Felicity J Lord - Blackheath Estate Agents Reviews 

One of the most unprofessional, least trustworthy, potentially dishonest, pushy, flakey, disinterested, useless businesses I’ve ever worked with.

Take all the bad reputation of estate agents, dial it to 11, and you’ve got day one of however many with it getting worse daily.

Good luck to you if you’re stuck here. Not even just useless, but, a shining example of why countrywide licensing and ethical requirements should be enacted.

It says a lot they don’t want to put anything in writing and You’ll be questioning if their staff even actually work there after a week.

I have been receiving repeated calls from Felicity J Lord over the last several weeks, apparently from a colleague called Georgia, with voicemail messages about my property and market updates.

The calls were initially almost daily and have more recently continued every other day or so. As I have not answered any of them, I would have expected the calls to stop after a few attempts. Instead, the same voicemail message keeps being left.

To be clear, I am not interested in market updates or any contact about my property. After weeks of repeated unanswered calls and identical voicemails, this now feels less like legitimate follow-up and more like harassment.

We paid Felicity J Lord upfront for a fully managed service and what we received in return was an appalling lack of management, communication, and accountability during a serious rent arrears situation.

The level of service has been completely unacceptable. Emails were ignored for days, and at times weeks, promised updates never arrived, and we repeatedly had to chase simply to find out what was happening with our own property. At one stage, rent arrears went unnoticed for over two weeks until we ourselves contacted the team to ask where the payment was.

The handling of the tenancy agreement has also been deeply concerning. We were under the impression that a break clause had been agreed and included, only to later be told this was not the case. We then received contradictory and unclear advice regarding Section 8 and Section 21 notices, leaving us with very little confidence that the property was being competently managed.

There appeared to be no clear ownership of the case whatsoever. We were passed from person to person, experienced long periods of no communication, and were left to seek independent legal advice ourselves while continuing to pay management fees for a service that simply was not being delivered. At one stage, a payment made by the tenant also went unnoticed for nearly two weeks and, once again, this was identified by us rather than the management team. It genuinely raised the question of who was actually managing the property.

More concerningly, there was also serious miscommunication regarding alleged rental arrears payments from the tenant. We were informed that payments had supposedly been made, however no proper confirmation or verification of those payments had actually been carried out. The payments had in fact not been received, yet this misinformation delayed a vital legal process at a critical stage of the arrears situation. In a matter involving legal action and significant financial stress, this level of negligence and lack of due diligence is completely unacceptable.

The most frustrating part has been the complete lack of urgency and professionalism throughout what has been a financially and legally stressful situation for any landlord. Even after raising a formal complaint, communication remained poor and responses continued to be delayed. More concerningly, the complaints procedure itself ultimately directed us towards the Ombudsman process, which says a great deal about the seriousness of the service failures we experienced.

With the constant changes in rental legislation and increasing pressure on landlords, professional and competent management has never been more important. Potential landlords considering using FJL for a fully managed service should be fully aware of the level of disorganisation, lack of communication, and poor oversight we experienced during what became an extremely stressful situation.

This experience has caused significant stress and a complete loss of confidence in the property management team. Based on our experience, I would seriously question whether the “fully managed” service being sold is actually being delivered in practice.

Don't use these bloodsucking leeches!!!!

Terrible company, initially we asked ONLY for them to find us tenants to rent our house in London, paying a one off fee.

Somehow despite NEVER signing a contract to do so, they're now taking a monthly rent collection fee. They now claim they never offer a service to just find you a tenants, and that we must have agreed/signed a contract to do this.

We KNOW we didn't ask for this, when asked to show us this contract they just ignore our requests.

So now these vampiric leeches take a monthly fee, which was NEVER agreed with us.

Now for the last 4 months they've failed to pay anything on time. We have to phone up/email many times to finally get the rent money paid to us.

A few years ago they charged us for an electrician to come and inspect our electricity fuse box etc, they charged us £350.00 for some chump to write an incomprehensible bs report that was utter drivel.

Because the illegible nonsense THEIR electrician provided was so poor, we then had to pay for a decent electrician to redo the report again and then use him to install a new fuse box.

If we'd have used their electrician, it's pretty obvious they would have charged well over the going rate.

Our local electrician did the job and the report for the same price they charged for just the report.

We've been ripped off for rent money before, and now that it's every month they fail to pay us, we're on edge waiting for these see you next Tuesday's to do the same.

For such a large company withholding rent owed to us for a few weeks, and doing similarly to for eg a few hundred gives them access to potentially high amounts of money. It feels like any day now this company will declare bankruptcy and make off with that money owed.

Companies like these are disgustingly amoral, their staff are almost all rude on the phone, apathetic, arrogant with no hint of empathy.

Don't use these bloodsucking leeches!!!!

Yet again I need to warn everyone not to use this company, they are now holding over £500 of my money, please don’t use them.

I’ve been dealing with serious electrical faults since 27 October, and as of 4 December the issue is still unresolved. I’ve had no working oven or dishwasher for two months, and at one point they even left me without heat or electricity for 24 hours in winter. Throughout all of this, emails and calls are ignored, repairs are endlessly delayed, and no one takes responsibility.

This level of neglect isn’t just inconvenient, it is dangerous.
The ongoing electrical problems have put me, other tenants, our pets, and even neighboring properties at risk of short circuits and potential fire hazards. Failing to address this for over a month is a serious breach of basic safety expectations.

Landlords, please pay attention:
Their inaction doesn't just damage tenant wellbeing, it puts your property, your investment, and your legal compliance at risk. Persistent electrical faults, prolonged lack of repairs, and zero communication expose you to liability, safety violations, property loss, and reputational damage.

In my experience, this has been the worst property management service I have ever encountered.
For the sake of safety and sanity, look elsewhere.

Shakira Atwell was very helpful and reliable to show us a property and followed up. She went out of her way. Even though the property wasn’t suitable I really appreciated her help. Thank you so much.

The first thing you should know is that it is owned by a company call Spice Haart, who use other names for their businesses. Then you should know not to trust a word any of what the staff say, especially the manager. Then you should know they will do things you did not want them to do and not do thing you specifically ask them to do. I am surprised at the score here it should be lower, they only have their interests in mind and will sell you down the river. Spicer Haart have many branches, my advice would be to make sure you don't use any off them as you will regret it.

I rented a property through J Lord and had serious issues from day one. I was told the property would be vacant and professionally cleaned before I moved in, but when I picked up the keys and went to the property, it was full of the previous tenant’s belongings, dirty, and in terrible condition. When I returned to the office to raise this, they told me to remove furniture (sofas and beds) myself — completely unacceptable. Only after pushing back did they ask me to move in a few days later so they could clean and remove the rubbish.

After finally moving in, there were numerous problems: broken cupboards, faulty lights, a fridge that never worked, and worst of all, a mouse infestation. I had to pay for pest proofing myself, after property manager Holy Ormondo told me over the phone to go ahead and book it. Now, they’re accusing me of not doing it properly and demanding £550, even though they previously refused to cover the cost and gave me verbal approval.

Holy Ormondo’s communication was extremely poor. She would agree with things over the phone, then say something completely different to the landlord behind my back. This caused unnecessary confusion, stress, and breakdown in trust. It seemed like she was deliberately trying to create conflict between me and the landlord.

When I was finally moving out, I had arranged to move into a new property, but the vendor unexpectedly gave it to his daughter, so I needed just 2-3 extra days in the current property. The landlord agreed — in writing — and only asked me to repaint the living room, which I had painted slightly more yellow than usual. I did exactly what was asked and paid rent for the extra days I stayed.

Despite all this, Holy is now sending me charges claiming I didn’t pay rent for that week (which I absolutely did) and even tried to make me pay a full extra month’s rent for not giving notice — even though she already knew I was moving and had agreed to the short extension verbally and by email. They are now trying to take money from me unfairly, and ignoring their own written communication and agreements.

To make things worse, during the final inspection, Holy even said the property was in very good condition, which I had taken time to clean and repaint before leaving. Yet now I’m facing charges for damages and issues that were there from the start, clearly left by the previous tenant.

This experience has been nothing but stressful, dishonest, and unprofessional. From poor management and broken promises to trying to make up charges, I do not recommend renting from J Lord or dealing with Holy Ormondo. It feels like they’re trying to profit from tenants’ trust and miscommunication. Stay away.

We never experienced something like that so please be aware before you even speak to them…..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ve had the misfortune of dealing with this agency specifically Vicki Tait throughout a deeply frustrating and ultimately failed property transaction, and I would strongly caution prospective buyers.

From the outset, my offer was materially misrepresented to the vendor. It was made clear both verbally and in writing prior to submission that the offer was subject to the ability to extend the lease at a nominal cost. This condition was either ignored or deliberately omitted when the offer was passed on, meaning both parties were fundamentally misaligned from the start. Astonishingly, Vicki later attempted to deny that this condition had ever been communicated, despite it being explicitly stated multiple times. It could reasonably appear this was intentionally withheld from the vendor to push a fast sale through, regardless of whether the key terms had actually been agreed.

Worse still, the vendor repeatedly misrepresented the service charges by more than 50%, despite being asked for clarification multiple times. It could be seen that there was a deliberate effort to conceal the true cost of ownership alongside high rising reserve fund costs and hope that no questions would be raised during due diligence. When they were, off the back of searches and legal review, the vendor abruptly pulled out of the sale over three months into the transaction.

Throughout, the agent applied unnecessary pressure to move towards exchange before any of the lease terms, financial conditions, or legal risks had been properly resolved. Despite serious concerns being raised, there was no meaningful effort to mediate, clarify, or communicate appropriately.

This experience revealed a clear lack of professionalism, transparency, and care for either party’s position. Buyers should proceed with extreme caution. Ensure every condition is formally documented and be alert to missing, misrepresented, or delayed information because you can not rely on this agent or their vendors to act in good faith.

There is no clearer example of the dangers of dealing with unregulated, unqualified agents. In this case, both the agent and the vendor appeared to knowingly “try it on” presenting misleading information, withholding material facts, and relying on pressure tactics to force a quick sale in the hope that the buyer wouldn’t notice or question it.

BEWARE.

We have rented out our house for over 25 years now with FJL Blackheath. The advice and support from the staff have always been exemplary. Currently Lisa Allen Hendry has taken over our property management and we can’t thank her enough for going above and beyond.

First time buyer, looked to purchase shared ownership property. The FJL team, alongside mortgage brokers they closely work with, JustMortgage had somehow miscalculated my affordability criteria (no idea how it failed a four-eyes-check). What this meant was about a couple months into the process, I had to do another affordability check with the Property Manager who owned the remaining share of the shared ownership property, and they showed me correct calculations with reference to Government guidelines. It meant unless I stumped up another £15k on top of a £40k deposit i was already committing to put up, I would not be able to afford purchasing the property. I had wasted £1000 up to this point paying a disproportionate "broker fee" of £695 to JustMortgages, and the remainder up front to instruct solicitors. I did not get any of that money back. Not only did FJL waste my time and money, but they also wasted the sellers time. The colleagues I interacted with were very nice but that doesn't make up for it. I cannot recommend them.

This was a stark contrast to other agents and developers I dealt with where this affordability was carried out right at the beginning with a model where the calculations were actually correct and made sense.

Sellers avoid
As a buyer my calls are rarely answered the solicitors they've recommended to my seller are incompetent and I'm loosing more money I have no choice but to exit the chain shortly and FJL don't care

Victoria from the Blackheath branch was very helpful and enthusiastic when giving a free valuation for my property and giving lots of useful and knowledgeable information.

Poor rental management company, who took well over a month to return our deposit because they had failed to contact the landlord and actually complete the check out.

Incompetent at times with a refusal to read detail in emails or to log information on their systems, including fixes needed and dates of when they’d sent contractors out to quote for jobs (one gentleman came out three times to do the same quote whilst I had to hand slot in the broken blinds every night that we had for well over six months).

One of the worst experiences was when they took over 14 days to fix and replace our boiler which meant no hot water at all (washing up included) in the winter. They would not be rushed and said we should use friend’s homes for showers- despite the fact we are paying full rent?! They used only one gas boiler contractor, they’d not briefed him on where the gas and water stock cock was which was located outside of the building (and worse, it turned out they didn’t even have this information on file) and he was not interested in finding it when he eventually got to us. I then spent over an hour of my working day looking for it, and found the location via my neighbours. He decided he didn’t have enough time to complete the job because it was nearing mid day. He couldn’t come back for another full week after that and then he failed to arrive because he had a driving accident (which, fine can’t be helped but equally he shouldn’t have been on his phone driving). After much chasing, when the installation was finally done, it was faulty so we were without hot water again and with an agency who were rude in their manner and not appreciative of who much time we’d wasted chasing them and hosting contractors to get this sorted. They then had the audacity to put the rent up- we should have been compensated. The most infuriating part was the agency’s rudeness and lack of empathy for the living situation we were in.

Whilst moving out, and having given them the option of every day to host viewings for over a month, several of which they didn’t bother to turn up too themselves and where I had to show the potential tenants around, they demanded access on the last few days when we were trying to pack up, despite previously agreeing to give us a few days where we can actually move out. All because they’d not found anyone to occupy the flat which was over priced with serious damp issues, making my flatmate unwell.

The final draw was the fact that we had to email consistently to get our deposit back because they failed to complete the checkout properly. It was well over a month before we got it back.

They aren’t the worst agency I have had, and at times had good people who got things done, but there was a lot to improve.

I find Felicity J. Lord's property management to be disorganised, lazy and incompetent. As a tenant, I don't have any authority over the selection of FJL and they take advantage of this. Every time I talk to a senior member of staff they act appalled and the lack of service we are receiving and yet, when copied in they are equally absent and don't seem to have any motivation to make things better. I wish landlord's knew how awful FJL's tenant facing services were but there is no mechanism for us to provide feedback to the landlord. The main issues I have faced are: significant delays in fixing maintenance issues; poor communication (lack of it, delayed response, rude in nature); no follow-up to ensure maintenance jobs are done and done well; no escalation measures when things are not moving forward/getting sorted; lack of responsibility, making it my problem to coordinate and follow-up with contractors repeatedly; etc.

EDIT: "Reply from Felicity J Lord - Blackheath Village Estate and Letting Agents
Hi Jai Your review is not for this branch but for Blackheath village lettings department" - erm, what??

I had dealings with Lily Porter, Justyna Swatek and Sherleen House. All three revealed themselves to be desperately incompetent.

I had to deal with the following:
- FJL lied to me that the landlord has asked for a rent increase on the next year of contract, and I told them (repeatedly) this was a deal-breaker to me renewing. The landlord asked why I'd changed my mind on the renewal, I told her, and she told me she didn't want a rent increase and FJL pushed her into it to increase their commission.

- I was repeatedly called by different numbers by agents I had never heard from before, claiming to be from FJL. This poses a security risk, as I am presumably supposed to answer the phone to anyone claiming to be the estate agent and dispense confidential information. They also called at times of day I had asked them not to. Sometimes they text me, I replied to the text and the reply to that text would come from a different number. When I asked for a list of genuine FJL numbers they went dark and did not reply.

- Repeatedly tried to force my hand to renew the contract. Sherleen sent me an email at 10AM one day threatening to serve me with a Section 21 notice to vacate the property in two months unless I confirmed my contract renewal to her by 2PM.... In the same email she acknowledged the deadline written in my contract was not for another 5 days.

I have all the emails as proof.

My story has a happy ending: I moved out and the landlord changed her letting agent.

Was sent junk mail by this bunch of cowboys even though I am registered with MPS
Steer Clear of this company at all costs.

The advice and guidance I received from staff at FJL has been extremely clear and helpful. One particular employee, Lily Porter was very helpful in regards to financial guidance and advice. Responses to my queries were answered promptly and clearly. Excellent overall service from FJL

I have been with FJlord Blackheath Branch for two and half years by now, the service I received is rather spotless. My new property manager is Teresa Penkert, she has been really wonderful, she is very capable of dealing all tasks from small to big, normal to urgency, she created a worry free experience for me. It is crucial to work with people that you can rely on, knowing whatever the situation is, someone professional is there to help and make sure everything goes smoothly.

I am very much looking forward to working with her in coming terms.