You would think that the ability to spell "lease" would be the one of the only literacy requirements expected of a letting agent. Nugent and Wallis cannot spell "lease" on their application forms and contract documents. This... doesn't inspire confidence.
The showing started off with a nice older female agent who performed the Ritual of Which-Key-Is-It with 9/10 points for style, faffing and near-lockouts. My husband and I looked around the apartment and liked it. As we were leaving, we encountered another couple on the doorstep. They had apparently been scheduled for the same showing, had been left waiting, and were a bit annoyed. Eventually, I was the one who figured out that the agent had been double-booked without being informed, and I was the one who suggested that the correct thing to do was to give this couple their own showing. This... didn't inspire confidence either.
While the application agent we worked with was a pleasant young brunette with a bit of intelligence in her eyes, the senior agents were a certain kind of older blonde lady who bellowed confidential client details at each other across the tiny office like mastodons across a primeval swamp. They seemed to do little except crash around the office making tea and gossiping loudly about said clients. Of course I listened to every word, and was interested to note how classist the agents were, seeming to think that a person who wasn't white and over 30 couldn't possibly afford their properties. This continued to not inspire confidence, although it provided an education. And we weren't even offered any of the resulting tea! I couldn't help but wonder what they said about us when we left.
The agents also exhibited reading and comprehension difficulties. My husband and I printed our full names clearly on the application form. Apparently baffled by the fact that my last name is different than my husband's, the agents completely ignored my name and instead queried our references about Mrs Husbandname HusbandLastname. They expressed shock and confusion when our references sarcastically replied that no such person existed, but that they would be happy to provide references for me, Ms. Myname. Because that is my name. My credit, work documents, leases, visa documents and bank information are all under MY NAME. To repeat: my legal name was clearly printed on the form, they chose to ignore it, and they wallowed in the resulting delays and confusion when this made it harder for them to investigate me. At this point, we were looking for a shred of confidence to be inspired by.
We found it. Because I am self-employed and American, we apparently needed a co-signer, although my husband's salary was more than sufficient to cover their minimal requirements. We chose my husband's parents to co-sign the lease for the apartment we could more than afford. Nugent and Wallis sent them a contract that was so full of holes that my father-in-law, a contract lawyer, sent it back with corrections.
The resulting silence lasted for a week.
We began to worry that not only would they not give us the apartment, but that they'd keep the 300 pound fee out of sulkiness.
I am not a native of Britain, although my husband is, so I was surprised by the real estate system here. I have actually worked in the real estate system in the States, and it costs me $25 and about an hour to run a credit check on a potential tenant. Yes, even an international credit check. Yes, even when I have other properties to maintain. Yes, even when the renters have different last names.
But we wanted to rent a specific flat, so we had no choice but to go through Nugent and Wallis. We paid them 300 pounds and they took ten days to...
well...
well, to be fair, they were quite polite and nice. The apartment is lovely.
The sense of competent, organized professionalism was just not there.
(Nugent and Wallis, if you need a proofreader, call me.) read more