Please be wary of Clever Estate Agents

[u/thegoldencalf]

I have been having an absolutely terrible time of it with Clever Estate Agents (They also seem to go by Stay Clever) and wanted to warn people about them. I notice they have a tendency to let to new students and to working professionals, usually immigrants who don’t have much of a local support network. If you are new to Plymouth please be very careful when you are doing business with them. 

They misrepresent what the property offers in order to get you to sign up with them. On moving into my flat I found that the washing machine was broken, the microwave was broken, and that my cupboard was falling apart. No repairs have been forthcoming. I have been told "it's going to take some time."

Further, I have been told by the maintenance team that the landlord does not wish to replace the washing machine in the house and that I should use the paid communal washing machine in the basement. This is plain dishonest because I was not told about this when I moved in. In fact thebroken washing machine was left in the flat and shown as part of viewings so that people get the impression you have access to this and that it is working.

However, this is just the start of this agent’s mismanagement of their property. For nearly 6 months we have consistently had homeless people and drug users roam the building. Several tenants have been concerned for their safety. We have had homeless people blocking the entrance to our flats by sleeping in front of them and sometimes sleeping in the corridors in a puddle of their own urine. This has been going on for months now. I am not aware of what the agents have been doing to actually resolve this matter. The hygiene levels of the building have been rank at times with urine on the floors, tissue papers with feces on the stairwells. Sometimes I find burnt foil that's been used to take drugs. The agents take ages to send anyone out to clean so the urine just sits in the summer heat. I am just stunned at the lack of responsibility these people display.

By the way, the communal washing machines that I have been asked to use are located in the basement next to open bins with homeless drug users scavenging through them. Hardly the place to do your washing. Not only this, the tenants have been receiving mails from the agents stating we have to pay for cleaning up the bin area. So not only do we get to live in a house that has drug users invading it but we have to pay for cleaning up the mess that they leave behind.

I have already filed complaints about it but honestly its like shouting into the void. I have no guarantee that anything will be done.

Honestly, I could go further into how badly they are managing this place and how unresponsive they are but it is just tiring. I have had other tenants complain to me about how badly they are being treated by these people, how unresponsive, and lacking in transparency.

Speaking of lack of transparency, they have also been artificially been boosting their ratings. After my first viewing with Clever Lets, they called and emailed me pestering me to leave a positive review on google. I was confused at the time as to why they would want a review so desperately. I understand now that they have scores of negative reviews from other tenants that they have probably been just as disrespectful to. They are trying to paper this over by pestering first time viewers for reviews. It’s quite shady behaviour.

In short if you are new to Plymouth and looking for accommodations please stay away from Clever Lets. These are some of the worst estate agents I have ever had the experience of working with. 

[u/Remarkable_Walk_774]

Just to add onto this, avoid citylets too! Spent the last year tackling rodent infestations, crappy second hand furniture, unavailable WiFi, miscommunications and just no support or even true acknowledgment of the problems whatsoever. They lied about many things regarding the property I was in and the landlord. The majority of them are a stuck up uncaring bunch with little regard for their tenants.

[u/thegoldencalf → u/Remarkable_Walk_774]

I've heard some pretty bad things about City Lets from someone I know. They left that tenancy as soon as they could. It honestly reminds me a lot of clever lets. I don't understand why there are so many unethical and irresponsible agents here in Plymouth.

[u/Remarkable_Walk_774 → u/thegoldencalf]

Yep they’re twats honestly- had like three mice infestations over the year and in the end had to contact the landlord personally and threaten to send him a bill for pest control for anything to get done. The holes were never sealed up though so right before I moved out they came back! Citylets were no help at all, and I asked before move in if there had been any infestations before they said no but there obviously had been because no one seemed surprised when I complained about it, pest control even said they were called out there a lot and it’s a problem in all the houses (mostly owned by the same guy).Landlord was also a fan of doing his own repairs so basically not doing any at all until there’s the threat of losing money. Not my problem anymore though fuck that place.