Chestertons Reviews

The agents at Chestertons are really helpful at finding a property that matches your requirements and the platform they use to sign the contracts check references and pay the deposit is really good Unfortunately that is where the good part ends We were asked to move in a week later than the day the property was listed for so the landlord would have enough time to repaint and do the necessary repairs However they did absolutely nothing to the property and 4 months later we are still chasing Chestertons for updates on what is happening with little or no response When the check-in agent handed us the keys to the property you could see in his face you ve made a mistake Chestertons made a big deal about professional cleaning as a requirement in the contract yet when we moved in the property wasn t even cleaned let alone professionally cleaned and we had to spend 3 days deep cleaning the property before we could unpack After moving in we were told the washing machine is not working and nothing has been done about it yet The oven was also not working and we had to fix it ourselves Chestertons needs a proper platform to report issues with the property so it can be properly tracked and different teams at the agency need to communicate properly with each other - it was clear that no one had checked the previous tenant s checkout report to see what state the property was left in and take the time to correct it The property manager needs to be chased constantly to get a response and when they do respond they just say it is with the landlord for approval and nothing happens Sad to say but they are the most incompetent rental agency I have used in London They don t care about their tenants they just care about your money

I was letting a house they found tenants and I was a little concerned about their ability to pay so insisted on a six month break clause in the twelve month contract with either party having to give two months notice This was duly put into the contract and all was well However when I decided to sell the house and wanted to exercise the break clause I discovered that whatever notice period was in any contract was now superseded by the government decreeing that six months notice was now required under covid rules apparently Importantly and unbeknown to me I live overseas and depend on the agent giving me correct advice this six month notice rule came into effect before I signed the contract allowing two months notice meaning Chestertons knew full well that this aspect of the contract was meaningless even while they drew it up The shame is it s not even surprising that a well known firm such as this screws up and I m being generous and assuming it wasn t done knowingly

I had to deal with a negligent employee took them a month to return my deposit at the end of tenancy

Terrible moving out experience Landlord certainly overpaid some work that could ve been avoided had Chesterton s been more professional

EDIT Chesterton s have contacted me and have sent a person over about 12 hours after my review They are working on a plan of action to resolve the issues I will post updates on here I have had an absolutely horrible experience ever since I moved in When I went to view the flat it had mould and water damage and I was hesitant to take it due to those issues The Chesterton s agents assured me that those would be all fixed prior to my move in I insisted to put those in the contract as a prerequisite for my move in and they agreed I thought everything was going to be fine Well guess what it wasn t None of the work that was supposed to be done prior to my move in had been done They claimed that the landlord was unresponsive but nobody told me that despite daily phone calls I had issues with the key pickup malfunctioning washing machine broken dishwasher faulty electrical wiring in the bathroom likely due to water damage and myriad of other issues So far it has been 7 weeks since I highlighted those issues and a grand total of 0 work has been done on the flat The property manager seldom replies to emails as he is perpetually busy or on holiday and when I pop in person to the office they are always just about to call me or just about to answer my email The moto of this agency should be 99 of your problems go away if you simply ignore them because that s their attitude to completing flat repairs or upholding their side of a contract they have signed I am certain that if my rent is late for even one day I d be bombarded with threatening phone calls and emails but if half of my kitchen is out of service for 2 months they can just always say waiting for a landlord approval

Following my recent review I had a chance to discuss with Tim the manager who handled the situation professionally We acknowlege that they used best efforts to ameliorate the matter and appreciate their review of our concern Very well dealt with guys

Did not show up or answer calls at the time of scheduled appointment after having confirmed multiple times prior by email and phone Edit - subsequently called 1 hour after missing the scheduled appointment to apologize and offer an explanation - which is better than no response at all

This company does not nothing for tenants after moving in and are extremely unresponsive when it comes to returning deposits I had to email the landlord directly to get my deposit returned It took over 5 weeks to get my money back

The service from their Parsons Green office has been short of any level of professionalism We made an offer on a flat and then unknowingly found out that our notice period was 2 months I wrote to our agent to inform him that I would need to change the move in date but had no response for several days and now left in limbo It seems they are only interested in getting you to sign-up but offer no actual customer service From reading the other reviews - this is absolutely nothing but I had a feeling they were poor only now to write my first ever review on trust pilot I ve used many agencies over the years but this falls below the standards that I expect

Renting out a flat through them Pros - they offer a comprehensive service found tenants quickly and replied to messages promptly Cons - terrible customer service Alina was condescending brusque and incapable of giving a straight answer So unpleasant and frustrating having to deal with her that once the current tenants contract is up I will find another letting agent If they re this rude to me the person paying them commission I worry about how polite they are to the tenants