McCartan Lettings Reviews 

Reply from McCartan Lettings

Feb 18, 2022

I’m disappointed to read your review. It contains information that isn’t accurate.

I appreciate the experience you had with your landlord’s own contractors was upsetting. To clarify, no one entered your property without your consent. Your landlord and your neighbour arranged for work to be done in the garden without telling us. When this happened, you put in writing to us that you knew we hadn’t been made aware and thus it wasn’t our fault. As soon as we were made aware, we spoke to the landlord and asked for the work to be stopped.

Your landlord proposed deductions from your security deposit based on evidence provided by an independent inventory check-out report. The deductions your landlord proposed were a small percentage of your overall deposit, and the DPS awarded over half of those deductions to your landlord.

Although the property was advertised for rent, we never start a tenancy they day after a tenant leaves. After every tenancy we need to wait for the check-out report to be carried out. We then leave a minimum of a week to deal with any issues which addressing before a new tenancy can start.

I’m glad to hear you are pleased with the service you received from Abigail; she was your Tenancy Manager and the person you dealt with most often. To say you found everyone else poor seems unfair given how little contact you had with them.

I ask that you remove or amend your review accordingly.

Reply from McCartan Lettings

Jun 12, 2020

Dear C,

As you haven't left a name, it is impossible to know whether or not this is a fake review, or to offer any specific information/advice to you. However, for the benefit of anyone reading this, I can clarify a number of points.

1. We used to carry out property visits every 3 months; this was changed last year to every 6 months. Tenants are made aware of this when they begin applying for a tenancy with us. The only time they would occur more frequently is if the property is not being kept to a reasonable standard, or where there was on-going maintenance repairs to check on.

2. Our property visits are carried out by a separate, independent company. It is not their practice to look in any cupboards unless asked to do so by tenants in relation to maintenance repairs, and this isn't something we ask or expect them to do.

3. At the end of a tenancy, we compare the independent check in and check out reports, and landlords propose deductions based on the information and photos documented there, with allowances made for fair wear and tear. If a tenant feels a proposed deduction is unfair, they have the opportunity to dispute it or make an alternative offer on it. If an agreement can't be reached, the deposit would be entered into Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) within the Deposit Protection Service. ADR is free to use for all parties, and an independent, trained deposit adjudicator reviews the evidence and decides what should and should not be awarded.

4. As well as having independent check in and check out reports conducted, we keep invoices and receipts for all work conducted at our managed properties as supporting evidence. Tenants would be charged for repair work if it is deemed by a professional contractor to be damage caused (accidentally or on purpose) by the tenant. If a tenant has been charged as part of security deposit return negotiations, there will be supporting evidence for this as previously explained.

5. The independent check out report incorporates the independent check in report, and contains notes that offer comparisons between the two. This is why it is often a longer document than the check in report.

6. Check in reports are sent to tenants by the independent clerk at the start of the tenancy, and they are given full instructions on how they can update the report if they feel it isn't accurate or that something has been missed. The clerk also advises that they are available if the tenants have any questions about the report. Things like electrical sockets and the tops of doorframes are checked for cleanliness and damage by the clerk; the reports they produce are highly detailed.

7. The letters we send out to notify tenants of property visits are a standard template, and detail what we expect. They might sound patronising in tone to some, but are written to be clear to our entire tenant base.

8. We do sometimes find tenants leave properties dirtier/less tidy at the end of a tenancy than they have kept it during tenancy - and vice versa. We let tenants know what we expect from them at each stage, but can't guess at how they'll leave a property upon vacating until they actually leave. We keep detailed notes, property visit reports, and invoices and receipts for work as previously mentioned to put us in the best position to offer advice on what landlords can and can't claim for at the end of a tenancy.

9. With regard to obtaining access for property visits, we used to arrange this with tenants on behalf of our contractors, but last year updated our procedures so that contractors arrange access directly with the tenants.

C - if you would get in touch with us directly, and/or respond to this to provide us with some identifying information, we'd be happy to discuss the points you've raised with you in more detail.

James White

Reply from McCartan Lettings

Nov 20, 2018

We’re surprised and a bit disappointed to find that you and Dominic have left us 1-star reviews. You’ve been great tenants, your tenancy went very well, and we haven’t received any negative feedback about our service from you before now. Any problems that have arisen have been with 3rd party contractors, and we dealt with them as soon as we were informed.

When it came to your end of tenancy, you advised us that you were only leaving because of work commitments, and you agreed to the (very minor) deposit deductions with no negotiation or dispute.

The cost of the inventory check-in and check-out reports are split evenly between landlords and tenants. The check-out report incorporates the notes made in the check-in report to allow for comparison. We look through check-out reports before sharing them with landlords and tenants as they are conducted by an independent company who do not have access to our notes or maintenance reports to contextualise the information documented within them. Sending them out without comment would be irresponsible. You were invited to attend the check-out meeting, and a copy of the report was made available to you as soon as it was appropriate.

It has never been our intention to be patronising – only to be proactive, and to be thorough. As our property visit letter is a standard letter that goes out to all tenants, it has to be comprehensive. Had you been continuing your tenancy, our property visits were scheduled to decrease in frequency.

To our knowledge, we have responded to you in a timely fashion inside our working hours.

We wish you the best for your new tenancy.

Reply from McCartan Lettings

Nov 20, 2018

We’re surprised and a bit disappointed to find that you and Andrew have left us 1-star reviews. You’ve been great tenants, your tenancy went very well, and we haven’t received any negative feedback about our service from you before now. Any problems that have arisen have been with 3rd party contractors, and we dealt with them as soon as we were informed.

When it came to your end of tenancy, you advised us that you were only leaving because of work commitments, and you agreed to the (very minor) deposit deductions with no negotiation or dispute.

The cost of the inventory check-in and check-out reports are split evenly between landlords and tenants. The check-out report incorporates the notes made in the check-in report to allow for comparison. We look through check-out reports before sharing them with landlords and tenants as they are conducted by an independent company who do not have access to our notes or maintenance reports to contextualise the information documented within them. Sending them out without comment would be irresponsible. You were invited to attend the check-out meeting, and a copy of the report was made available to you as soon as it was appropriate.

It has never been our intention to be patronising – only to be proactive, and to be thorough. As our property visit letter is a standard letter that goes out to all tenants, it has to be comprehensive. Had you been continuing your tenancy, our property visits were scheduled to decrease in frequency.

To our knowledge, we have responded to you in a timely fashion inside our working hours.

We wish you the best for your new tenancy.