Avoid this company. Charging nonsense cleaning fee when ending the tenancy

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I don't leave reviews very often but John Shepherd West Bridgford deserve one. I am absolutely disgusted with this unregulated letting market, trying to remove deposit money for 2 small plastic cracks in a fridge freezer and saying they will need to replace both from our deposit money. Furthermore saying they will need to have it re-cleaned despite us paying £180 for two cleaners to spend 3 hours cleaning it professionally. Prior to this when we lived in the flat we had a low water pressure problem which took them over 4 months to fix, they came up with excuse after excuse before finally offering to fix it a few weeks before we moved out (only because we had to get the council involved to sort it). We then moved into another property with them where the oven had not been cleaned (see pictures attached) yet was told it was just cleaning residue. Also the dishwasher that did not work, we were originally told to try to fix it ourselves? Thirdly in our contract it makes reference to a washing machine, yet no washing machine was present and we had to spend hundreds to buy our own. I cannot believe what these agencies try to get away with, I highly doubt they would even replace the fridge and freezer for such a small crack and new tenants who will soon move in, they just want money money money! Disgusting.

Lovely people, but the financial processes have issues. For example: • I was wrongly chased for outstanding rent payment, despite never ever deviating from the payment schedule. Provided proof of payment and it got found. • Still waiting on my deposit to be released! No disputes, but still waiting since the contract end about 2 months ago.

Avoid! John Shepherd give contractors your keys despite having no written proof that they have informed you or gained consent. I had strangers walk around in my property without my knowing changing things to my flat whilst I was paying them full rent. When asking why this was acceptable they advised they use ‘good will’ when handing out keys - this is terrifying and against procedure. Trespassing occurred during my tenancy and the final cleaning bill is crazy! My advice is dispute it as they lower it when you send a quote which isn’t ridiculous. They usually use a cleaning company who don’t have a working website that seem to operate over instagram and overcharge. Currently awaiting legal action regarding the trespassing. Kai and Gita both say alternate things and will make it as painful, hard and long winded as possible to try and retain as much money as possible. This has been an anxiety evoking situation that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone.

Lilly Johnson was very helpful for years with renting my apartment. I dunnow what has happened since she left, but the latest tenant they proposed had a CCJ process and numerous other red flags. And they insisted it was fine! Something strange seems to be happening at JS and i would avoid them.

Do not rent with john shepherd!!!!!! Honestly couldn’t advise anyone to avoid this company anymore! The absolute worst service throughout my stay, when our windows were mouldy and having ladybird infestation due to the cracks and holes in the windows, was continuously told there’s nothing they can do. Then it came to checking out and Gita could not have made it any worse of an experience, consistently picking out issues and created the closing stage extremely anxious! Even though the whole flat was as clean as the inventory, they managed to find a way to claim they had to charge a cleaning fee. After calling Kai and expressing my disappointment after experiencing Gitas awful experience, he then went on to try and find anyway to make the cleaning fee stick by bringing up issues which were not even mentioned in the closing checks. Absolutely disgusting company, eventually they returned my full deposit as they had absolutely no leg to stand on. Honestly would never recommend this company to anyone!! The most anxious experience especially renting alone there was absolutely no support.

When I arrived at my property I was renting it had not been cleaned, and I complained about this and no help with this was offered. Two years later moving out they demand £250 Cleaning Fee deducted from my deposit despite the flat being handed back in a better condition than when I got it. They were completely unwilling to even discuss the issue, totally stonewalling. Avoid at all costs. Property managers were Rajak Ali and Kai‑Ewan Rodney MARLA

Has some great properties I am sure but my experience with them has been poor, I tried on numerous attempts (about 10 phone calls) to organize an online viewing, of which they assured me that they would send after a call, which never ended up happening. A waste of time for someone trying to find a property to move into in a short period of time. All they did was cause me stress about finding a property to move into.

Rented via the Birmingham branch after they acquired Centrick Lettings. Post acquisition, a third party company, instructed on behalf of John Shepherd/Centrick illegally closed all of my utility bill accounts (accounts in my own name) with my utility suppliers without providing me any notice. It wasn’t until I received notification directly from the supplier to advise I was to expect my final bill that i was made aware of the issue. When calling my property manager to discuss the issue I was initially advised ‘oh yeah this is an error that has happened to other flats too’ and that I would need to resolve the issue with the suppliers myself. It wasn’t until I told them the suppliers were refusing to discuss the matter with me now the accounts were no longer under my name that they then agreed to assist. I work in the Property Management industry myself and fully appreciate that errors can occur from time to time, however this was simply the result of incompetence and complacency. The service received when trying to resolve this was also subpar at best, I even escalated the matter to somebody more ‘senior’ within the company and didn’t receive acknowledgment of my email for 3 weeks. Again, appreciating how busy and overwhelming this industry can be it does not change the fact that I was unable to have access to my utility accounts for almost two months with little to no communication on the matter. I have seen that Chris Blick is listed in the responses on trust pilot as a point of contact for escalation of such complaints, I welcome Chris to provide an attempt to justify my aforementioned experience and his employee’s truly shocking service.