselves - same thing happened once we lived there. Within a few weeks, one room was uninhabitable because of leek through the roof, which took weeks of pestering to get fixed. Aware of probability of getting ripped off on deposit, I was very meticulous with the inventory sheet, trying to make a note of existing damage and wear all over the house, which, as an average student house had carpets that were years old, some damp on walls, an old fridge, dents and marks in plaster etc, and a shower covered in limescale. Agent actually remarked on how much detail I'd put when I handed it in. (House probably sounds like a sh!thole, but wasn't really - just was nothing special). Poor quality sofa al developed a small tear in one of the seams, which was reported immediately. When we moved out, took three months for us to get deposit back - a quarter of it, that is. Deductions had been made for cleaning to carpets, repainting of walls, £70 for freezer drawers which had cracked when using them because freezer had frosted up due to knackered door seal. Also charged us for sofa damage, despite having been in three times and being promised it would be fixed and that we wouldn't be charged. Went to office to query the charges, was told they would have to buy a new freezer as the drawers weren't available on their own! Wouldn't accept they could have been damaged accidentally (or that they were still usable)! Told them house was far from fresh and new when we moved in - manager got aggressive and asked why I didn't complain when we moved in. Idiot couldn't understand that I was fine with the condition of the place - what I did object to was being held responsible for the, clearly, decades worth of dust worn into the carpet on the stairs; or the fact that, as a 1900's Industrial terrace house, damp would appear probably requiring a yearly painting! Unsurprisingly, they couldn't find my inventory, and wouldn't accept my copy as it wasn't signed by them (d'oh!). Left quite shaken that I'd had to go in and argue over stuff that was so obvious. Told me they would have a look another at the place and get in touch. Needless to say, they didn't. read more

I feel I'm being generous giving Homes4u even one star. Terrible lettings agency. If I had known trying to get our deposit back was going to be this challenging I wouldn't have even considered using them again next year. After reading THEIR terms and conditions we waited 10 days for them to contact us as they said they would. If you ever get a phonecall back from them after they said they would you're very lucky. They never got in contact and it took 3 days for me to finally get through to them only to be told that no one had even been round to check the maintainance of the house geez thanks for keeping me informed! For three weeks I was passed around employees till finally reaching one who would just tell me 'I don't know when the maintainance will go round' and was given false hope that they will ring me back. Finally after the three weeks I rang them again (managed to get through after five attempts throughout the day) And the lady told me the deposits had been returned and should be in our accounts within 5 working days HOORAY! Finally got somewhere.. or so I thought 5 days later and no sign of deposit. I sent an email this time as I couldn't get through on the phone, I wasn't even surprised by this point. Anyway I was told that they had my account number wrong, great so who has my deposit? When were you planning on telling me? Did they not think to check if they were unsure? I mean come on, it's only money right! They must think students have plenty of disposable income! It's been a month, no deposit and left well and truley soul destroyed. I give up homes4u you win! The house itself was a dump, the big kitchen light was left unfixed for months so we had to cook by bedside lamp. Damp, mouldy and freezing. The drain for the shower just went out through a hole in the wall and fell next to the front door. The only positive about this whole experience was the pleasent smell of smampoo when stood outside the house. read more

STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!!! NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS WOULD I RENT A PROPERTY FROM HOMES4U EVER AGAIN! if i had the choice to put minus 10 stars i would and even that is being generous. Homes4u are the most unprofessional, unreliable, shoddy company i have ever dealt with. I rented a property with 2 fellow students from oct 11 june 12 and the service we received from homes4u was unprofessional, careless, rude, staff were aggressive and unwilling to do anything that their job requires them to. to cut a very long story short, we were assured that the property we was moving into was safe and has had all mandatory checks and that we would have a pleasant time there, i can honestly say i had the worst 9 months of my life there. We had no heating or hot water for over a month in one of the coldest winters because h4u would not send anyone to fix this, numerous emails/phone calls get ignored. we had CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING from a faulty boiler that never had mandatory checks, a leak that dripped into a socket that almost electrocuted us all, we had to remove ourselves from the property numerous times as the property was unsafe.This is just a small amount of incidents that happened and homes4u did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to solve or rectify anything on their behalf, they are liars and sneaky, they will do absolutely anything to get money out of you but nothing at all if it is at your request. We received the tenancy agreement 2 months after we moved out of the property which is against the law. it is now 3 months after we moved out and we are still fighting to get our deposit back. I CAN NOT STRESS ENOUGH DO NOT GO WITH HOMES4U! IF YOU ARE EVEN CONSIDERING RENTING FROM THEM YOU ARE IN FOR A WORLD OF HELL!!!! STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT GO WITH HOMES4U!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! read more

Horrible, horrible, horrible service! The place was in pretty fair condition and they did take care of it at relatively short notice but that was all. First they asked for my part of the rent (six months!!) in advance because they didn't buy my sponsor letter, which, in all fairness was from abroad, BUT- -after I paid it they asked me for a student confirmation letter, which I had not brought in by that time but it was already in progress with the university an agent had directly spoken to a university secretary, everything was on its way, - and as I said i ALREADY paid the rent!!! But they literally said to me they could not let me move into the flat because of that missing confirmation letter. It all worked out eventually on the same day but then there was of course the tenancy: People let themselves in on behalf of the agency without any notice in advance then letters of notice were sent after the visit. I would get messages saying I had not been present at the appointed time to let in a care taker when repairs were needed to be made only that appointment has never been made! When asking them for a sort of agreement to get out of the sixth months contract early -offering them to look for a suitable successor on my own behalf -they repeatedly fed me with: We will discuss that with the landlord never to be heard of again. All this back and forth with arranging and rearranging appointments or filing inquiries it's my time I lost but also THEY are losing time with it!!! It's frustrating as it is pointless just bad business. Bottom line S.T.A.Y. A.W.A.Y.! read more

After 12 months I am finally getting rid of this letting agency tomorrow. I have lived in Manchester for 4 years and this has been by far the worst property agent I have had the misfortune to deal with. We consistently asked them to communicate with our landlord about things and they said they would but never did it (my landlord forwarded me the emails which showed h4u had not asked the questions I asked them to). They are impossible to get in touch with about anything. They never answer the phone. If you do manage to get through, they put you on hold, then pick up 5 minutes later saying who are you looking for?. They make a mockery of property management as they have done absolutely nothing to manage the property I live in and I feel sorry for my landlord paying them for this service. They are extremely rude on the phone and the times I have phoned up to complain I have been passed around from employee to employee until one of them says yeah well we're sorry, nothing else we can do. My boyfriend also has a flat which is managed by homes4u and has experienced all the same problems. Would never use them again no matter how nice the house was. I have scrubbed my house from top to bottom, it is definitely cleaner than when I moved in but I guarantee I will have problems getting my deposit back. I am keeping my review anonymous as I don't want it to affect the speed at which my deposit is returned. I will continue to post on here the process of trying to get my deposit back with homes4u as I have a feeling this is not going to run smoothly read more

If I could give them less than 1 star I would. I would advise any students or professionals to avoid them like the plague!The house was left in an appalling state when we moved in, the kitchen was sticky and had previous tenants pots, pans, rubbish and protein shake tubs still in the cupboards, many lightbulbs were missing. Although the floors has been somewhat cleaned when furniture was moved there was rotting food, dirty underwear, toenail clippings and many more 'things' underneath. Along with this the shower was faulty and the stairs were broken. Trying to get hold of anyone by phone was a nightmare, I was repeatedly told that I would receive a phonecall back but nothing ever materialised. We had several viewings on the house that we were not told about, and on one instance the people who came to view the house turned up early and tried to pick the lock to get in resulting in a broken front door and us not being able to get out. We are now trying to claim back our deposits but have been told that there are cleaning charges to be expected which is an absolute joke considering the state of the house when we moved in. We left the house in an impecable state and given that we wrote down extra sheets of complaints on the inventory I feel it is completely unfair. Definitely them at all costs! read more

Would recommend that anyone avoids Homes 4 U Withington. Unprofessional, disorganised, slow. It seems that noone there has a clue what is going on. I signed up for a houseshare last December and called in May to find out what I needed to do to get off the contract when I moved out. I was told to pay £180 and find a new tenant. I found a new tenant and paid £180 in July. I have chased them up on countless occasions and have got nowhere. I have done everything that was asked of me and reminded them many times that I am waiting for my deposit and to get off the contract but nothing seems to happen. My old housemates said that they have not even been sent the tenancy agreement yet, despite that the new tenant paid her deposit in July (It is now 18th September) After over 3 months since my initial call, more than 12 emails, several phone calls and a visit to their office I am still tied into a tenancy agreement for another year whilst the new tenant is living there with no responsibility to the property. This isnt a worry to the current tenants or even the new tenant, however it is extremely worrying when I am also tied into a tenancy agreement on my current flat as I am technically liable to pay rent on two properties for the next year. read more

Would've put zero stars if that was possible. Homes4U are by far the worst people I've ever rented through. When you ring no-one is ever there when you need to speak to them. Our deposits were due back when we moved out (30th June) and still haven't received them (25 August) nearly 2 months later. We are being unfairly charged £250 for a simple clean of the house and light bulb change, even though we replaced all of the light bulbs and did a quick clean ourselves. When viewing properties their agents rarely even showed up to give us a tour and were often very vague about properties. Overall I would not recommend anyone to even consider Homes4U when renting a property as they have caused us so much hassle and expensive and extortionate charges that we cannot see justified with what they claim they are for. Especially a warning for students as when we rented before graduation they took full advantage of every opportunity Do not go there they are thieves. Not worth the effort at all. Much better places to go through in Manchester. read more

Homes4u has a lot of student properties, but they treat students with no respect whatsoever. We are constantly finding that no matter how assertive we are when asking them to fix a problem, they pay no attention and simply fob us off. After weeks and weeks of harassing them, we had to get our parents involved before Home4U would actually take any notice of our requests. Really, this is unacceptable. Homes4U have no problem providing houses that are unacceptable to live in (such as no heating, no running water) to students. Homes4U will leave you high and dry in an emergency. I called to say that a pipe had burst and the house was flooding and the woman on the end of the phone told me she was just going on her lunch break now but would call me back. Often, no-one answers the phone at all. When you are told they will call back, it is very very unlikely they will. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. There are much better estate agents out there, or ask someone you know that currently has a good landlady/lord to recommend you one. read more

I completely agree with the review below, being a fellow housemate. I was a tenant in one of they're houses for two years in fallowfield whilst studying in Manchester.. They failed to replace the heating system for 5 months, during which we experienced one of the coldest winters for a few years. All complaints were completely ignored for such a long time. No compensation or reimbursement has been offered in relation to this matter. Now we are in the middle of receiving our deposits back which has been a nightmare! we have emailed countless times, often ignored again! Its like they do everything in there power not to give it you back. Just found out that they slap on a £440 cleaning bill on it, after we cleaned it thoroughly, and despite the fact it was in an utter mess when we moved in 2 years ago. They're service is bad, there communications aren't apparent, they with hold information and they try to con the often naive student. If you want a hassle free tenancy. AVOID using them! read more

Agree wholeheartedly with the other review. Awful agency, worst in Manchester. Owner of our flat transferred to another property management agency due to H4U being awful for landlords as well. H4U repeatedly asked us for their exorbitant agency fee for renewal of contract despite knowing full well they no longer managed the property. Just discovered on moving out that they only transferred part of our deposit to the new letting agency. They are quite simply thieves. Do not use. General levels of service whilst with them were rock bottom. Had agents with viewers appearing all times of the day and night despite our having a year long tenancy agreement. They also lost keys to the property - not very safe. Would avoid at all costs. There are many other better agencies to use. read more

Homes4u, please do not use this service u any cost. they are rude, aggressive and ignorant, totally unprofessional. They seem to be going Bust so please students and landlords stay away from this angency full cowboys. It would not be a surprise they are real crooks. they are misleading and highly fraudulant, please do not sign up to this agency under any cost no matter how desparate you are for accomodation. they steal from landlords by making bogus claims for repairs, new furniture, etc. Its run by a bunch of theives, i am in the process of taking them to court for fraud and dishonest accounting. laandlords stay Away at all cost or you will pay for it in the long term. students stay away also! read more

I just wanted to share my experiences with homes4u as I have been doing business with them for the last 7years. I am an experienced landlord in the area and always advertise my properties with homes4u. Along with rentals I have bought and sold properties with them, and recently sold with them a very big (in my opinion) portfolio of 36 bedrooms. Anthony Cauchie, the Branch Manager of the Withington branch handled the transaction that took in excess of a year due to the complexity of the sale. I would recommend their services to all thinking of using. read more

If I were asked to describe the services provided by Homes4U Manchester in 5 words it would have to go along the lines: incompetent, dangerous, dis-honest, harassing and greedy; and here's why. It's legnthy, Full review here: http://livinginmanchester.weebly.com/ In summary our experience of dealing with this agency has been a shambles. It's stressful, depressing, we have genuine concerns for our safety and quite frankly the last few months have been a misery. I can't suggest strongly enough that you steer well clear of Homes4U Manchester. read more

As previously written by others, AVOID HOMES 4U AT ALL COSTS. Worst experience I have ever had with a letting agents. The staff are very keen to take money off you, but far less keen to do their job and actually treat customers with respect. A horrendous company, filled with rude, incompetent staff and a manager who is a nasty piece of work. They have caused us so many problems (many of which are still ongoing) that I can't even be bothered to list them all, but I cannot stress enough, do not use this company! read more

Used homes4u for finding a house for both my second and third year (Withington then Fallowfield). Overall really pleased with the service- the staff were very friendly when looking for the house and there was a good selection so we had a good choice. I found they were also very good when we had an issue with our landlord. The agency fee seemed fairly standard and whilst it would have been nice to avoid it saved me a load of hassle!!! Would recommend! read more

I have lived in rented homes for nearly 15 years. Homes4U are without doubt the worst letting agency I have ever used. They are out and out liars and are very sneaky too. Arranging to show the property to prospective tenants with no advance notification, lying to us outright on the telephone and sending contractors round with no warning. AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE! read more