I have been a tenant in a property "run" by Martin and Co. for a number of years. Had it not been for the property itself, that we love, we would be with another letting agent a long time ago.
Starting with the staff - In their defense there is one nice member of staff who is always helpful and friendly. The rest of the staff who I have had dealings with are quite the opposite and are very rude, unhelpful and often tell you lies like "Yes of course he will be at your property today to fix your shower" or "yes this property is the only one in the street fitted with an alarm" - a blatant lie when you hear other neighbours alarms going off at 3am.
Regarding inspections which are contractually mean't to be carried out every 3 months, they seem to come every 2 months if not less. They will not re-arrange your inspection, even if you have exceptional circumstances. ie: your family is staying. Their inspectors don't check all the rooms, don't even peer over to see the garden, do not check for damage and rarely even check the kitchen area. ps: if I was a landlord, paying them good money for their services (ie: to inspect the house to make sure the tenants aren't doing damage) I would ask for a refund. I have often toyed with the idea of ringing the landlord directly to advise her to get a new letting agent.
Lastly, repairs - You could have no hot water, no shower and no electric and you would ring them to get an electrican/plumber round straight away. How quickly do you think they will help you? Well first of all they will send their sales guy round to make sure you are a) not lying about your problem and b) not so stupid you forgot to turn the shower on or your tap off. Then you will be promised action straight away, they won't return your calls or they will straight up lie to you and you will be left out of the picture with a leaky tap or a broken shower, for days.
In a nutshell, they couldn't care less about your property or your tenants. They will lie to you, ignore you, talk down to you and walk all over you. I found the only thing that works when dealing with them is to not bother - because it really won't make a blind bit of diffference.
Avoid at all costs. read more