Urban and Rural Reviews 70

Thank you very much highly recommended the best agent responsible .Good communication Cathy she's the best.100 🌟 Urban And Rural the best Agency

Had an offer accepted on a house and the property was taken off the market. We even got an email from the estate agent to confirm the offer had been accepted. 3 days later we get a call to state a higher offer had been tabled and that the venders had accepted it ..... would we like to make a further offer? (basically asking us to get into a bidding war!) Do not use these agents, they have no morals for a few quid extra.

URBAN AND RURAL LEAGRAVE

Dan provided 5 star service as did his staff.
At every stage I was kept fully informed as how things were progressing ,phone calls,texts and emails were always responded to within an hour. From taking the photos and listing the property, it was sold and completed within 6 weeks. The very best service I have had. A big thank you to you all.

Warning to all sellers. If you believe that time is money which is something that you cannot buy, then DO NOT use Urban&Rural. GetAgent recommended me Alexander Lawrence and Urban&Rural when I decided to sell my house. Fortunately, I did my own searching to counter check which was the best safe hands. I made the right choice of Alexander Lawrence; took me only 2 weeks time from valuation to sold, STD with a resonable satisfactory price. Otherwise, I would fall into the "play games" of Urban&Rural when my house was on market. I recognised the "play games" when I became a homebuyer who gave offers and requested for viewings. The manager presented to me that he was very keen to help in the negotiation process initially over the phone. However, when the offers were not what he agreed with, he told me that the sellers did not reply or he just kept me waiting. If sellers using Urban&Rural found that your houses have not been given any offer after being on the market for more than a week, I would suggest you market your houses with a second estate agent, no more sole agent and you would know how well Urban&Rural is sincerely performing for the sellers' sake.

In the UK, unethical practices by estate agents can be investigated by several organizations, including:

1. The Property Ombudsman (TPO): TPO is an independent and impartial body that resolves disputes between consumers and estate agents. They can investigate complaints regarding unethical behavior and rule on appropriate actions.

2. The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA): NAEA is a professional body for estate agents in the UK. They have a code of conduct that members are expected to adhere to, and complaints against members can be made to them for investigation.

3. The Trading Standards: Trading Standards offices are responsible for enforcing consumer protection legislation. They can investigate complaints and take action against estate agents who engage in unfair or deceptive practices.

4. The Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA): While not fully implemented as of my last update, RoPA aims to regulate property agents, including estate agents, to ensure they meet certain standards of professionalism and conduct. Once fully implemented, RoPA will likely provide additional oversight and enforcement mechanisms.

If you encounter unethical practices by estate agents, you can report them to one or more of these organizations for investigation and appropriate action.

During phone call hinted many times they did not want to show me property’s. This was down to the fact on a previous viewing we offered 6% less than the asking price which is within reason as there was a lot of work that needed to be done on the property we saw.
They mentioned that it would be a usage of their time to show me. I even offered to attend the property’s when they were going there to show others to make it easier for them.
Bad customer service. I would steer clear of selling one of my property’s with them if they are refusing to show potential buyers.

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE among other things they pretended that there were viewings on a property I had made an offer on to panic me into accepting a low offer on my property, ( the property I had offered on has an interesting story )

Working from the Leagrave branch, Luke and Peter worked with us to sell our home. They were both very professional and at the same time caring and respectful as they showed our home to buyers.
Peter was very reassuring when he showed us other properties, understanding our needs.
Caroline kept us up to date as our sale progressed. She was very warm on the phone and it was easy to ask her questions. We would recommend Urbal and Rural.

Had an amazing experience dealing with Steven Redmond. He was extremely helpful and kept me up-to-date with the whole process. Highly recommended.

What an amazing company, the Milton Keynes office have been nothing short of sensational. They helped us front the very start of our sale and have made our experience so enjoyable.

This agent was a very poor choice for us!! They initially massively over valued us and made us sign a 21 week sole agency agreement which we thought we were obliged to sign, we now know we didn't need too!! Ten days after this and being on the market they decided to say that we needed to drop the price to make us more attractive!! We found initially staff at the MK office "sloppy" and poor to communicate, also attending a viewing without bringing our house key to let in the viewer, this led to a complaint to be made. In the initial stages of being on the market we received a couple of calls from a "salesman" like and boring character who just went on and on about sales trends, Rightmove stats and everything you didn't want to hear except what he was doing to market and sell our house!! It eventually transpired that this was the owner of the business!! Almost 2 months into the "21 week agreement" and not being sold/no offers even, I spoke to the owner to request a reduction in term of this agreement as I felt he was not working for us and I had no confidence in him selling our house whatsoever! After a lecture about agreements and what they meant in law he begrudgingly agreed to allow us to go five weeks earlier! We finally left, for us, this poorly performing agency on Friday (28th April) after having received a meagre and poor 11 viewings after nearly sixteen weeks with them and lowering our asking price three times!! Not at any point after my last conversation with the owner were we contacted to discuss a new sales strategy to “get us sold” or talk about why we were not selling and our options moving forward!! I emailed the owner, several days before our agreed date to separate, to confirm we would be leaving him and never even received a reply to acknowledge this, extremely rude but was expected from this amateurish and poorly performing agency and an owner like him I'm afraid. To sum up if this was the only estate agent in Milton Keynes I still would not use or consider using them again!!

Terrible agents, lied to my parents and delayed everything. Zero interested buyers. 2 weeks with another agent and successful with offer at full asking price.

Avoid these liars, they’re out to exploit vulnerability and are not a well performing agency. Uncompetitive fees compared to competitors and 21 week contract so you’re stuck for almost half a year with these poor performers.

- they claimed a £325k property was worth £370k which was a lie to get my retiring parents business. They had other properties similar to theirs on the market for far less so it was a lie and not a mistake.
- within days they told my parents it was massively overpriced and they wanted it reduced by a huge amount, but my parents were locked in with these liars already.
- the agents showing people round were like school kids, dim and unprofessional. Didn’t have any tricks of the trade, instead just turned up without keys etc because they can’t even do tasks that basic. Also parking in the property’s parking spot so the viewers had to park down the street which is just bizarrely poor.
- the owner is one of the most boring and unprofessional people you’ll ever talk to. Dread talking to him as the call will last 20 minutes and his mono-tonal voice will just drone on and on about irrelevant waffle.
- don’t expect any feedback whatsoever from viewings like you’d expect, you’ll have to chase it to get it.
- don’t expect your viewings to be people that actually want to see your property, you’ll be #8 on the list of #15 properties their London buyer wants to see in a couple of hours. Extremely low quality leads.
- don’t expect quality photos or descriptions, other agents have been extremely critical about how the property was marketed and have confirmed the valuation is a common lie tactic used by cowboys who can’t get business organically.
- don’t expect any guidance on how to market the property, as you can see from their listings they have very little skill in this department.

Be extremely sceptical of their positive reviews which mostly come from new Google accounts and are a hallmark of a business that enjoys fantasising and reviewing themselves to hide the clearly genuine reviews.

They lied to my parents through their teeth to get their business and then tied them into an extremely long contract of 21 weeks - yes, nearly half a year stuck with them. Within a few days of marketing it was clear these agents are liars as they had similar properties advertised at around £20-30,000 less. Sure enough within a week they called my parents and said it was massively overpriced. They either lied or they’re incompetent at valuation, I’m certain is the former.

When it became clear that this property wasn’t going to sell instantly the agents lost interest and left my parents stuck in a contract with this inept agency, pushing their retirement plans back by at least half a year. The viewings they did achieve were not for the property, rather the agent ushering people through the door when viewing nearby properties, clearly employing the tactic of “if we get them a viewer a week they’ll be quiet”.

The owner/lead agent/whatever he wants to call himself has the personal skills of a brick, with everyone regretting his calls because he chats for ages and ages just waffling pure rubbish. It’s clear the man has no interpersonal skills and by extension is likely a very poor salesman, you shouldn’t have to dread a call from these people and clear 15 minutes in your diary in which you’ll essentially be none the wiser (just half deaf) once you put the phone down.

Coming to the end of the contract my parents were totally ignored by the agent and haven’t received any acknowledgement of the end, it’s clear this agent is very bitter, unprofessional and child-like which would make sense given the description of him.

The other agents that have since been round are shocked at how poor they’ve been, they’ve been critical of everything from the poor quality of the photos, description, viewing and of course the initial valuation which was just a lie to get business.

U&R Milton Keynes what a pleasure from start to finish ! The whole team was amazing but would like to mention Steven especially as he was the one I was in contact with most of the time ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Currently sat in a property owned and rented out by the Stopsley branch, with water pouring in to an already damp and mouldy living room. Constant leaks, damp and mould issues every month that I have lived here. Owner harrassed me by phone to the extent I have had to insist on written correspondence. When I report further leaks and water pouring in, soaking the carpet, walls, curtains & my furniture, the owner simply tells me -"if you are so unhappy I am happy for you to break the contract and move out at the end of the month to end all of this." I think any tenant paying almost £1000 a month for a property riddled with leaks and issues would be unhappy. Especially when said tenant has a 5 month old baby who is continuously getting sick from the cold and damp. The latest leak was reported in February. We are now in April and the repairs have still not been carried out & rather than deal with it, I am pushed to end the tenancy early despite me being on maternity leave & pay. Incredibly disappointed and exhausted by the treatment and lack of care received. Would not reccomend renting a property from this branch, especially if the owner - Neil McGregor is also the landlord.

Very professional young man, Doing business the right way. Not like the other agents no messing around 10/10 service would use again.

I am pleased that the house transaction was done through Urban and Rural. Everyone assisted with the transaction are super helpful, reliable, responsive.

Have now used Urban &Rural twice to sell a property,
First was the Leagrave branch in 2011, the second was the Bedford branch in 2022.
The service for both properties was outstanding providing help and advice through all stages of the sale. Both properties sold within 2 weeks.
I've even used the Bedford branch to view houses, and yet again outstanding where other agents have been poor.
Urban & Rural seem to be consistent in the way they deal with customers from being polite, but also honest. There is no pressure to use them, buy a property or additional services. The whole process was smooth without any stress.
I can't recommend them enough, and certainly will use them again to sell a property. Keep up the good work.

We want to thank the team at Urban and Rural for all their efforts over the last 9 months. They have gone above and beyond, nothing too much trouble. Would highly recommend to anybody who wants genuine people helping them to move home.

A really committed team who helped us complete our sale despite some challenges. Thank you.

Great experience, couldn’t ask for more.

Thanks Chris Camden and Steven Redmond for top service from the Newport Pagnell branch