Stonehouse Lettings Reviews 156

Rented out a flat for just over 2 months with StoneHouse. From the beginning, it was terrible. The checks for guarantors and actually signing the tenancy agreement were overly strict and all computerised. It was difficult to communicate with staff as no one helped and when they did they were completely rude. One women was extremely rude to my partner on the phone because it was getting closer to 5'oclock and she wanted to leave. Not professional by any means.

Arrived to the flat to find there was no shower head. This took over a week to be resolved due to the computerised process of complaining about a repair. Washing machine didn't work either.

We were given only key between the two of us for the main door key.

The flat claimed to be 'furnished' but it had no shower, duvet, little to no kitchen utensils or cutlery, broken hoover, the list goes on... we ended up spending a lot more than predicted due to this.

Eventually after moving out (and rigioursly cleaning the flat to their standards) the company came back to us with the cost they were deducting from our deposit. They took over six weeks to do so. They deducted over £100 for cleaning costs. The cleaner they use charges £25 an hour. Our flat was a very small one bed flat and there is no way she took over three hours to clean it, especially because it was spotless already.

The company have been an absolute joke since the beginning and it has put my partner off of renting a flat as this was his first experience. This is the worst company I have dealt with for a tenancy agreement. Would not recommend.

Worst property manager/letting agent ever. They are very slow, sluggish and evasive in attending to reported issues raised. Poor telephone etiquette. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone. Run away from them!

Scum of the Earth, pondlife, this lot are as low as it gets. you only have to read other peoples reviews to see it. if you trust any form of review look at this lot See For yourself

Five years in Scotland and never had such a pathetic and apalling renting experience.

Please for your own sanity and avoid renting a house through them all costs. The biggest joke of a company I've had the displeasure of dealing with for the last 1 year. People working there haven't got an iota of dignity and professionalism.

Absolute crooks, have got no basic courtesies or manners on how to talk to tenants. They feel it's okay not to respond to emails or book a viewing or inspection and never show up. If you have the audacity to question their professionalism or dare to demand the money they rightfully owe you, you get shouted at. Their manager in kemnay branch named Lisa is the worst. They should really invest in staff training to teach them some politeness and manners.

When it comes to vacating the property, they don't even have a basic courtesy to let tenant know receipt of the keys or about the potential timeline for returning the deposit. They failed to follow the government guidelines for returning the deposit and don't even begin process for weeks. Keep pursuing and you are told the property was left spotless but won't return deposit by giving endless spurious reasons to withhold your money. Then from no where, an outrageous sum for "minor cleaning" was charged and all you get is some random photos claiming dirt in corridor and smudge on a wine glass. In reality the photographs display not a single speck of dust and a wine glass with big reflection of flash light. The claims get even more ridiculous and you will be charged for preexisting damaged tables and crockery. The charges are unsubstantiated and they refuse to provide any before/after photographs. Dishonesty at its best!

It's sad to see this agency is working according to its own whims and fancy, without a supervision from any regulating or external monitoring body. Please avoid this agency at all costs and save yourself from longterm grief and misery.

I called through to book a house appointment and they instead directed me to use email. Emailed 3 times requesting a house appointment but still no response received, only automated, repeat message.

They will try and grossly overcharge you for cleaning when you move out. Don’t settle for it though, dispute it through the LPS scheme and you will win. They tried to charge me £120 to clean a house that we left spotless, after disputing it through the LPS, LPS deemed £18 cleaning charges were reasonable. So essentially they tried to scam me out of £100 - criminal really.

They are just terrible. Avoid if you can please. Never answer phones. Never helping. I really do t think that place even exists in Aberdeen.
Terrible since day one. Agents are keep leaving/ moving and there is no consistency in that place.
Emailing the person you think is your agent but they never answer and no job is been done.

if i could give less stars i would.
absolute joke of a company!!
accept no responsibility for any issues.
wasn’t informed of many issues the flat had before moving in. Been here since november and have any issues been sorted? Lol don’t be so silly!
I have never been so depressed and under the weather since dealing with this company, the money stress, the broken windows, the crap staff. Not worth a cheap flat!!!

Excellent service. Jill went above and beyond to help and updated me every step of the way. We moved into our new home and despite a few teething issues, which are being sorted quickly, we are very happy.

AVOID - SCAMMERS - DONT USE - STUDENTS PLEASE READ!!!
As a first time renter I was looking for a flat in Aberdeen. They offered no support to moving in. The initial paperwork was a nightmare and they left it until the day of the move in to tell me they needed further info to continue with the process.

They gave ZERO information on the how to set-up the electricity billing, so I was cut off several times.

The water pipes were not insulated and froze during the winter cutting me off from water.

When I left I cleaned the flat thoroughly. *****THEY CHARGED ME OVER £200 FOR SMALL AREAS OF DUST*****

These guys should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. Very sad, degenerate letting agents who take pleasure in scamming people out of their money. Alike to used-car salesmen.

Do not believe the positive reviews, read the countless reviews of people being overcharged for cleaning costs.

Hands down the worst agency I have ever dealt with. Insane how they can even call themselves a company when after weeks to months of consistent emails regarding an issue that was due to their incompetence and still no response. No point trying to call them because you will be told that everyone is busy and in meetings. Only get in contact when they want something from you. Horrendously managed

Complete scam artists, will charge you exorbitant amounts for tiny areas of dust on skirting boards etc. will also charge you for contesting it. Would give these low life extortionists zero stars if possible.

I rented a two bedroom furnished flat for £800 a month.
When I arrived at the flat the door would not open due to sagging hinges, green mould was growing on the extractor in the bathrooms and there was no second bed which they had promised would be there when I moved in. When I requested a second bed they refused.
So I cancelled , and after they they delayed as long as possible by dealing calls and e-mails I terminated the lease 6 weeks later. My parents came down and cleaned the flat in my absence, this was clean.
I had paid a £150 non refundable deposit, fine, but they have since taken £160 out of my bank account without my permission for a professional cleaning bill.
I have put a complaint into the bank and the Financial Ombusman.
Please avoid these mob if you passably can - you will get stung.

If I could give zero stars I would. I assume their office in Aberdeen is run by John Wayne!

I paid the deposit for my daughter’s flat rental. On the day of moving in we noted significant damage, and duly took pictures and emailed them to the office. Move on 15 months and she moved out. Stonehouse did not meet their Legal obligation to send back the deposit within the stated timeframe, and only after many emails did they send something. Guess what, they tried to charge for the damage already reported when moving in. Over 4 months after moving out, and the whole thing gets settled via LPS.
They did not do any walk round at the tenancy end with my daughter, and basically just assumed bully boy tactics.

My advice to anyone unfortunate to have to use them in Aberdeen is:- Document and photograph everything. Make sure you email said evidence, although on our experience they conveniently ignore it and try and bill for it anyway. Demand a F2F walk round at the end of tenancy and get a signed agreement on the spot.

As a side issue. Having written this review I decided to take a look at what other people say. It would seem that this is their modus operandi across the board.

0 stars are needed for this company, as a first time landlord I used this company and from the get go they were awful, had nightmare tenants during the covid pandemic and they did nothing to help get them out, the flat was left in a mess which was picked up on in the inventory but I received nothing to cover costs needed to clean and fix matters caused by the tenants chosen by stonehouse. Lack of communication and impossible to get hold of anyone, was always just told someone would be in touch, unless they needed something from me they’d be straight on the phone. My property manager was an absolute waste of time to. LANDLORDS AVOID AT ALL COSTS

If I could give 0 stars, I would.

If only you can leave 0 stars. Used them when I was renting during uni and when I moved out I was scammed out of my whole deposit (£475) for cleaning and would you believe it - a light bulb.

Lived in a flat with tall ceilings and not provided with a ladder or anything to change a light bulb that blew, left it and had £40 taken off me for failing to change it. Rest of the deposit was taken for cleaning charges, a smudge on the shower door, not cleaned windows (even though I cleaned them better than they were when I moved in). The flat was also a state when I moved in which I delt with mould, the previous tenants mess, yet I was the one to be billed for a spotless flat when I moved out.

Worst letting agency I’ve ever been with. Not only were they incompetent for the entire time we were tenants with them (taking 6 months+ to sort out an issue despite us emailing and phoning them nearly every day, and taking over a year to fix a black mould situation), they also gave us back less than 5% of the initial deposit we paid and claimed it was for cleaning charges despite the fact that the flat was left clean. I asked them for a receipt for the cleaning charges repeatedly and (unsurprisingly) I have never heard back from them since. Eventually decided to just leave it as I was so worn out by them that I didn’t even want to fight for my money back. Avoid.

Terrible reputation, avoid like pest. Overcharging customers for cleaning bills, vultures.

Jan 2022 - Not only unprofessional though detached from reality! As a prospective landlord I was not impressed with the condescending member of staff who contacted me following my query to the Stonehouse website. Over confident to the point of being blatantly rude this member of staff laughed (loudly) at my responses when I advised that "I just wished to cover my costs" and when I advised that (for us), it had worked well in having a friend renting our flat on a long term basis. This member of staff also advised that "the price of oil in Aberdeen was going up" - Anybody who has remotely followed the Aberdeen flat market will note that in recent times, it is the empty Universities that have had a knock on effect to the flat sales/rentals in Aberdeen. Not only the oil price. As a Guarantor to a current tenant of Stonehouse, I ended the call having very little confidence in this company.