James Dean Reviews 9

We rented a property from James Dean Estate Agents Reigate. We were great tenants not bothering them at all really in the 8 years of tenancy.
On moving out we paid £607 for professional cleaners to provide an end of tenancy clean so was taken aback when a report was sent to us which included ‘167 there are areas marked as being outstanding that fall under the tenant's responsibility.’
Especially when we took pictures when we moved in with some of those points which were claimed as our responsibility.
We also were shocked at the level of stupidity in the report.., like a ring doorbell warning sticker on the front door, a floor mat hiding damaged floorboards which were there from the start of the tenancy etc
Damp areas which were noted as not been cleaned! Windows frames which they said we had tried to paint over, obviously we have pictures of them being like that before we moved in.
Just a way of holding onto our deposit.
Don’t use these guys !
Just a heads up as they are part of James Dean Estate Agents NOT just James Dean Property Management

We had the pleasure of working with Robert Bailey at JamesDean Estate Agents for the sale of our home in Horley in 2024/25. From start to finish, Robert was highly professional, courteous, and always kept us informed throughout the process. His communication and expertise made the entire experience smooth and stress-free. We truly appreciated his dedication and would highly recommend his services to anyone looking to sell their home. Thank you, Robert, for your outstanding support!

Called James Dean to arrange a viewing ,
Took my detials and never got back to me,

Called again 2 weeks later twice to enquire about land on the property , told I would have a call back and again nothing.

If I was the seller I would not be happy at all: this is a potential sale they are missing . How can they sell a property if they never get back to people : estate agent was also rude telling me it was a big jump in property we was going for . What business is it of his? We don’t go around viewing properties and calling for fun . Who knows our financial situation

James Dean Reigate have been incredibly incompetent in dealing with my tenancy at a property they manage.

The property had entirely electric appliances however the homeowner foolishly hadn't had the gas meter removed, so the property was receiving bills addressed to the home owner for the supply still running to the meter.

I contacted James Dean about this and how I was not liable for the bills as I was not consuming gas at the property and if the landlord wanted to keep the meter, he had to pay for it. They assured me that they would contact British Gas and have the bills be sent to them in their name as it was nothing to do with me.

Fast forward a few months, and I'm in the last month of my tenancy and I receive an email from British Gas with a bill for the property in my name.

I have confirmation from Kayley Dinnage that she set up a British Gas account in my name without my knowledge or consent and gave them my contact information.

After a frustrating back and forth I had to go in to their offices to watch Hayley on the phone with British Gas to close the account in my name and have all responsibility passed on to James Dean. She assured me they would send her a confirmation email of this but I am yet to receive this and have no idea if this account was closed.

James Dean had no right to give my information to British Gas and fraudulently set up an account in my name.

I'm out of my tenancy now, have been for a couple weeks and still haven't heard about receiving my deposit back.

There was talk about deducting gardening costs from my deposit despite the fact that the landlord never provided tools to maintain the garden (paved garden, no grass to mow just an overgrown bush) and in the checkout report it was stated that the property had been well maintained throughout.

On a final but small note, in both the check in and check out reports it was stated that there was no water meter at the property, obviously there was and I even told them when I moved out there was, gave them the readings and they still haven't updated this information so the unfortunate next tenants will also have to deal with that hassle as well.

All in all my experience with James Dean was one of incompetence and ignorance to data laws. Avoid if you can.

My experience with James Dean was fine ...not great...until I moved out and expected my full deposit back.
We had been perfect tenants; we had always paid on time and kept the flat in perfect condition. Kayley initially held back our deposit as she said she needed proof that all the final bills had been paid, then when I sent the proof, they then told me that they are going to charge for the removal and dumping of a metal barbeque in the courtyard that wasn’t on the moving-in inventory and therefore they are going to charge to remove it. I had emailed during my moving out period to say that it wasn’t my barbeque but did they want me to remove it as I was frequently visiting the dump anyway but Kayley said to leave it.
When a check-out inventory is taken, I was told by James Dean that tenants are then given the opportunity to rectify any issues that may cause charges. So why the barbeque wasn't mentioned straight after I had moved out and the inventory had been taken I don’t know but I managed to liaise with the new occupant and went back to the flat and removed the barbeque, this was on the 09th July. So on the 19th July 2022, after 2 months of moving out and being £1800.00 out of pocket, I hadn’t heard anything from James Dean so I went direct to the Deposit Protection Scheme to request my deposit. On the 22nd July, I received an email from Kayley saying the bill has just come in of £35.00 for the removal of weeds from the courtyard.
I had jet washed the paving stones and removed all of the weeds in the courtyard on the 30th April. The inventory was taken on the 17th May where some weeds had started to grow. The new tenants were moving in on the 07th June as the flat was being renovated between tenancies (we had lived there for 6 years), again, why wasn’t I invited to remove the weeds if it was going to become chargeable? (it’s a 10 minute job, the courtyard was tiny!)
I was also told by James Dean that if there WAS any dispute regarding charges that we would get the bulk of our deposit back and anything that was disputable would be held back, This has not happened.
It’s now been almost 2 weeks since I requested my deposit from the DPS but James Dean has yet to respond to the request. They have until the 03rd of August to respond either to agree to return my full deposit or to put the disputable charge of £35.00. If they don’t respond I have to raise a statutory declaration to which they have a further 14 days to respond to. If they then put in the dispute for £35.00, we have 14 days to get all of our evidence together for the dispute which gets presented to an adjudicator who has 28 days to make a decision. I think most people wouldn’t go through all that for £35.00!!
I have now read many reviews and this seems to be the ongoing theme with James Dean. Fortunately, we have been able to scrape by without the return of our deposit of £1800.00 for the last 2 months, but it’s been highly stressful trying to manage our money what with of the costs that come with moving etc. I suspect this will not be the last review written regarding James Deans and moving out charges.

Renters beware. (and, good landlords)

"It's not about the service, it's about bringing in the money" this is what we heard when we were in the branch when two members of staff were talking between themselves - if this is an agency you want to work with as a landlord more fool you.

We rented a property for a year, kept it in great condition and made it spotless to move out, we've even fixed some of the terrible decorating mistakes that had been made to the house previously (paint covering the windows/glass doors etc) but when it came to moving out, James Dean claimed every penny they could for work that didn't exist. Luckily, we had pictures of everything so have spent hours so far fighting these costs but no one should have to go through this hassle, landlord or tenant. So, if you're currently renting from JamesDean, take pictures of everything and get ready to fight for your deposit. I wish now we'd have just not paid the last month's rent.

Called "Brad" the letting manager at the Horley branch, after seeing a flat for rent in Crawley town centre and been told I would have been the first to see the flat. Brilliant! I thought...The day before I 've even sent an email to confirm the appointment and to have confirmation I was actually the first to view the flat (i know there is not enough supply nowadays so you must act quickly and didn't want to waste my time) got a nice "look forward to see you tomorrow"..as an answer.

2 hours before the appointment got a call from this same person telling me that, a deposit from someone has been already been handed to the landlord in the morning....

How unprofessional is wasting people's time this way. Disgusting.

***UPDATE***

Received a call from the letting manager after this review:

Hardly would let me speak as he insisted that I don't know how these things work ecc. ecc. and that he has to explain what happened ecc.
From my side, I simply restated that my comments are based on facts (de facto my reviews are always genuine) = Been told I was first and I sent an email to confirm SPECIFICALLY that point, the day before, just because ..."I don't know how these things work".

He insisted that he told me I was the first to see the flat, but....in the afternoon! and some from the morning-views, took it...
I mean really? Quite offensive at best. My perception about this service got from bad to worst after the call...

Moreover, he tried to let me buy that the landlord eventually gave the flat to some acquaintances/friends. Soo, this landlord had this flat advertised for a week and right few hours (2/3?) before my viewing, he - apparently- decided to give it to some friend.. Sorry, very hard to believe. And in the remote possibility that this was the case I would expect from a letting "manager" to manage this eventuality appropriately with the potential customer, in order to avoid disappointment. And bad comments.

Dealing with James Dean Reigate estate agent as a long term renter was a very confusing experience, they are very low energy when it comes to solving problems.

They rely heavily on their auditors for attention to detail but they tailor their interpretation of the comments building a narrative which support costs to the renter, for variances that don't exceed standard wear and tear.

Our experience sounds similar to Helen below, We delayed move in for work that did not get done. We moved in and accepted the state of the property without the work out of necessity. A string of complications followed and then the deposit gouging on the way out of the lease. We met all the exit requirements including professional cleaning.

The business model they use did not feel like it was based on strong values.

I hope this helps somebody make a better decision when choosing an agent.

I had the misfortune of renting from them. The service is appalling! They are rude and when it comes time to move they forgot to tell me we had to move out! I found out when I phoned for a different reason. They put up for sale sign straight away and show buyers round with or without your permission. On moving out the house and garden were left exactly how we found them, however they tried to keep nearly the full £3000 deposit after months of waiting I had to eventually let them keep over £700 just to get money back. If they thought the house was fit to live in when we moved in then why would they claim it wasn't when we moved out. I have previously had them do quotes for selling houses always very over priced and very unprofessional. Also be aware they have nothing like as many houses let as they appear they just don't take their signs down.