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Comments:
my experience with Foxtons has been a total nightmare. I rented my property, and paid a huge amount of money to get Foxtons managing the property. However, not only they have done nothing to manage it, but also they have lost the keys to my property and never told me. Additionally, they lied in several occasions to me and to the tenants, who decided to leave the flat before the end of the contract because they were completely disgusted about the lack of service and the continuous lies.
I strongly recommend not to use them if you do not want to waste your money and your mind.
Following is an email I wrote to a manager at Foxtons following receipt of a letter from them informing me that my tenants hadn't paid their rent.
Ref: Foxtons' letter to me of 19/03/06.
Dear xxxx,
The above letter regards the non-payment of rent from our tenants. This is a situation that was inevitable, but that I hoped would not occur - especially so soon. The main reason for its inevitability is that the tenants cannot afford the rent, while another reason is the timing of their rent payment. Had your sales team's focus not been solely trained on the bottom line, we, the client (whose interests Foxtons was serving, apparently) would not be left with real uncertainty regarding paying my own accommodation costs.
Of course as estate agents, you would have heard this kind of complaint before, but it gets worse, for this dark cloud of uncertainty is based on LIES and will seemingly remain overhead for TWO YEARS. Our agreeing to this TWO-YEAR contract was based on the TENANTS insisting on it. We weren't best pleased with this, but succumbed to the agent who insisted we'd be mad to turn down "perfect" tenants who'd be "trouble-free", only to be later asked by the tenants why we had insisted on the two years! Did XXXXXXX just hope that it wouldn't be discussed between us and the tenant?
Furthermore, we weren't quite ready for the tenants to move into the property and therefore I had to take paid leave to get things in order as the agent insisted that everything was in place and the tenants were insisting on moving in at that particular time - in fact, "now or never" may have been the term used, but I cannot be sure. Again, upon speaking with the tenants, they were lead to believe that it was in fact us who made the demands! As well as not being physically ready for the move, the tenants are paid around the 20th of each month so they wanted to move in at a time that tied in with their salaries.
These two issues we and the tenants agree on. But there are others, such as mention of the tenants' parents being guarantors (they don't even live in England) among others. Your profession has a bad reputation, so we thought that by going with one of the high profile companies we'd avoid such underhand activities, but we was clearly wrong.
Before all of this of course, Foxtons valued our potential income at £300.00 pcm, which we thought ridiculous so instructed the agent at the time to advertise the property at £270.00 (before he was replaced by XXXXXXX). So when we were called about a tenant offering nearer £200.00, you can imagine our reaction. Obviously, the tenants were then coerced into paying much more than they could afford. We sat with them a fortnight ago and they were horrified to learn of the bills they were responsible for in addition to their rent.
So, here we are now, Foxtons' are getting paid two years worth of commission up front (ah, now I see the two-year thing...), you also hold and gain interest on their deposit and credit control sends me a letter to tell me the tenants are a week late with payment. I called credit control today and was told that messages were left etc and not been replied to. He also told me that we aren't to see a penny until mid May, which must be a mistake. Perhaps I should chase the payment myself and charge Foxtons my fee upfront!
We'd be interested to learn of your views on the above as well as what you think may be a solution to the problem. Apparently, you are quite high up, so we trust that means you have an appreciation of the wider picture that XXXXXX himself or his line manager will not. We were prepared to put this whole saga down to experience so long as the money came in, but as we sit here now with the prospect of seeing not a penny after having your screened and vetted individuals live in our house for over two months, we intend to ensure that something is done both for our financial peace of mind as a matter of principle.
I look forward to your prompt written response.
===============================
I never received a written response, but eventually a phone call defending their man and suggesting the tenants themselves may have been dishonest (believe me, they were not lying - they'd need a motive - something to gain from the lie). I was eventually faxed a copy of a document they signed which had '2 year contract' ringed - Foxtons claiming it was by the tenants. Given they are two young foreigners (one of who's wife was to arrive months later before they embarked on their life's journey, what would they gain by tying themselves into a long contract?).
Of course, there were other things (like the fact the tenants weren't even taken to the door on their first day - let alone shown how things worked /itinerary etc - because the agent knew the place wasn't ready) but they are too numerous to go through.
Oh yes - I was faxed copies of the prospective tenants' bank statements. Now, call me foolish, but surely doing so is against some kind of law or business ethic.
All I can do is warn potential clients to steer well clear.
We were left without hot water on numerous occasions and an extractor fan in our combined kitchen/ living room that never worked - despite notifying them about it in the first week of the tenancy.
They are now charging us £200 for a mark in the kitchen left by the kettle, that if the extractor fan had been working - would never have happened. They also charged £70 for checking us out!... and £95 for "time spent"
Calls/ e-mails and letters are never returned and your agent is always on the phone.
They're all about 15 years old with no experience and no morals...
I also want to warn everyone off using Foxtons. We used them to manage our house while we were travelling, as the agency we wanted to use fell through at the last minute and we had no other choice. Not only did they lie about providing us with regular statements by e-mail ("Yes, absolutely, we can do that" . . . "No, we never said that, we can't do it"), which was one of our conditions for choosing an agency, but they charged exorbitant fees up-front for doing next to nothing. They then lost all our keys but, of course, couldn't be bothered informing us until we chased them. They claimed they had been put in the post but not by recorded delivery because, quote, "We don't want to be responsible". So what were they taking our money for? Moreover, the person managing our property, N, had no skills in dealing with angry customers and only succeeded in making me more furious with her 12-year-old voice and complete denial of any responsibility. When I look at their slick offices, I feel violently ill to know that I helped pay for them.
Like the vast majority of people here, I'll never be using Fuxtons services again. The first time I used them, I suffered their utter incompetence because they were the only agents in my area to view properties late into the evening, but I'd frequently travel an hour to a viewing for the agent to leave me waiting, tell me that they'd cancelled, or both. I was wary the next time, but took the chance as I was looking a long way from the previous office.
This time we compiled a clear list of our requirements (suitable for a baby, garden, etc), and gave it to each of the agents we dealt with. None of them took a passing glance at it, taking us to totally unsuitable, gardenless and mould-ridden flats that in no way matched our requirements or budget.
The last house they showed us was the house of our dreams. Despite it being over our budget I put in an even higher offer to secure the deal over an offer thru another agent. The landlord kept us waiting several days, but Foxtons assured us we'd get it. My girlfriend started packing. She practically created a shrine of photos to it on our computer. We got the call - it had gone to the other agent. The reason? The landlord didn't want to deal with Foxtons anymore. The charges were ludicrous, for him and us (£300 agency fee? WHAT?). I found out the house had been on the market with the other agent for 2/3 the Foxtons price! We still drive past that house and sigh.
The house we found was with another agent for £2100/m, and accepted an offer of £1800/m. Foxtons had the same house on for £2400/m, and hounded our landlord with higher offers after ours had been accepted.
Our agent told us that when Foxtons landlords refuse to pay their exorbitant fees, Foxtons simply add them to the rent, which is partly why Foxtons price their rental properties considerably higher than other agents.
If you find a property through Foxtons, use their website for the pictures, information, and floorplans, then use www.rightmove.co.uk and www.propertyfinder.com to find the same property through another agent at cut-price! If they take you to a viewing, make a note of which other agents it's on the market with from the boards outside, then compare prices with them.
Our experience with Foxtons has ranged from the generally lacklustre to the rather poor. I won't go on too much yet as I am here for a purpose, and that is to rally anyone who has been charged £47 for an arrears or other silly letter from the Foxtons.
UK banks have been told off in courts for excess overdraft charges and admin costs for letters and other related correspondence for amounts between £20 - £30. People have been successfully claiming their charges back. Foxtons are only allowed to charge the admin costs, and if they are high, they have to prove it cost that much. You can claim upto six years after any illegal charges. How great would it be if everyone who had been done by Foxtons like this demanded their fees back and started a chain reaction that would cost the company thousands, if not more?
There are loads of pages on the web that provide information about how to claim back excessive overdraft charges. Is anyone interested? Spread the word on all the forums you know where people have been let down by Foxtons. Go for it!
One of the biggest mistake I made. I thought that the Foxtons is one of the professional in the market place. It did not take too long to realize the fact that they were not at all.
They rented out my property but never manage it properly; therefore, the tenant vacated the place after five months. Me being overseas, I could not correct it. Altough they deducted whole their commission upfront for the 12 months, they never bother returning the commission back. Million othe problems including submiting wrong meter readings to utility firms (being invetigated under fraud), disclosing my details to the vendor. My two cents comment, keep away from them.
O
I paid over a holding deposit for an appartment
at Spectrum Place, London SE17 and cancelled
the next day after I broke my ankle, so couldn't
get to see it. They neither acknowledged receipt
of it, nor got me to sign anything (I paid off my debit card). I discovered they lied about (a) distance of flat from tube (0.7 m, they said
0.4 m), the view of Big Ben, London Eye and the City .... Oh yeah, on the horizon ... and about the rent I could collect. They say fee is non-returnable because it was paid to the Developer. I say they took the payment so they are liable to return it. Surely there's a cooling off period. What is the status of holding deposits in Law?
I can only reinforce opinions on this site that Foxtons are the most evil company I have ever had the displeasure of doing business with. I am a landlord and have several properties let with different agents. By comparison, all are honest and trouble-free except for Foxtons. Right, where to start?
1. They forced me into accepting a 'fully serviced' tenancy agreement which was a further 7.05% (inc. VAT)deduction from the rent because 'the tenant said that he only wants a property that is fully serviced'. Checking with the tenant later, he stated that Foxtons said that the property was 'only available on a fully serviced basis'.
2. Despite their appalling service, they charge an unnacceptably high commission - 12.9% (inc. VAT) compared to other agents' maximum of 11.75% (inc.VAT).
3. Worst of all, buried in the small print of their tenancy agreement was the fact that they take ALL of their commission UP FRONT!!!! How outrageous is that? - My tenancy agreement is for a long-term let, so for the first year I received no income whatsoever as they skimmed their fat commission right off the top. And what if they go bust? Then they've got their commission and you're left with having paid for a service that hasn't been delivered. Actually, I think I'm coming to the view that I would happily give up the commission in order to see them go bust - except for the fact that it would be the poor staff in the front line that would suffer the consequences, not their fat cat partners who would no doubt have been able to squirrel enough away before allowing the whole enterprise to collapse.
4. When I called to complain (about the up front commission, the 'tenant-specified' service charge and their general attitude), several things were remarkable. Firstly, the fact that it is impossible to speak to the same person twice. This I think must have something to do with their 'battery-farming' attitude towards their staff. They seem to attract them on the basis of high potential earnings but then cut their salary after a few months, then put them on high-pressure commission based remuneration packages which of course is designed to get blood out of a stone and clearly most of them find it humanly impossible to cope. I've had the most riduculous and patronising excuses for their behaviour and charges, stooping to 'we're open on Saturdays'.
5. Late payment - most agencies collect rentals on time and remit to Landlords on time. Every single payment date for the last year has been missed. When chased up, the problem of never being able to find the last person you spoke to rears its ugly head. Then there's the excuse 'the tenant hasn't paid us' which is not only not true but their problem not mine, especially on a 'fully managed' basis. Then when they finally admit to having the rental (possibly all of the time), any attempt to get it remitted with haste is greeted with the 'It'll cost you for a bank transfer' - again, not only not my problem, but an appalling attitude to customer service.
On the whole, if you are a Landlord, DO NOT be even tempted to call them. If you are a tenant, then be prepared for trouble that they will no doubt blame on the Landlord.
Let's hope that the power of the internet will eventually prevail in the housing sector which will join client to principal without the greed and unethical behaviour of companies such as Foxtons. The estate agent will still have a role, but based on good customer service, knowledge and ethical behaviour which has a value to everyone.
If you are a former Foxtons tenant having difficulty recovering your deposit (assuming there is no valid reason for them to retain your deposit) call Foxtons up and calmly advise that unless a cheque for the deposit is returned to you within one week, you and a large number of friends will visit one of their busiest offices at peak time and hand out leaflets to potential customers outlining the difficulties you experienced.
Then make a promise to yourself that in future you will only lease/buy/sell property through members of the estate agents Ombudsman scheme. Extraordinary and very telling that such a large firm of estate agents wouldn't be in that scheme.
I had a similar incident with Foxtons in Richmond. They signed an agreement to let my flat in 2003 but never managed to get any tenats. I Managed to get tenats through other agents in Twickenham area. Foxtons demanded 1 year commission for a tenat they never signed but through a different agent. They claimed that this particular cliet used to be theirs. I contacted the tenats and the agent who found them and the tenat said that they were not happy about the Foxtons services and decided to go thorugh a different agent. Foxtons have filled a case against me in the county court through small claims. Has anyone had similiar experience with them? Would appreciate your commets. my e-mail: perera70@hotmail.com.
Unfortunately, I now have to agree with all the bad reviews Foxton has received. Today we were supposed to sign a contract to purchase a property and after much paper work between the both lawyers, our lawyer concluded that the seller of the property did not own the property he was selling!!! Also, that his lawyer was in lieu with him. This whole thing was done via Foxtons. Don't they at least check to see if the seller owns the property before letting him do so?!? What a waste of time and money!
"what wrong with foxtons i sold 8 flats with them and im still doing my business with them. ok"
Did watch the BBC TV programme concerning this company? Are you sure you got the true market value for those flats, or were you persuaded to sell at well below market value as a result of 'phantom' buyers putting in 'phantom' low bids to try to persuade you to drop your asking price???
if anyone is prepared to talk about foxtons, sales, lettings, admin or anything, whether you be vendor, purchaser, landlord or tenant, for a tv documentary, please contact me at ktv91@hotmail.com
I cannot believe what a useless bunch of b@stards Foxtons are. At every point in my dealings with them they have proved to be (at best) incompetent and (at worst) sneaky and underhanded.
Having signed a tenancy control with them they charged me £300quid for the privilege and then took my deposit money off me. A week later they came back to me saying that they had got the deposit figure wrong and could I resign another contract and give them the extra deposit money that they had now wanted. Having not dealt with them before I thought this was a one off problem and agreed.
6 months later I got and email from them telling me that I had only paid 10% of my rent rather than the full amount. When I got home I found that they had also sent me a letter, exactly the same as the email but with an additional paragraph that said that I owed them £40 for the letter. I immediately contacted my bank and they said that this must be an administrative problem (a missing decimal place). They ran a trace and told me that the full and correct amount had gone into Foxtons' account. I then spent a month trying to get hold of the person at Foxtons who could help me. Eventually I got hold of someone who told me that my bank was wrong, that they got daily statements from their bank and that I would have to reclaim the £40 from my bank as Foxtons would be taking it from my deposit. After another round of calls to my bank they assured me it was Foxtons. I went back to Foxtons to be told that it was a mistake at their end, that they had credited my deposit account (they'd obviously already taken the £40 out of it!) but they hadnâÂ?Â?t felt that they should call me and tell me.
I'm now moving out to a flat I'm buying. Before even speaking with me to tell me they were coming round Foxtons simply burst in one Sunday afternoon when I was in the bath with prospective new tenants in tow to show then the flat. I had to throw on a dressing gown and tell them to p!ss off. They went away for 20mins before coming back, knocking on the door and asking if they could show the flat viewers around in 30mins. For some reason I said that this would be ok (now that I was dressed).
The final nail in the coffin was that the flat my girlfriend and I are trying to buy has had a few problems and so has taken a bit of time to complete. During the week when we hoped to exchange, we got a call from our estate agent to say that the vendor had put the property back on the market after having received a phone call from Foxtons telling him that he could get a higher offer from some of their buyers. So to top it all off Foxtons have been instrumental in us being gazumped when we tried to escape their evil clutches!
I HATE FOXTONS - THEY ARE EVIL - BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE I ADVISE YOU NEVER TO USE THEM!!
I just can't believe that an organisation exists like Foxtons - ruthless and sly. I am a landlady and I would never use them again. For those of you who are considering using Foxtons please READ and READ OVER AND OVER AGAIN THE TENANCY AGREEMENT AND TERMS AND CONDITIONS. I have been scarred by them!
Seems that they are desperate for business now too. I own a website, first4sale.com, which gives vendors the tools to sell privately without paying commission. In London we have had good success and recently one family sold 2 properties worth £1.2m within 5 weeks with us, at a cost to them of £100 a property. This week Paul Rowland from Foxtons Ealing registered as a buyer with our site to send messages to two sellers in West London in an attempt to gain their business. He should have realised that people using our site do so because they don't want to pay exhorbitant agent fees and many are also disillusioned with estate agents. One of the sellers he contacted had actually been with Foxtons before coming to us and was not best pleased with being contacted by them.
I'm not at all surprised when reading these negative posts, as Foxtons are without a doubt one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with.
After showing us some of the dirtiest, smallest flats I have ever seen, I had to point out to the 12-year-old agent that we were not in the market for a flea-infested home. He then actually managed to find us a nice place at a reasonable price, and so we signed on.
That was the end of the positive. The admin fee was extortionate and then throughout the entire year's tenancy they were impossible to get hold of. Not only that, but they kept telling the landlord to put the rent up as, if we couldn't pay it they would find someone who would. In the end we moved out because we couldn't afford the rent anymore.
Our landlords wanted us to stay and stop using Foxtons, but Foxtons threatened them with legal action if they did that - apparently as they found us for the property it would be a breach of contract.
So, six months ago we moved out. Have we got the deposit back? No. After our landlord gave the go-ahead for a full refund, Foxtons are continuing to hold on to the money. The reason? The people who are dealing with it keep leaving and not passing it on to anyone. Now, apparently, it is being processed through accounts...
It has got to the point where we are thinking of bringing legal action against them to get our own money that we were owed six months ago.
I would absolutely advise anyone thinking of using Foxtons to run like hell. They are the absolute, absolute worst.
We rented a Foxtons property for a year. The entire year was an unutterable nightmare. None of the appliances in the kitchen worked when we moved in, for example, and it took literally *months* to get them repaired. It also took several months for Foxtons to remove their To-Let sign.
The list of problems we had on moving in was enormous, and the weeks after moving in were spent calling and emailing in a vain attempt to get something done about them. Eventually we wrote to demand our £300 fee back, on the basis that Foxtons had apparently done *nothing* to warrant the fee. They hadn't even provided us with an up-to-date inventory.
The fact we still didn't have an inventory a year later made Foxtons' announcement that they/the landlord would be retaining our *entire £1,500 deposit all the more surprising. The flimsy excuse that we hadn't kept the flat in a presentable condition during the last eight weeks of the tenancy was apparently enough to remove an whole month's rent from the deposit. The rest, unbelievably, were claims against the non-existant inventory and things like repairing locks that didn't exist, and cleaning curtains... that did not exist.
We would have been utterly astonished by their cowboy behaviour, were it not for the fact we'd already spent a year suffering their complete contempt for their managed tenants. They took all our money because they knew they could, and it left us penniless as we tried to find somewhere else.
Every time I see one of those f**king minis now I want to ram it.
What a bunch of pr!cks. Having found a place to live with another agency (KFH) and paid a deposit, Foxtons approached the landlord and told him he can get more money. Sunsequently, the landlord has decided to allow them to try get rid of the place for more money and left us with no where to live in 2 weeks. This is not business, dirty underhand kn0bs. Hope they all crash in their stupid mini's.
I used to work for this company and everything you guys are saying is true. Apart from ripping off their customers and pocketing the excess they have massive insentives for their overworked negotiators and sales people. This is why their clients are treated so badly. Every employee works on a target basis...these targets rise evey quarter. So the more clients you rip off as a negotiator the more money you get. The more deals you push thru the nicer your car and bigger your pay packet. BUT when you get phoned up by FOXTONS head office and asked if you want mortgage advice etc its a bit different. Everyone of those annoying sales people are on a leader board system fighting for a top spot every month. The higher up the ladder you are the more money you earn. Amazing business sense.....bad customer relations...but producing excellent results for an ever expanding company. Some advice is always speak to the manager of the office if you are in trouble....OR go down there and wait for them at their desk. Be persistant and use someone else next time.
Firstly, I'm so heartened to see that everyone else has had the same problems with Foxtons as we have - makes me feel far less alone!
I'm coming up to the end of my lease with them, and can't *wait* to get out (although now I'm terrified that the deposit won't be easy to get back - good to know, it'll give me time to prepare my case)
I thought I'd share my 'hilarious' Foxtons story of the week. I had an email from my property manager a week ago, advising me that my standing order for rent was for the incorrect amount and could I change it. If I did not do so, then they would add together each missing amount for each month missed, and take the total off my deposit. Hmm, says I. I wonder. So I enquired further, and found out how much my rent was short each month. When they told me "a penny", I really thought they were joking. Unfortunately, they weren't. They were serious. The fear of having 4p taken off my deposit is obviously huge...but what a threat on their part! God. Went to the bank to add on the penny, only to be told that there was no missing amount?!
I totally sympathise with everyone's comments about getting repairs done - we've sat with broken radiators and windows throughout most of the winter. Getting hold of them is never that difficult - actually getting them to DO anything about it is another matter.
As soon as I can get with another agent, or do things independently, I will. I advise any friends who ask not to use them.
These guys are incompetent tossers with a confused idea of how important they are. Its as if they are trained to annoy their customers. Once they have your money (extortionate amounts too) they completely forget about you. It took the useless tw*ts 3 months to change a broken radiator in the middle of winter. As for getting your deposit back - Good luck! They will try and squeeze every last penny out of you.
And who do estate agents think they are anyway? The majority are just public school failures who came away from uni with crap degrees, but a real trendy haircut and an ability to lie through their teeth. I can actually feel my blood boil when i see their crappy minis on the roads - probably taking their next unsuspecting victim to a "spacious" one bed in Clapham for the handsome price of £260 per week, not to forget the £300 admin fee which they will simply pocket.
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Comments:
I strongly recommend not to use them if you do not want to waste your money and your mind.
Ref: Foxtons' letter to me of 19/03/06.
Dear xxxx,
The above letter regards the non-payment of rent from our tenants. This is a situation that was inevitable, but that I hoped would not occur - especially so soon. The main reason for its inevitability is that the tenants cannot afford the rent, while another reason is the timing of their rent payment. Had your sales team's focus not been solely trained on the bottom line, we, the client (whose interests Foxtons was serving, apparently) would not be left with real uncertainty regarding paying my own accommodation costs.
Of course as estate agents, you would have heard this kind of complaint before, but it gets worse, for this dark cloud of uncertainty is based on LIES and will seemingly remain overhead for TWO YEARS. Our agreeing to this TWO-YEAR contract was based on the TENANTS insisting on it. We weren't best pleased with this, but succumbed to the agent who insisted we'd be mad to turn down "perfect" tenants who'd be "trouble-free", only to be later asked by the tenants why we had insisted on the two years! Did XXXXXXX just hope that it wouldn't be discussed between us and the tenant?
Furthermore, we weren't quite ready for the tenants to move into the property and therefore I had to take paid leave to get things in order as the agent insisted that everything was in place and the tenants were insisting on moving in at that particular time - in fact, "now or never" may have been the term used, but I cannot be sure. Again, upon speaking with the tenants, they were lead to believe that it was in fact us who made the demands! As well as not being physically ready for the move, the tenants are paid around the 20th of each month so they wanted to move in at a time that tied in with their salaries.
These two issues we and the tenants agree on. But there are others, such as mention of the tenants' parents being guarantors (they don't even live in England) among others. Your profession has a bad reputation, so we thought that by going with one of the high profile companies we'd avoid such underhand activities, but we was clearly wrong.
Before all of this of course, Foxtons valued our potential income at £300.00 pcm, which we thought ridiculous so instructed the agent at the time to advertise the property at £270.00 (before he was replaced by XXXXXXX). So when we were called about a tenant offering nearer £200.00, you can imagine our reaction. Obviously, the tenants were then coerced into paying much more than they could afford. We sat with them a fortnight ago and they were horrified to learn of the bills they were responsible for in addition to their rent.
So, here we are now, Foxtons' are getting paid two years worth of commission up front (ah, now I see the two-year thing...), you also hold and gain interest on their deposit and credit control sends me a letter to tell me the tenants are a week late with payment. I called credit control today and was told that messages were left etc and not been replied to. He also told me that we aren't to see a penny until mid May, which must be a mistake. Perhaps I should chase the payment myself and charge Foxtons my fee upfront!
We'd be interested to learn of your views on the above as well as what you think may be a solution to the problem. Apparently, you are quite high up, so we trust that means you have an appreciation of the wider picture that XXXXXX himself or his line manager will not. We were prepared to put this whole saga down to experience so long as the money came in, but as we sit here now with the prospect of seeing not a penny after having your screened and vetted individuals live in our house for over two months, we intend to ensure that something is done both for our financial peace of mind as a matter of principle.
I look forward to your prompt written response.
===============================
I never received a written response, but eventually a phone call defending their man and suggesting the tenants themselves may have been dishonest (believe me, they were not lying - they'd need a motive - something to gain from the lie). I was eventually faxed a copy of a document they signed which had '2 year contract' ringed - Foxtons claiming it was by the tenants. Given they are two young foreigners (one of who's wife was to arrive months later before they embarked on their life's journey, what would they gain by tying themselves into a long contract?).
Of course, there were other things (like the fact the tenants weren't even taken to the door on their first day - let alone shown how things worked /itinerary etc - because the agent knew the place wasn't ready) but they are too numerous to go through.
Oh yes - I was faxed copies of the prospective tenants' bank statements. Now, call me foolish, but surely doing so is against some kind of law or business ethic.
All I can do is warn potential clients to steer well clear.
They are now charging us £200 for a mark in the kitchen left by the kettle, that if the extractor fan had been working - would never have happened. They also charged £70 for checking us out!... and £95 for "time spent"
Calls/ e-mails and letters are never returned and your agent is always on the phone.
They're all about 15 years old with no experience and no morals...
How they sleep at night I have no idea...
Please, please, please boycott!
This time we compiled a clear list of our requirements (suitable for a baby, garden, etc), and gave it to each of the agents we dealt with. None of them took a passing glance at it, taking us to totally unsuitable, gardenless and mould-ridden flats that in no way matched our requirements or budget.
The last house they showed us was the house of our dreams. Despite it being over our budget I put in an even higher offer to secure the deal over an offer thru another agent. The landlord kept us waiting several days, but Foxtons assured us we'd get it. My girlfriend started packing. She practically created a shrine of photos to it on our computer. We got the call - it had gone to the other agent. The reason? The landlord didn't want to deal with Foxtons anymore. The charges were ludicrous, for him and us (£300 agency fee? WHAT?). I found out the house had been on the market with the other agent for 2/3 the Foxtons price! We still drive past that house and sigh.
The house we found was with another agent for £2100/m, and accepted an offer of £1800/m. Foxtons had the same house on for £2400/m, and hounded our landlord with higher offers after ours had been accepted.
Our agent told us that when Foxtons landlords refuse to pay their exorbitant fees, Foxtons simply add them to the rent, which is partly why Foxtons price their rental properties considerably higher than other agents.
If you find a property through Foxtons, use their website for the pictures, information, and floorplans, then use www.rightmove.co.uk and www.propertyfinder.com to find the same property through another agent at cut-price! If they take you to a viewing, make a note of which other agents it's on the market with from the boards outside, then compare prices with them.
UK banks have been told off in courts for excess overdraft charges and admin costs for letters and other related correspondence for amounts between £20 - £30. People have been successfully claiming their charges back. Foxtons are only allowed to charge the admin costs, and if they are high, they have to prove it cost that much. You can claim upto six years after any illegal charges. How great would it be if everyone who had been done by Foxtons like this demanded their fees back and started a chain reaction that would cost the company thousands, if not more?
There are loads of pages on the web that provide information about how to claim back excessive overdraft charges. Is anyone interested? Spread the word on all the forums you know where people have been let down by Foxtons. Go for it!
They rented out my property but never manage it properly; therefore, the tenant vacated the place after five months. Me being overseas, I could not correct it. Altough they deducted whole their commission upfront for the 12 months, they never bother returning the commission back. Million othe problems including submiting wrong meter readings to utility firms (being invetigated under fraud), disclosing my details to the vendor. My two cents comment, keep away from them.
O
at Spectrum Place, London SE17 and cancelled
the next day after I broke my ankle, so couldn't
get to see it. They neither acknowledged receipt
of it, nor got me to sign anything (I paid off my debit card). I discovered they lied about (a) distance of flat from tube (0.7 m, they said
0.4 m), the view of Big Ben, London Eye and the City .... Oh yeah, on the horizon ... and about the rent I could collect. They say fee is non-returnable because it was paid to the Developer. I say they took the payment so they are liable to return it. Surely there's a cooling off period. What is the status of holding deposits in Law?
1. They forced me into accepting a 'fully serviced' tenancy agreement which was a further 7.05% (inc. VAT)deduction from the rent because 'the tenant said that he only wants a property that is fully serviced'. Checking with the tenant later, he stated that Foxtons said that the property was 'only available on a fully serviced basis'.
2. Despite their appalling service, they charge an unnacceptably high commission - 12.9% (inc. VAT) compared to other agents' maximum of 11.75% (inc.VAT).
3. Worst of all, buried in the small print of their tenancy agreement was the fact that they take ALL of their commission UP FRONT!!!! How outrageous is that? - My tenancy agreement is for a long-term let, so for the first year I received no income whatsoever as they skimmed their fat commission right off the top. And what if they go bust? Then they've got their commission and you're left with having paid for a service that hasn't been delivered. Actually, I think I'm coming to the view that I would happily give up the commission in order to see them go bust - except for the fact that it would be the poor staff in the front line that would suffer the consequences, not their fat cat partners who would no doubt have been able to squirrel enough away before allowing the whole enterprise to collapse.
4. When I called to complain (about the up front commission, the 'tenant-specified' service charge and their general attitude), several things were remarkable. Firstly, the fact that it is impossible to speak to the same person twice. This I think must have something to do with their 'battery-farming' attitude towards their staff. They seem to attract them on the basis of high potential earnings but then cut their salary after a few months, then put them on high-pressure commission based remuneration packages which of course is designed to get blood out of a stone and clearly most of them find it humanly impossible to cope. I've had the most riduculous and patronising excuses for their behaviour and charges, stooping to 'we're open on Saturdays'.
5. Late payment - most agencies collect rentals on time and remit to Landlords on time. Every single payment date for the last year has been missed. When chased up, the problem of never being able to find the last person you spoke to rears its ugly head. Then there's the excuse 'the tenant hasn't paid us' which is not only not true but their problem not mine, especially on a 'fully managed' basis. Then when they finally admit to having the rental (possibly all of the time), any attempt to get it remitted with haste is greeted with the 'It'll cost you for a bank transfer' - again, not only not my problem, but an appalling attitude to customer service.
On the whole, if you are a Landlord, DO NOT be even tempted to call them. If you are a tenant, then be prepared for trouble that they will no doubt blame on the Landlord.
Let's hope that the power of the internet will eventually prevail in the housing sector which will join client to principal without the greed and unethical behaviour of companies such as Foxtons. The estate agent will still have a role, but based on good customer service, knowledge and ethical behaviour which has a value to everyone.
Then make a promise to yourself that in future you will only lease/buy/sell property through members of the estate agents Ombudsman scheme. Extraordinary and very telling that such a large firm of estate agents wouldn't be in that scheme.
I had a similar incident with Foxtons in Richmond. They signed an agreement to let my flat in 2003 but never managed to get any tenats. I Managed to get tenats through other agents in Twickenham area. Foxtons demanded 1 year commission for a tenat they never signed but through a different agent. They claimed that this particular cliet used to be theirs. I contacted the tenats and the agent who found them and the tenat said that they were not happy about the Foxtons services and decided to go thorugh a different agent. Foxtons have filled a case against me in the county court through small claims. Has anyone had similiar experience with them? Would appreciate your commets. my e-mail: perera70@hotmail.com.
Thanks.
Cham
Did watch the BBC TV programme concerning this company? Are you sure you got the true market value for those flats, or were you persuaded to sell at well below market value as a result of 'phantom' buyers putting in 'phantom' low bids to try to persuade you to drop your asking price???
thanks...
this is genuine....
Having signed a tenancy control with them they charged me £300quid for the privilege and then took my deposit money off me. A week later they came back to me saying that they had got the deposit figure wrong and could I resign another contract and give them the extra deposit money that they had now wanted. Having not dealt with them before I thought this was a one off problem and agreed.
6 months later I got and email from them telling me that I had only paid 10% of my rent rather than the full amount. When I got home I found that they had also sent me a letter, exactly the same as the email but with an additional paragraph that said that I owed them £40 for the letter. I immediately contacted my bank and they said that this must be an administrative problem (a missing decimal place). They ran a trace and told me that the full and correct amount had gone into Foxtons' account. I then spent a month trying to get hold of the person at Foxtons who could help me. Eventually I got hold of someone who told me that my bank was wrong, that they got daily statements from their bank and that I would have to reclaim the £40 from my bank as Foxtons would be taking it from my deposit. After another round of calls to my bank they assured me it was Foxtons. I went back to Foxtons to be told that it was a mistake at their end, that they had credited my deposit account (they'd obviously already taken the £40 out of it!) but they hadnâÂ?Â?t felt that they should call me and tell me.
I'm now moving out to a flat I'm buying. Before even speaking with me to tell me they were coming round Foxtons simply burst in one Sunday afternoon when I was in the bath with prospective new tenants in tow to show then the flat. I had to throw on a dressing gown and tell them to p!ss off. They went away for 20mins before coming back, knocking on the door and asking if they could show the flat viewers around in 30mins. For some reason I said that this would be ok (now that I was dressed).
The final nail in the coffin was that the flat my girlfriend and I are trying to buy has had a few problems and so has taken a bit of time to complete. During the week when we hoped to exchange, we got a call from our estate agent to say that the vendor had put the property back on the market after having received a phone call from Foxtons telling him that he could get a higher offer from some of their buyers. So to top it all off Foxtons have been instrumental in us being gazumped when we tried to escape their evil clutches!
I HATE FOXTONS - THEY ARE EVIL - BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE I ADVISE YOU NEVER TO USE THEM!!
The agent showed us the flat as they would accept our offer. The manager refused to put the offer to the Landlord. The flat was vacent for months.
Now we have moved it. Stand up argument with them over the lease. They are ignorant of Tenant/landlord law. Tried illegal clauses.
Now months later no inventory, no copy of signed lease.
Crap, crap, crap. The worst ever.
After showing us some of the dirtiest, smallest flats I have ever seen, I had to point out to the 12-year-old agent that we were not in the market for a flea-infested home. He then actually managed to find us a nice place at a reasonable price, and so we signed on.
That was the end of the positive. The admin fee was extortionate and then throughout the entire year's tenancy they were impossible to get hold of. Not only that, but they kept telling the landlord to put the rent up as, if we couldn't pay it they would find someone who would. In the end we moved out because we couldn't afford the rent anymore.
Our landlords wanted us to stay and stop using Foxtons, but Foxtons threatened them with legal action if they did that - apparently as they found us for the property it would be a breach of contract.
So, six months ago we moved out. Have we got the deposit back? No. After our landlord gave the go-ahead for a full refund, Foxtons are continuing to hold on to the money. The reason? The people who are dealing with it keep leaving and not passing it on to anyone. Now, apparently, it is being processed through accounts...
It has got to the point where we are thinking of bringing legal action against them to get our own money that we were owed six months ago.
I would absolutely advise anyone thinking of using Foxtons to run like hell. They are the absolute, absolute worst.
The list of problems we had on moving in was enormous, and the weeks after moving in were spent calling and emailing in a vain attempt to get something done about them. Eventually we wrote to demand our £300 fee back, on the basis that Foxtons had apparently done *nothing* to warrant the fee. They hadn't even provided us with an up-to-date inventory.
The fact we still didn't have an inventory a year later made Foxtons' announcement that they/the landlord would be retaining our *entire £1,500 deposit all the more surprising. The flimsy excuse that we hadn't kept the flat in a presentable condition during the last eight weeks of the tenancy was apparently enough to remove an whole month's rent from the deposit. The rest, unbelievably, were claims against the non-existant inventory and things like repairing locks that didn't exist, and cleaning curtains... that did not exist.
We would have been utterly astonished by their cowboy behaviour, were it not for the fact we'd already spent a year suffering their complete contempt for their managed tenants. They took all our money because they knew they could, and it left us penniless as we tried to find somewhere else.
Every time I see one of those f**king minis now I want to ram it.
ollieking09 at 2nd Jun 2005, 02:34PM
I'm coming up to the end of my lease with them, and can't *wait* to get out (although now I'm terrified that the deposit won't be easy to get back - good to know, it'll give me time to prepare my case)
I thought I'd share my 'hilarious' Foxtons story of the week. I had an email from my property manager a week ago, advising me that my standing order for rent was for the incorrect amount and could I change it. If I did not do so, then they would add together each missing amount for each month missed, and take the total off my deposit. Hmm, says I. I wonder. So I enquired further, and found out how much my rent was short each month. When they told me "a penny", I really thought they were joking. Unfortunately, they weren't. They were serious. The fear of having 4p taken off my deposit is obviously huge...but what a threat on their part! God. Went to the bank to add on the penny, only to be told that there was no missing amount?!
I totally sympathise with everyone's comments about getting repairs done - we've sat with broken radiators and windows throughout most of the winter. Getting hold of them is never that difficult - actually getting them to DO anything about it is another matter.
As soon as I can get with another agent, or do things independently, I will. I advise any friends who ask not to use them.
And who do estate agents think they are anyway? The majority are just public school failures who came away from uni with crap degrees, but a real trendy haircut and an ability to lie through their teeth. I can actually feel my blood boil when i see their crappy minis on the roads - probably taking their next unsuspecting victim to a "spacious" one bed in Clapham for the handsome price of £260 per week, not to forget the £300 admin fee which they will simply pocket.
Verdict = w****rs.
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