Northwood GB Reviews 309

Cannot thank Shirley for all her help with rentals. Constant updates and emails. So helpful. Thanks so much Shirley :)

Northwood Wigan - faultless!
I have been with Northwood renting out a property for several years and have had nothing but positive experiences. I have found all the staff at the Wigan branch professional, knowledgeable, helpful and extremely patient.
I also used Northwood when selling my house recently and again , I could not be happier with the service I received. Special mention to Shannon who worked tirelessly day after day , week after week to ensure the sale went through as smoothly as possibly . Shannon is exceptional at her job , she would be a real asset to any team and is certainly one to Northwood !
I cannot recommend Northwood (Wigan) highly enough to anyone looking to sell / buy / rent etc . You will not be disappointed, you are definitely in safe hands !
Thank you all at Northwood!

Totally unreasonable company, especially the lady call : Alisha Clarke
she was so rude and so unknown what’s happening. I booked to see a flat for rent in Guildford last Monday they booked me in for next week as they said: Haven’t got a key to get earlier.
So on Saturday just 2 days before my appointment they cancelled.
I did try to speak with the lady in meantime, but she pretended wasn’t her so i call them back again and managed to speak with her. Without any reason she said: Sorry the house is not longer available… When i asked her why didn’t call me earlier she said: I don’t know but the house is not available. Miscommunication with the other staff, really rude a d really unprofessional people.
DO NOT RECOMMEND THEM AT ALL !

Very good service from Keisha lee help me get back in my property in no time I locked myself out and she provided excellent service and a locksmith was round in no time thank you very much excellent job thank you

BEWARE! I strongly encourage you to do not to rent from them unless you want to have a massive headache during and after the tenancy period. They will do everything in their power to make sure they can take a slice of your deposit no matter what. Not just that but the management and support, in general, disappear just after you pay them the first month's rent and deposit. Long story short - just after collecting the property keys 1 one of them was faulty and I could not open the door - be ready to pay from your own pocket even if they gave you faulty keys. Want to check the meter reading - pay yourself to open other doors. Troubles understanding how the boiler works and how to adjust temperature? -Find out yourself. Takes weeks sometimes several weeks to respond to email enquiries. If you call them, most of the time not available, and asking to call back - never happens. This is nothing comparing how they make fraudulent schemes with your deposit - first of all, they will make an inventory checklist that EVERYTHING is in PERFECT condition while in reality, it is not. Take a picture of every single corner before moving in otherwise they will say it was your fault and will try to steal your money from the deposit. Also, they delayed almost two months to respond and give back the deposit, trying to convince me dozens of times that the poor condition of the property is my fault despite I had proof that it was already before we moved in. Shamelessly do everything just to grab your money at every single opportunity. They also tried to chase me to pay them early termination fees while there were multiple emails that early termination was agreed upon with the landlord and Northwood. Their hired contractors took a parking permit and did not bring it back which leads me to face 25£ reduction from my deposit. Also, the letting agent lied multiple times that everything will be "cleaned" and "fixed" before we move in but ultimately not they did clean and fix anything but also blamed that it was our fault for that at end of the tenancy! Absurd. Also, the quality of the property is a joke, imagine their contractors are so bad that instead of properly installing light hubs they GLUED them instead to prevent them falling down! Therefore was not able to replace the light hubs, and even Northwood again blamed me because I did not replaced. Theatre of the absurd. Be aware of this letting agency, save your time and nerves dealing with them, I used 7 different agencies in the past and this one was the worst. Trust me, there are dozen of other better letting agencies in Derbyshire.

Never rent with these!

I rented a house with my partner. When we moved in, the garden bin was full with non garden rubbish along with 2x fence panels, broken glass and other 2 bins were also full. I told the agent about this and they promised to remove it. They only removed the fence panels. When we moved out, the company tried to take £100 for the bin being full, the door handle coming off and having 2 lightbulbs instead of 3. I told them about the door handle as I was stuck upstairs and there was no fire exit for I had to break the handle off. The bedroom door handle also broke.

They are inconsistent and we only got the deposit back because we said we were going to go to the DPS if they didn’t.

One lady was very rude to us and told us we had to give the keys back in before 12 on the 10th November otherwise we would be charged an extra day despite me telling them I could drop them off around 2 because I work from 9-6 and only get my break at 2 and my partner works 7-8.

Now 2 months after moving out, they are still being a nightmare. They are disputing the council tax despite the fact I have proof of the date I moved out. I’ve gone to the ombudsman.

Never go with this company! However if you absolutely have to then photograph and document EVERYTHING! Because they will try to go back on their word.

BEWARE NORTHWOOD WIGAN.
They are vile, rude and unprofessional.
They have lied to us from day one, fixtures and fittings were placed to look good but on the day of moving in everything started falling down. We suffered head injuries, black eyes, cuts and bruises. They claimed they knew nothing of any repairs but we have statements from neighbours and contractors saying otherwise. After more than 3 years we are still trying to get repairs completed. We have environmental health, our local MP and the ombudsman involved but still it's impossible to get these people to do their job.
Avoid at all costs.

My husband was in the Royal Navy and we had a lovely house in Plymouth (and loved Plymouth) so when he was posted to Portsmouth (and we both moved into married quarters there) we decided to rent out our home in Plymouth through Northwood, in case we moved back - BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER.

Whilst the house didn't have brand new everything, it had been freshly plastered, painted, carpeted and decorated. We were assured that they did regular visits and the reports on our home that they sent us were all positive. We visited about 2 years into the rental period and could see some wear and tear, but nothing too drastic. As we were potentially going to move back there (as well as not being horrible people) whenever they got in touch with an issue, I replied immediately so it could be sorted out.

However, when we decided to sell our home and notified Northwood, we came down (we had moved to Yorkshire at that point) to have a look and see what we might want to do before putting it on the market.

Suffice it to say I was in tears when I saw the state of it. I'm not an especially emotional person, but there were so many great memories in that house, I was unconsolable when I saw the state of it. I kid you not, it looked like they'd let a tiger claw the wooden floor in the living room. I'm not going to go into every single thing but if you are looking to rent out your home - DO NOT USE NORTHWOOD.

That unfortunately wasn't quite the end of it, my husband spent a fortnight there fixing things and when he spoke to the Northwood employees they expressed concern and made it clear that the cost of most of the work would be paid by them / the tenant. This did not happen.

It still makes me so angry (3 years on) that I think I'm going to end this now with one final thing - from reading the reviews (which, OMG, I wish I'd done before) regardless of whether you are a tenant or landlord - DO NOT USE NORTHWOOD.

ZERO STARS!!!!

Being told you can't view/ rent a property because you don't work FT, despite the fact you have over £50k in the bank, can prove your salary with payslips and bank statements and offer to pay 6mnths rent upfront!
I'm fortunate enough to be able to not work all the time and as a high earner l'm being penalised/ discriminated against!

Absolute pathetic, as was the repeating of
" can't arrange a viewing" over and over again from the staff member!

Ask you're bloody Landlord if they'd like 6 mnths rent upfront ( accompanied by the evidence of income/ financial stability to back it up)
Discrimination as it's core!

Not returning deposit when flat is spotless. Don't use this company

Worse experience EVER please do not use this agency if you have to sale a flat. I should look at Trustpilot!
If I can avoid for you to do this mistake I made!
So unprofessional, I was selling my property with them and let me tell you what a mess, they manage to loss the buyer on the way….. Unbelievable

WARNING ***Do Not Use These Unscrupulous Agents***

I urge anybody considering using Northwood to run a mile!!

I rented with Northwood for nearly 6 years. Throughout the tenancy they were completely incompetent. Terrible communication, not fixing and resolving repairs in a reasonable timeframe or not at all, and just unprofessional in all aspects of a letting agent.

I decorated the property we rented myself to a high standard, because they were unwilling (see above). I spent my money and time doing this. When we moved into the property it was absolutely filthy.

The landlord decided to sell the property this year (Probably because we had decorated it and it looked so nice). Luckily enough we were buying our first property anyway.

When we vacated the property, we made sure to leave it in good condition throughout, however, Northwood tried to take 95% of our deposit for unjustifiable reasons. Thankfully our money was protected by the DPS and luckily they went with the FACTS and evidence I provided and not Northwoods erroneous and incompetent effort to steal our money.

So please, trust me when I say, avoid these swindlers, there are far more capable letting agents out there.

Hereford branch !landlords beware!
I’ve ended up with drug using subletting tenant !
Absolutely crap agents

If I could give minus 5 stars I would, I’ve never met such a cowboy estate agents in my life. I arranged for change payment date and got locked out of my email as people do forget passwords when you get a new phone… the company then failed to alert me there was an outstanding balance and instead issued me with an eviction notice right before Christmas. P1ss poor communication and blatantly ignoring several basic maintenance requests for example having a safe boiler and walls that don’t leak! Oh and by the way you won’t even get a name of your landlord nevermind a face to go with it.

AVOID at all costs.

On 23 August I made an offer for a 1 bedroom flat. I went to view it and was told by Mark Jarret that the property was was immediately available. I sent over my holding deposit, completed referencing and heard radio silence for 16 days straight. Each time I called no colleague could give me an update as Mark was “on annual leave” and his cover had covid. We’ve been living with Covid for almost 3 years now and I know that they have enough staff to do appropriate handovers.

The tenancy agreement I received was full of illegal clauses and completely unreasonable terms, so unfortunately I couldn’t continue.

Have been emailing for my holding deposit to be returned but silence. Complaining to the Property Ombudsman next. These people are crooks and enjoy wasting time.

Northwoood Carlisle branch.
I've been approached by this agent regarding 2 bedroom bungalow in Carlisle (45 Pennine View)
Agent (Matthew) invited me to view the property.

I live over 6 hours away from Carlisle and was looking for a property for short term as I've bought a new home in Carlisle area, which isn't going to be ready until later this year. Matthew was fully aware of my circumstances.

During the conversation with M.A, I expressed my worry over driving several hours to see the property and not securing it due to the proposed short term tenancy, however I've been reassured by the agent that 45 Pennine is in under so called management scheme and that Northwood acting as the landlord, so they will have a say on decision making.

So, on Friday (02.09) I naively drove down for 6 hours, handed copies of mine and my husbands' passport, application form and expressed the proposal to pay for the entire duration of my tenancy in advance.

Matthew said that decision will be made the following week on Monday or Tuesday at the latest. I felt under pressure of time, as I was selling my house and my buyers wanted to move in asap, which meant I had to move out as soon as possible. Again, the agent was fully aware of this.

The following Monday, nobody has got in touch, so I've rung the agency. I've been told that Matthew is on holidays all week and that somebody else will come back to me....

Several hours later, still haven't heard anything, so I've made another call. This time, somebody else has answered who advised that the landlord of the property received 3 applications for the bungalow but also wishes to see the application from somebody she has has chosen as she knows them in person. I've been also told that if I was the only applicant, 'maybe the bungalow would be mine' but as there are other 3 applications, the landlord will go for the longer tenancy contact and more than likely for somebody they know.

My final thought on this is:

- Why do Northwood waste people time ?
Are you really that desperate to please registered landlords that you go to the extent of purposely misleading applicants and filling them with false hopes to accumulate more applications ?
- Do you have at least a tiny bit of respect to people, who made every effort to see you and showed up on time after a long travel ?

After all that, there was not even a courtesy email (which I have specifically asked for) to confirm the final outcome of my application form.

This is disgusting and I truly hope that with upcoming recession and your very poor customer service, you will all do yourselves out of jobs. I would certainly never register with you, made another enquiry as a tenant, or do any business as a landlord. You are the worst letting team I have dealt with.

The landlord of aforementioned property also needs to think twice about her selection methods, if she indeed is the one who was making decisions. If believing Northwood's story, she has completely undermined other applicants and wasted everyone's time.

Be aware of this.

FALKIRK BRANCH - phenomenal customer service. Consistently kind. Always happy to support. Quickly handle issues & get the job done. Feel valued as a tenant.

The most extensive inventory I've seen by any letting agents, and happy for you to edit & add until satisfied to sign.

Whole team consistently worked on my behalf everyday when Scottish Power left me without power for 7 days. The Falkirk Team were persistent, their communication regular and their proactive positive attitudes made a massive difference.

Complaints with carpets were handled with respect and made a priority - multiple tradesmen booked for a quote. New carpets ordered and fitted quickly (new lease of life in the flat).

Asked me for a guarentor because I claim benefits which I can't provide and which is a ridiculous difficult request, but I'm sure they know that and thats why they ask. So in short they are bigoted and discriminate against people on benefits. How lovely

I rented a house 2 months ago and I still can't use the shower. Agency is fixing issues which we find in the first week of renting over 60 days. So I rented house which was generally not ready to rent. Agency check was also a joke. Appliances marked as "good condition" which are not working at all. Every conversation with Northwood is based on "we can't do anything until landlord is agree" but the landlord is and was agree since very beginning. I think agency is not interested in keeping tenant as long as it possible. I am going to make proper complaint today.
Not recommended at all

WARNING!
Aberdeen.
Despite a great few years with them, upon leaving, they are attempting to take money from our deposit for issues that not only did we not cause, that are not in the exit itinerary but is believed to be caused by their own workmen while property in their possession. Tying to hold previous tenants liable for damage they cause despite exit video evidence to the contrary.