Howards Estate Agents Reviews 77

I cannot recommend Howard’s Estate agents highly enough but especially lettings lady Mia Gore, an absolute joy to communicate with, professional, quick to respond and have clear information as needed. I’ve actually dealt with Howard’s before and know in asking their service would receive nothing but the best . I am giving Mia Gore highest praise as a true ambassador for the Howard’s group of Eatate agents. My partner and I are looking forward to completing our search now with Mia’s assistance. There are estate agents and then there is Mia at HOWARDS …….. Thank You !!

My experience with Howard’s was very good , good team , good agency , help all time when need!

Recently sold and purchased for my mum through Howard’s and they have been fantastic from start to finish . Maddie and Evie at Great Yarmouth branch and Sophie at the Gorleston branch all helped resolve any queries and response to my calls everyday sometimes was helpful and kind . They made a difficult situation much better after having to move mum closer to me selling her home of 45 years. Respectful, professional and lovely staff thank you so much .

Recently purchased a bungalow through Howard’s Lowestoft and dealt with Georgia.
I can only express high praise, she was very helpful and bubbly which made the experience a lot easier, but also very prompt at getting back via phone or email which can normally be a stressful process with estate agents.
Can’t recommend dealing with Georgia and Howard’s enough. Brilliant!!

We had a nightmare experience selling/buying it wouldn’t have gone through but for the professionalism of Howards in Yarmouth and in particular Evie and Sam who as well as doing their own job covered for the useless solicitors, thank you Evie and Sam.

I recently purchased a house in Suffolk and needed an agent to manage it for me. So i contacted 10 agents in the Suffolk/Norfolk area to sound them out regarding my needs. The response i got was mixed, Howards stood out though. The engagement and efforts made by Chris & Ayesha simplified the whole process and delivered a quality service to me at great value. I would recommend them both and the wider Howards team without hesitation.

Would give 0 stars but cant.

Where to start? We moved into £1250/pcm property with the understanding that the property would be clean before we moved in and some minor remedial works done, walls cleaned, holes filled etc. I collected the keys from the Lowestoft office and was told they had "only just" found a leak in the roof in the conservatory and it would need to be repaired but were we happy to move in. As we needed to move into our new property we agreed. We moved into the property and found rubbish under the bed and in the cupboards in the master bedroom, the walls were unclean and holes in the property walls throughout the house from old fixings/screws which had not been remedied.
There was an infestation of flies in the attic which had clearly been present for some time, I will commend Howard’s that this was actioned quickly and the problem has not returned.
The "repairs" to the roof were taking a long time after being chased several times until a few months later i return home and to my surprise, scaffolding had been erected in the back garden, without any knowledge of this, I assumed someone had entered the property without permission and done this. I was then told that the contractor didn't enter the house at all but instead climbed over the back gate to let himself in. (this is either trespassing or a direct breach of the Housing Act 1988, depending on whether this was instructed or not, we were not informed and someone entered the property without prior notice or permission).
The repairs commenced and I assumed all was fine, I would usually look over the mess left by the contractors, cigarette butts, the broken pieces of tiles, screws and other sharps objects, but I have a 2-year-old child and it's not ideal.
Howard's asked to do a property viewing which we happily obliged to, and I informed the estate agent visiting that the house alarm was beeping on a low battery warning and this needed replacing, this has still not been completed, months later.
And. It. Is. Still. Beeping. Constantly.
I was then emailed by a gentleman to inform me that my contract was going to be ending a month earlier than my tenancy agreement said, and the landlords had asked for an increase to the rent. As i was confused at why my tenancy was ending earlier (in December, not end of January) I asked him to confirm the dates in my tenancy agreement. He then replied stating my contract was not due to end until May! an additional 4 months to my original tenancy agreement! He then informed me he would be in touch in April. I replied to ask for details on my tenancy agreement and was ignored.
We were asked to permit a member of the Howard's team into the home "for 5 minutes for a quick walk around and a valuation" which again we happily obliged to. A member of the Howard's team arrived with the Landlord (which wasn't agreed) and asked to take photographs. Like many family homes, we have photographs and sentimental items on display in our home which we would not want on a property listing so we asked to rearrange to make the house "photo ready" (we have a 2-year-old, it’s not going to be photo ready for a sales website without prior warning).
I had a phone call with someone and booked the following Thursday off work and we were anticipating the Howard's team and landlord to come to the property to take photos and no-one arrived.
Now the weather has changed, the roof which was "repaired" is now leaking into the house again, onto my table.
The beep is still beeping.
And to top it off today i received a phone call today to inform me that my account was in arrears on rental payments and that I owed £75 to Howard's. It appears they have increased the agreed rental price without our consent as our usual direct debit to Howard's meant the full balance was unpaid and it went to collections. Even though i had provided a statement in writing of our intention to leave the property at the end of our tenancy, the rental price was increased, and our account is now in “arrears.”
I apologised profusely to Winnie on the phone as I explained my frustrations to her but at this point it’s being ongoing since the start of our tenancy. I am speechless.

I would like to thank ayesha from howards lowestoft branch for all her help in getting me and my little girl our house, she was very helpful polite got things done when asked an overall lovely lady 😊

I am in the early stages of buying a property through Howards, Lowestoft. I am very pleased with their service and Lily in particular who has been extremely helpful to me. She is a very pleasant and professional young lady.

If? You want an honest opinion just ask for Mike.
He is so straightforward.
Talked himself and us out of a sale for a multitude of reasons, albeit he loved our cottage. Mike you were right.
As for funny, well you had me still laughing after you'd left.
Many thanks talk next year.
Kindest
Mr & Mrs Lincoln.

On a positive note they will undoubtedly sell your house, which is their sole purpose after all, however in my opinion the experience was like selling a used car on eBay - the sale price doesn't matter as long as it sells (so they get paid their all important commission). Also, their aftersales and partner solicitor firm were decidedly pedestrian. I wouldn't recommend them or be in a hurry to use them again.

Jannette and the team was an absolute pleasure to work with throughout the sale of our property.
They dealt with myself and my ex in a very professional manner kept us both informed about where we were in the process and next steps. It was a difficult situation but they made the whole process so much easier and kept working hard from the launch day to the sale .
Couldn’t have wishes for a better Estate Agent.
Would definitely recommend to an anyone to use them .
Can’t thank them all enough.

Not an estate agent I would recommend. They are obviously desperate for property as they seem to think mail shots declaring that they have a purchaser for you property are a good idea. I don't appreciate continually receiving letters from Howards telling me they have a purchaser for my house. If I wish to sell my property I would approach an estate agent of my choice and I can guarantee it will not be Howards Estate agents.

What an absolutely awful experience!
Phoned to make an appointment for my mother to view a property and agreed to a time of 2.45pm.
Had a message to confirm that time. The next day had another message to confirm a different time of 2.30pm. My mother phoned the office to say she would not be able to make that and would be nearer the original time (2.45pm) as 1st agreed. Was basically told "great see you then" immediately got another message confirming the wrong time of 2.30pm but as she had just phoned to say she would be there nearer the 2.45 original slot did not think she needed to phone again.
Day of viewing - Our builder tuned up at 2.25pm he did not see anyone enter or leave the building. We turned up at 2.40pm and no one was there. My mother is 80 and has mobility issues. After an hour stood waiting outside the property in the cold & 4 phone calls to try and find out what was happening it was clear no one was coming.
We were then told the appointment was booked for 2.30 and we did not call to tell tell them we were delayed!? WHAT? What delay? This had already been discussed. My mother said she would be there near the original 2.45pm agreed time.
A young man called Charlie turned up, my mother is upset and trying to explain how let down she feels. He disregards it and says "you are being rather aggressive, I don't have to show you the property"
We do get to view the property but then Charlie makes it clear he is doing us a favour as he should have left off work and that he has gone above and beyond!
It's then we learn there has been an open house all day. We were not informed this was being viewed as an open house when booking and believed we were having an ordinary viewing, my mother had wanted as little hassle as possible.
My mother puts in an offer but is told due to open viewings people will be making closed offers. Disappointed but ok fine.
She phones on the Monday to find out what the situation is with offers. Speaking to a team member called Georgia Lee in the Lowestoft branch. My mother is told there are more open house views and lots of offers. Is spoken down to, spoken over, blamed for not showing up at 2.30pm and by the end of call is in tears and shaken.
I call, get through to switch board. Explain what has happened and that the treatment my mother received was completely unacceptable and the lady I spoke to was brilliant, listened, was apologetic, we had a good conversation, she agreed our treatment was inappropriate and contacted Georgia. Georgia phones me but unable to take her call I receive a message. A very jovial message, completely tone deaf of the concerns raised, seemingly oblivious to her unprofessional conduct with what seems like no self awareness.
I call her back to ask her how and why she managed to upset my mother to such a degree and try to explain the stress Howards have caused because of the mess up on the appointment times. Georgia immediately says "well I don't know why your mother would be upset" (No Georgia, that's because you seem to have a distinct inability to reflect or take accountability). She will not let me speak, keeps blaming us for not informing them we were delayed (See info prior re: phone call my mother made)
Spoke over me, accused me of speaking over her and shouting. "Well, you know what Georgia...how about listening to the customer!" She displayed no interest, was condescending, rude, and was completely disinterested to hear or understand what I was trying to say. She said she didn't understand the purpose of the call.
NEVER have I had to deal with such a rude and disrespectful salesperson. Treating a potential customer like this is unacceptable. Shifting blame, re writing the history of events.
Disgusted.
I was assured the calls are recorded. I hope to goodness they are scrutinised and used for training purposes of how to never speak to a customer.
Absolutely would not deal with this woman or the company again. What should have been potentially a quick hassle free easy sale has been a nightmare from the start and that was just for a viewing!
I see on the reviews this is not the first time her obnoxious behaviour has been flagged.
Quite honestly if she was a member of my team, she would be put through a disciplinary process and put on effective communication and customer relations training.
Her arrogance was off the charts.
Then on the Monday I was phoned by the Manager Mike Smith who did admit there had been a confusion with the viewing times but did not apologise. He said he was quite happy with the way Georgia dealt with me and my mother.
Shocking! When asked if he would be happy for my phone call to be used as a great example of customer service he said he is very happy with staff training and conduct in his office. Something is very wrong if a manager green lights a staff member speaking to customers the way Georgia Lee did.

Extremely rude and unhelpful. Georgia's answer to one of my questions was 'do you want me to lie to you?' She then hung up. This was deemed acceptable by her manager. I never did get the answer to my questions after two weeks so didn't buy the property. The manager did ring me back, claiming to know little about why he was ringing, let me explain it all and then said he had listened to the call. I suppose Georgia wasn't actually being sarcastic when she asked about the lying.

Ayesha, has been helping me with looking to rent a bigger property to the one I am currently in. I do wish to remain with Howard's and she has been incredibly helpful so far

My heating went over the weekend just as we got this cold snap. I'm disabled so I don't tolerate the cold very well. I reported the issue and Monday morning 9. On the dot Lily phoned me to get more details and to take ownership of the issue. She liased with the landlord, engineer and myself to get someone out ASAP. She never let go of it until she received a satisfactory result from the landlord. Even though she knew he had phoned me himself she called to make sure it was the correct information and I was happy with what was happening. A very charming, professional young lady who is a total asset to Howard's and she represents them perfectly. A*

The letting team are total ignorant people run by a manager who has about as much impact on getting things sorted as Boris Johnson...they share similar qualities too, lacking in the ability to be honest and being expert at spin. Do not expect any service from the letting department, they won't clean houses or address damp and mould. They will expect tenants to landscape gardens and they will lie through their teeth and insist before tenants move in that the house is clean, so once you are in there is no hope and you as the new tenant will either have to live in filth they have not acknowledged on the inventory or you will have to clean and scrub damp patches yourself. Don't expect ending the tenancy to be any easier either, they will bully you into paying for every day the house sits empty until they find another poor desperate tenant and the fact the house is barely habitable and the garden resembles a jungle every summer won't stop them conning the next unsuspecting soul into believing the landlord is great and the neighbourhood quiet...when the weeds take hold in the jungle the following summer and the neighbours are all being visited by police and fly tipping along the back of the house, you will be still trying to negotiate with howards about the damp which has now taken hold over the winter and ruined your clothes and bedding amd which howards will tell you wasn't there before you moved in......

Have my move date finally.
Amy kept us well informed all the way.
Very friendly and helpful.
Thank you! 😊

Addison and Charlie recently showed us two properties, for young men they were extremely respectful, professional, polite and knowledgeable. We have previously met and viewed with another large agency in the area and if their fresh approach was to leave us feeling we were an inconvenience at best, they ticked all the boxes. Thank you Addison and Charlie