Romans - Clifton Reviews 25

i went back to Romans as my experience previously had been very good. This time it the service was generally poor. The wrong address in the adverts was not a great start, or the out of date photos. The wrong keys on two successve days, losing viewings. But all this was somene else's fault. They recommended a sharp drop in rental on virtually no evidence. Poor processes, no evidence of simple check lists, poor comms, late attendance at a final showing. Endless excuses , blaming previous staff with little acceptance of responsibility and accountability. Misteps across the board.Chloe does her best and was proactive and helpful.I am pursuing a formal complaint and a fee reduction. What has not been recognised that the flat might have been let but the experience, extra work, stress and worry does not, in my view, represent a seamless experience and does not warrant a full fee

Our rental was not clean upon arrival with moldy dishes in the dishwasher, grim on counters and floor, dog hair in the washing machine, sewage issues in the bathroom. They never sorted out our broken toilet/sewage issues so we had to break our tenancy. Do not rent from them they are crooks

The experience with Romans has been quite appalling.
No processes are followed, management is non-existent, mistake after mistake after mistake. You have to watch and check up on every move and then have errors rectified which takes time and effort. They do not manage effectively. They are incapable of following clear written instructions and often don’t reply to correspondence, communication is extremely poor
Everything is blamed on previous staff, the accounts Dept. etc, etc
They are experts at apologising and promising it won’t happen again but nothing improves.

I’d give a negative rating if I could.
It’s take your money and run. There is no management. Their fees are higher than compared to other letting agents. Don’t expect to hear the truth from them

I am absolutely disgusted with Romans. The return of our deposit was approved 3 weeks after we vacated our premises which was extremely protracted to start. It's now been over 20 days since this approval and no sign of the money. I have heard every excuse under the sun. Besides being extremely unprofessional, this is a shameful way to treat people.

We ended our tenancy with our landlord and our landlord notified Romans of such to release our deposit back. Romans ignore the landlord’s email and our follow up emails until we decided to call. The person in the office admitted they ignored our emails.

Over 20 days later the deposit still hasn’t been returned. Raised a complaint to get the response they are sorry for the inconvenience rather than releasing our funds!

Not to mention when we started our tenancy the member of staff we dealt with was rude.

My experience with Romans Lettings Agency was an absolute nightmare, and I strongly urge both tenants and landlords to avoid them at all costs.

For Tenants:
From the start, the onboarding process was unnecessarily tedious compared to any other rental experience I’ve had. Things only got worse nearing the end of our tenancy. The agency tried to blame us for pre-existing damage to the flat below, which was not only outrageous but entirely false. Their sneaky behavior during the check-in process left us vulnerable to unfair claims at checkout. Parts of the check-in report were incomplete, with notes like “cleaning still in progress” or “maintenance still in progress.” This led to exaggerated claims about pre-existing wear and tear when we moved out.

When we informed them of our intention to end the tenancy on the date outlined in our contract, they tried to make us pay for the damage to the flat below—again, damage we didn’t cause. To make matters worse, they then insisted we move out a day early without offering any refund, which we firmly declined.

After that, communication completely broke down. Jack, our assigned agent, stopped responding to emails and phone calls entirely. Despite contacting their office dozens of times, we were repeatedly told he would get back to us, but no response came—for two months! We were completely left in the dark about our deposit, with no updates or resolution. Even after going in person to their office several times, we were told Jack wasn’t in and that he’d follow up later—which, of course, he never did.

Eventually, we escalated the issue to Jack’s manager, Karen, only to experience the exact same problem: ignored emails, unreturned calls, and zero accountability. It wasn’t until we involved the TDS (Tenancy Deposit Scheme) that we made any progress. The adjudicator sided with us, finding their claims false and exposing the negligence and lies Romans were willing to pursue.

For Landlords:
Romans’ complete failure to communicate with us as tenants is a glaring warning sign for landlords. Their lack of communication doesn’t just affect tenants—it could lead to serious issues within your properties going unaddressed, which could worsen over time and become far more expensive to fix.

Additionally, their negligence on the legal side of things is a huge liability. If they were willing to pursue false claims against us with no basis, imagine how such unethical practices could backfire on you as a landlord. Failing to follow proper procedures and legal requirements could easily land you in trouble.

Romans only care about taking your money, not providing any level of service or professionalism. Avoid them entirely—whether you’re a landlord or tenant, they will fail you.

We have let several properties in the past couple of months through Romans in Clifton Village and found good tenants. Taylor was always straightforward and helpful in sorting out any issues.
I would recommend Taylor.

We were recently looking for a flat in Bristol as our current landlord had sold the one we were living in, forcing us to move. We had looked at lots, held by different estate agents. Reuben Hotchkiss at Romans in Clifton, Bristol, showed us round the one we ended up renting. He was punctual, professional and knowledgeable. Despite being short-staffed in his office, with a large workload, he was attentive and thorough in his advice, following up quickly on queries. All the checks were done in time and we were able to move in on schedule. What could have been a stressful process wasn’t. I’m very grateful.

Romans is like the blind leading the blind.
It is impossible to get hold of anyone you want. When you try to get hold of them, the person on the other side of the phone will say, “I will get them to call you back”. When you hear this, you may as well put your phone away, because you aren’t getting a call back.
Romans will only contact you when they want to, if it does not benefit them, they do not care.
We have had roughly 4 new property managers in 6 months of staying there. All do not know what is required to manage a property. Unless the role ‘property manager’ stands for something different at Romans…
Our current property manager is Alisha, but we may as well not have one as we haven’t heard from her in months and the only way we found out about our change in property managers was when we tried to contact the previous one.
I could go on all day about the negative experiences we’ve had with Romans but I don’t want to waste my time. They’ve made the last 6 months under tenancy agreement with them miserable.
AVOID this company at all costs.

We had an awful experience with Romans Clifton branch. We found the team to be pushy, at times rude and unorganised to the point of incompetence. There was a lack of wanting to carry out work they are paid for, to broken internal online systems, creating an extremely uncomfortable process for all, and then refusing to remove signage after completion. I could not recommend them to anyone. Names often quoted in reviews here and on Google provided a different experience to us. We were very surprised by the amount of positive reviews.

I had a very disappointing experience with Romans. I'd strongly warn against considering them as an agency.

We found a property, applied, and were told we had to pay a holding deposit to secure the property. We were apprehensive, as we’d not actually seen the property in person, but Romans said it may go to someone else in the interim, so we paid the deposit.

We then asked for a viewing. As we’d paid the holding deposit, we thought this was reasonable. However, they refused, saying it was 'unfair' to other applicants. Or perhaps a viewing was too much effort for them.

We said we needed to check if the flat would work for us, as it was advertised as 3 bedrooms, fully furnished, but the third bedroom was a storage room, with no window. They reluctantly agreed to a viewing, realising they had incorrectly advertised the flat.

At the viewing, the third bedroom was unfurnished. We asked the representative from Romans if furniture would be provided. She said we would have to furnish it ourselves. This wasn't a big issue, but a property advertised as furnished should be furnished.

I then asked about the No Deposit Option (NDO) and the Residency Scheme. She said the cost of this was ‘included in the rental price’ but wouldn’t tell us exactly what the scheme cost on its own. I asked if we could pay a traditional deposit, and was bluntly told, "That’s not an option for this property."

I left and researched Romans’ NDO and Residency Scheme. Quite frankly, as a tenant, the entire thing seems as a complete scam:
You pay an additional, non-refundable fee every month in lieu of a traditional, refundable deposit.
The NDO offers no legal protection, whereas a traditional deposit offers legal security, often being held by a third party.
You’re still liable for any damage to the property. So you may find yourself being charged for any damage they want to pin on you at the end of your tenancy. To cover yourselves, you must take out additional insurance at an additional cost, and even that may not protect you.

I also found out that it is illegal not to offer tenants the choice between a traditional deposit and a NDO.

I emailed Romans, politely asking why this property was an exception to the rules, and why we were refused a choice on deposits. They replied and informed us that the landlord had decided to withdraw, because they now wanted to sell the property. We were incredibly confused and disappointed.

But a couple of weeks later the property reappeared on the Romans website. Not for sale, as they had claimed the landlord had wanted to do, but for rent.

Nobody at Romans contacted us to say it was once again available.

Clearly, we asked unwanted questions. It is suspicious that only after we questioned the NDO did the property suddenly become unavailable. And then it reappeared later for rent.

After raising this with Romans, they maintained they give all tenants a choice for deposits. I want to make it absolutely clear we were NEVER given the choice, even after explicitly asking for it. We felt bullied into taking it at the time, because we feared that if we didn’t accept the NDO, we’d lose the property.

Romans are unashamedly abusing their power as an agency to force tenants into accepting their scheme. The rental market is competitive and difficult and Romans can dictate the terms. The NDO is a way for them to drain extra money out of those who are already in a cost of living crisis. They know people are desperate enough to not question the NDO because otherwise (in their words) they won’t get the property. It’s disgusting and completely unethical.

I also came across dozens of cases online where people renting with Romans and Leaders felt bullied into accepting the NDO.

Please think twice before going with this agency. And if you do, please remember you have the legal right to ask for a traditional deposit over the NDO. Don’t let them force you, because if they do, it’s probably because they plan to charge you hundreds in ‘damage’ at the end of your tenancy.

Excellent services from Taylor! He is always warm, kind and helpful.

I’m loving the place I live.

Excellent service from beginning to end from Ben. Thanks for keeping me up to date and informed every step of the way. Ben went above and beyond in preparation for my new tenants to move in. I would highly recommend

Amazing, Amazing, Amazing...thats all u can say.. Ben Chapman is completely Outstanding.... I recommend...

Romans is definitely professional with estates! I specially would like to thank Taylor Hepworth for his knowledge of Lettings and for being very kind and patient with my all questions!

Outstanding service from Taylor Hepworth at Romans Clifton. I had had long standing problems with a previous agency which he sorted for me within a few days. Extremely professional and very friendly would highly recommend him.

Used Romans for our first letting in Clifton and really pleased with their service. Taylor Hepworth was a delight to work with and very happy with the tenant that he recommended

Thank you Taylor for all your help, you made the process so easy and smooth and found me some great tenants. Very professional. Would recommend you and Romans.

Taylor Hepworth has been excellent, really explained well how my property can be let. Found me some great tenants in such a short space of time. Would highly recommend.