Mainstay Group Reviews 

Without doubt the worst estate agents I have dealt with and that really is saying something. They give every job to a different company, so you will be left out of the loop of what is going on and so many things will go wrong and Mainstay will be completely clueless on what is going on, how to fix and take forever to find out about it. Mainstay know nothing of what is going on in their properties. I moved in with no electricity and the place hadn't been cleaned despite them requiring tenants to sign to say it had a professional clean.

Mainstay are awful. I barely ever get a reply from our property manager when we have issues and we haven't had any cleaners come by in months. We pay £118 per month for literally no service at all and they only have a central call centre with no way of processing complaints properly. Really shocking service.

Following up on my last review I left 4 months ago. I moved in my new flat in last week of August 2021. I requested a meter cupboard key from August. After 3 weeks of hassling with them, the property manager Jodie lynch replied on 16 September 2021 a key arrangement will be made available. On the 09 December 2021, I escalated the matter again and was told there is no e-mail on record I requested for a key. Yesterday 20 December 2021, I attached a copy of Jodie Lynch email confirmation since September promising to provide me a key, they were shell shocked probably disgraced by their action. I pay Mainstay £157 monthly for service charge and this is the service I get. Truth hurts and when you tell them, they take revenge by neglecting my request. They are absolutely useless and eating my money and doing nothing. They keep grudges and ignore me completely. 6 weeks from November 2021 until now no cleaning of the communal area of Flora Court Thornton Heath. I asked why and they have totally ignored me. Customer service useless, property manager is a draconian and the company a horrifying institution that employs incompetent low standard managers. Remember folks any issue and complaint raised is dealt by the same person and they are corrupted from the top to bottom. Do not buy any property or flat that have Mainstay connection. They ruin your happiness as an owner. Disgusting company and I agree that they are a racist company. You accept their terms and keep quiet they adore you as their puppet. Easy money.

Absolutely useless.

Purchased my flat about 6 months ago. Since then I have emailed and called over 10 times asking for information on the property (fairly basic stuff such as the key for the meter cupboard and service charge payments). The first excuse they used is that they have just changed their IT system and couldn’t even reply for the first month.

I told them early on that I rented the flat out and gave them an alternative correspondence address. They kept telling me that because the previous owner hadn’t filled out a form they couldn’t help me with anything. Sean the building manager just ignores my emails.

Now I have just gone round for a property inspection and found a letter from them requesting payment for service charge and informing me they have applied charges for a late payment. They had my email. They knew I rented the flat out and had my own address. Why didn’t anyone email or call me?!

Their incompetence is absolutely staggering and I will be speaking to the other leaseholders about appointing a new manager.

Unprofessional and racist!
Never reply back to any communications emails, phone and God Forbidden if they do it would be b*****they lie to your face very easily and they choose who to help and customer service means nothing to them at all !

I have had an offer of my flat since the beginning of August and the delay in paper work is just beyond beliefs. My sollicitor has found it incredibly hard to get answers and I have been calling them, put on hold for more than 45 and no one has ever contacted me back over the phone. Emails are not answered neither and the property manager John James E4LONDON- is not replying.
We now have been stuck for the last month because 2 simple enquiries have not been answered.
I am glad my service charges bills and ground rent letters are finding me alright.
Absolutely appalling customer care!

This company is an absolute disgrace. My property completion is being held up and I am at risk of losing my buyer, my house sold back in MAY !!!!! My solicitor, Estate agent and myself have all done Repeated calls that's been escalated, since August 2021 emails and complaints these have all gone ignored and cannot even get an acknowledgment of any kind.
This is extremely distressing, the operators have no power there's never a manager to speak too! I will never, ever recommend anyone buys a property if this company has any involvement.

It has currently been 3 months since I requested a management pack to sell my property and there is still no response from this company. In that time we have completed all of the other processes for buying/selling and this is now holding up the completion. After numerous emails and phone calls from my solicitors and myself with an hour wait time to get through each time, we still have no response and no one seems to be able to help. This is a regular occurence with this management company who make it virtually impossible to get a response on day to day problems regarding issues in the property. Terrible service!

Called the Worcester customer services today to ask a question about our small dog being permitted at a property we are hoping to buy. I would like to say that Mandy was extremely helpful, courteous and went out of her way to try to get me an answer.
I would love the email service at the resales to be as quick to assist and reply, it would make my life so much easier.
Huge thanks to Mandy; you should be training all the operatives at this company! 😀

Mainstay have managed the apartment block I live in for 5 years. In that time, they have failed to undertake vital major works, despite leaseholders paying for them. The communal areas are in an appalling condition. Leaseholders paid nearly £8000 each towards major works 3 years ago. We still do not have a schedule or start date for the works and our emails and telephone calls are ignored. The leasehold system is one in which unfairness thrives - the freeholder and managing agent are able to ignore genuine grievances without being held to account, as the law is not on the leaseholders' side. A shameful system and a shameful performance by Mainstay.

I am living in a house built by M J Gleeson in about 2005/6 and managed by Mainstay. I pay an annual fee for upkeep of communal areas but this has never been done. Letters to Mainstay result in no response, as do attempts to contact Gleeson. There is no democracy: I asked about residents' groups etc. and was just told it doesn't exist and can't be created. Eventually, in September 2020, I instructed a solicitor to buy my freehold from Gleeson and Mainstay. Nothing has happened in over a year and Mainstay and Gleeson have not met legal timescales - I've been told this is now litigious in my favour. I can't believe I'm begging two companies to give them thousands of pounds and they can't be bothered to respond or or administer it and think they are above legal precedents and deadlines.

I’ve been waiting 13 weeks for my property pack for the sale of my property. I received my pack six weeks ago after being on the phone every other day trying to get my pack after I paid for it. When I received my pack one of the most important forms the LPE1 had been left blank. I’ve since been on the phone calling every other day and still no one will help me and it’s holding the sale up of my property and cost me a lot of money!

Worst management company! Cant get a hold of anyone to reply to some simple queries to finalise our sale! Been over a week now, multiple emails/calls and false promises of getting a call back. Doubt they even read their reviews which is also frustrating as their is no hope of them contacting us after this!

Never buy or rent property managed by them. You’ve been warned.

This company is an absolute disgrace. My property completion is being held up and I am at risk of losing my buyer. Mainstay, part of the wider FirstPort Group have failed to ensure Deed of Variation is signed and returned to my solicitor despite having it since SEPTEMBER. Repeated calls, emails and complaints have gone ignored and cannot even get an acknowledgment of my contact let alone a response. This is extremely distressing, operators are useless, rude and uncaring. I will never, ever recommend anyone buys property with this group of companies. AWFUL

Boiler broken & no-1 attending to fix it. They promised me today plumber is turning up between 5 & 6 & no-1 turned up.

I wish I could give them 0 stars. Mainstay is the reason I sold my flat, I just couldn't cope with having to deal with them any more and the uncertainty of what we would be paying each 6 months.

Mainstay were in charge of the service charge for the building but did not seem to ever budget correctly. We were ALWAYS sent additional invoices. If you questioned anything, you were threatened with a charge of £30 for each month the payment was outstanding. This seems totally unethical when you just want to understand what you are paying for. They did not follow the service charge regulations and often did not send out the end of year report until tenants requested copies. Even then, it was the most basic of documents, with no detailed information.

Invoicing increased over 100% in the time I was in the building and I was worried sick about what they would charge us next.

We had a couple of problem tenants but Mainstay didn't want to know. Even when a serious health risk happened in the building they didn't offer any assistance. They did not answer phones over the weekend and the emergency out of hours line was useless, just referring to Mainstay during working hours.

If we raised queries we were treated with contempt. Staff were rude and offhand.

Absolutely appalling service and I cannot understand how the company is still in business.

Don't touch this company ever. Absolutely inept, useless they shouldn't be operating
Charge enormous amount of money and do nothing. One can't get hold of anyone in management not that they are helpful.
We are waiting 4 years for issues to be fixed to NO AVAIL

If I could give Mainstay a -0 I would.
I'm unsure how this company are allowed to continue taking money from people. They are utter crooks. We pay an ridiculous amount of money for, at best a substandard service, at worse no service at all.
In the park of the pandemic last year we were left with no running water for hours at a time, for days on end. Now we have a mains leak that was reported weeks ago but no action taken, leaving us with an intermitten water supply. We can't use washing machines or heating without the worry of damaging the appliances.
They are a disgrace and should be held accountable.