Martin & Co Solihull Reviews 

I wouldn't rent or buy anything from this company.

It seems that I am not the only one who has issues with this company, which seem to be highly incompetent and useless at performing their jobs or operating as a company.

The Staff are incompetent, failing to respond to communications, deadlines and did not communicate that they were looking to resolve matters. They pass the blame onto Landlords and cite them beign otu of the country as an excuse, despite the Director standing to my face and stating 'I have more swing over this property and the decisions as I know the landlords personally!' - What a joker!

2 years for decking to be replaced which was rotting and unsafe. Sadly, Health and Safety Rules had to be quoted for this to move forward.

A month of no heating - due to the boiler breaking!

The Directors blamed a number of unsafe things in our property down to the mental health of another member of staff.. They really are a wonderful pair of individuals to avoid.

We are still awaiting for communication and resolution of our deposit from April 2025. They have fabricated numerous things to 'try' and prevent this being returned. They have ignored repeated communications to resolve this and are now holding this illegally and unlawfully.

For a company Director to sit and knowledgably lie about his wife turning up at our property at 0700 in the morning is appalling. It really is a circus of a company.

Lets wait for the Director to send a 'arsey' like he seems to do to everyone but fails to look at his own incompetence and significant shortfalls!

Shocking that Martin & Co have let them take on another branch! God beware!

Arrogance personified! Following a problem - which in itself was extremely poorly identified - the opportunity to put things right with the follow up customer service was completely missed!! The staff were arrogant, rude and deflective by attempting to lay the blame at my door (and treating their contractor poorly in the process too!) Own the issue you caused and deal with it professionally - training needed!!

Scammers - will take as much as a they can from your deposit and the staff couldn't care less

Unpleasant, obnoxious and arrogant right from the start. Very opinionated and unwelcome individual attempting to force his opinion on an unreceptive audience. Unnecessarily and unacceptably intrusive

I have endured the unwanted displeasure of having my rental tenancy managed by Martin & Co Solihull after I initially signed for my tenancy with a different agency, Hallway Lettings, which was sold to Martin & Co. during my time in my property. I had no problems whatsoever with the previous agent; the absorption by Martin & Co. however, was disastrous, not helped by the fact that this coincided with me handing in my notice to end the tenancy.

1. I requested, as is my right, to be present for the check-out process; I was informed that, even when Covid wasn't an issue, that the tenant's presence at check-in and check-out wasn't "standard practice" and that they don't allow it - I have this email saved. This alone rang a significant set of alarm bells - every agency I've ever rented with has offered to allow the tenant to be present at the check-out, as well as being a recommendation by HomeLet, the leading tenant's insurance company - to quote them: "Your landlord is obliged to give you the opportunity to be present at the checkout stage of your tenancy, and it’s strongly recommended that you do attend." This quote is available on the HomeLet website.
This right and request was disregarded, and the check-out report was completed in my absence - and they emailed me to say that, not only that, they intended to withhold the date they would complete the check-out report until after it had been completed, one assumes to prevent my attendance. Moreover, even had they suggested an alternative method of attendance, to allow for Covid compliance such as a Zoom/Facetime tour with the investigator, I would have been satisfied - this wasn't even entertained.

2. The check-out was completed the day after I handed the keys in, which was the agreed key hand-in day as stipulated by the agency on issuance of the notice; the check-out report was completed in my absence the following day. I had to contact them repeatedly with regard to the check-out report from this point - an unanswered email, five phone calls which weren't responded to, and four phone calls in which I was able discuss the issuance of the check-out report and to ask about intended deductions - over the course of two weeks. I finally received a copy of the report, without any written indication of any deposit deductions to take place, after 12 working days.

3. This may seem acceptable, but my contract has a stipulation that this has to be completed within 10 working days. I literally worked on their behalf to chase this and ensure that everything was completed within the acceptable time frame. When I raised this with Martin & Co., I was told numerous times that they have 30 days to complete this and that it didn't sound right as that wasn't standard practice either. They seemed happy to brush me off with each phone call with this reason and I had to remind them that standard practice isn't the point - my contractual terms are.

They didn't actually have any understanding of my contractual terms, suggesting that they bought an agency and didn't think to review the tenancy agreements they had inherited. I was called afterwards letting me know that they would enter negotiations with the landlord to release my deposit in full, as if they were doing me a favour rather than being in breach of contract, and then again after that saying that they'd had to "negotiate with the landlord" to get them to agree to release this - I have this as a saved voicemail - again, in some attempt to make me feel like they'd done me a favour, not failed miserably to inform the landlord of my contract terms and to issue notification of intended deductions within the agreed window.

All in all, Martin & Co. have proven to be slow, incompetent and - most worryingly - users of obfuscation in order to prevent tenants exercising their rights. I didn't choose this agency and I wouldn't ever have chosen to - it is why I originally went with the smaller agency down the road. I cannot stress this enough - avoid them like the plague. Everything stated above is factually correct and my personal experience.