Romans Reviews

They re objectively the worst estate agents we ever had while we rented If you consider renting a property from them and I can t blame you since it is important to find a property you like read below to make sure you re not caught off guard 1 Beware of the contract Ours assigned a compulsory 5 increase Year on Year on the rent with no room to negotiate So take the time to calculate how much that represents in terms of rent in 3-4 years For us it added about 200 month over the course of 3 years 2 Beware of the tenancy notice clause Our contract requested 2 months notice TO END ON THE DAY RENT IS DUE That means if rent is due on the 5th of January and you give notice on the 6th of January then your notice will end on the 5th of April which would basically be 3 months notice not 2 I let you imagine the headache in terms of aligning dates if you are moving elsewhere 3 Checking In Make sure you take lots of date-stamped pictures we did and also videos It will come in handy at the end of the tenancy Read on 4 In the first year they d warn us of an upcoming property check almost every 2 months I checked in the contract there is no mention of what is a reasonable amount of property checks To add insult to injury they d say they d come at some time between 9AM and 4PM nice and vague not helpful 3 times they didn t turn up 3 times When I got in touch to ask them to stop booking property checks or to actually turn up and to at least apologise for not turning up they simply replied yes we will be there next time They eased off the property checks but never apologised for wasting our time waiting at home for them to turn up Again this happened 3 times 5 Checking out We checked the contract Nowhere did it mention that it should be professionally cleaned so we spent several days cleaning the house to a point where it was cleaner than when we moved in Yet because we did the cleaning ourselves they didn t bother checking the state of the house and tried to charge us nearly 500 for deep cleaning 500 A good cleaner charges 12 hour Did someone really spend 40 hours cleaning a house that had already been cleaned The irony of it is that the cleaning company they used states As a minimum you need toreturn the property as you found it with some allowance for fair wear and tear If the propertywas not cleaned to a professional standard when you moved in you will generally not beobligated to professionally clean the property when you move out Landlords cannot insist thatyou return the property in a better state compared to when you moved in Needless to say we disputed this charge and won our case I bet the landlords weren t pleased to be 500 out of pocket thanks to Romans I hope this review will help you avoid these nasty pitfalls if you rent with them In the 3 years we rented with them we must have had nearly 10 property managers Make of that what you will

Particularly unhelpful when it comes to contract signature Contract clauses are unclear often poorly written a dnd occasionally added for a renewal without any rationale and notification Communications have also been poor either borderline harassment 2 SMS in a day or erratic not even replying to all when we ask for clarifications with several individuals in copy

Do your own viewings No one knows the area like yourself and you can praise your property along the way The more you do the more confident you will get Trust yourself

I have told you already in your questionnaire I think your company has become too much about prosses and not enough about personal contact and one contact at a time Your structure has become too complex

Abi camberely should not be dealing with customers Customer service from her end is not good at all Contacts me with only 2 days to go for tenancy asking for extra paperwork Could have been done way before this Filled in all paperwork by the allotted time I was given to get keys for the next day - no response at all I ve had to email back and forth - found the information has been submitted but no response from her from 2pm Tenancy was booked for the 1st - that s now been missed Now it s costing me more money as I have to pay to stay in hotels as she didn t pull her finger out and get the correct paperwork in place Every one else I have dealt with to do with the property has been polite and informative - just the paper work side not at all Not impressed as now I have to spend more money out of my own pocket on hotels

Pros 1 Good communication2 Generally nice staff 3 Decent maintenance teamCons 1 I was threatened that I d lose the flat if I opted out of no deposit option2 Their no deposit option is essentially a scam - expensive with no real benefit even a payday loan would ve been cheaper and takes away your legal protection from the government s deposit protection schemes3 For disputes they charge 120 for their third party adjudicator - which would ve been illegal under any deposit protection scheme but they get away with it due to point 2 above4 The third party adjudicator is actually a private company that acts in the interest of the letting agent just look at reviews for Property Redress - formerly HF Resolution Ltd 5 They charge incredibly inflated rates - I was charged 300 for a light clean of a 1 bed flat they refused to negotiate and there s no means to dispute it fairly as mentioned aboveI ve dealt with a number of letting agencies both as landlord and as tenant and Romans are truly one of the worst I ve come across The sort of agency that consistently operates in the grey area of the Trading Standards Avoid if you can

I must mention Romans have some very appealing properties and I m sure there are helpful agents out there but my experience has been quite stressful I ve been actively looking for properties in Bracknell Initially I was in contact with an agent via phone and email but suddenly she stopped responding I was genuinely interested in a particular property but despite sending several emails I haven t received any response

It was very difficult to get in contact with the local branch sales team when I was making offers and trying to book in viewings The local branch did not call back when they said they would I was doing a lot of the chasing Unfortunately it was not the best purchasing experience However the move manager communicated very fast and efficiently I have no complaints about the move manager

Poor communication and rather lackadaisical in completing tasks I have called Romans directly countless times and never once have I got straight through to the person I m after Usually you re promised a call back that never comes Until you ve requested it a few times over Staff come off a little rude and standoffish at nearly all times Kind of a school teacher feel When criticising the company I was asked not to to save peoples feelings But can honestly say that there was nothing personal or insulting at all never mind aimed at an individual I merely expressed my dissatisfaction for Romans processes and contradictions I just find dealing with them a chore and their attitudes towards myself makes me less willing to cooperate with their requests

My partner and I recently got a flat in Wokingham and it was clearly stated by one of the agents that the apartment had two spaces one for the apartment and one assigned guest spot Not quite sure where they got that idea from considering there s only two three at most guest parking spots for EVERYONE baring in mind there s about 15 apartments and there are obviously those that camp out the spots and keep them for themselves without movement I have a small car myself and so the fact I m having trouble finding a spot in there is ridiculous It s ridiculous we were falsely advertised this apartment also And one more thing to mention is my partner clearly stated he would be getting the keys over a call to the Wokingham office and yet they closed fifteen minutes early without letting us know and so this half an hour journey over was a waste of time fuel and excitement for the new apartment Thanks for nothing Romans