After previously giving a 5 star review I unfortunately need to amend this to 1 star. Very unprofessional company. I was not allowed to view the property prior to moving in as they "couldn't find the keys". After moving out and handing my keys in they managed to lose the keys and tell me I hadn't handed them in, yet they have dated a report done on the property prior to them finding the keys (yet when I ask about this I am ignored). Upon moving in to the property the Carpets in the bedroom and living room had paint splatters and burn marks over them (this was not shown on the photos, I believe old photos of the property were used on the listing). There were yellow stains on the bathroom floor, a light fitting in the kitchen that was damaged and hanging loose, it had been pushed back into place using double sided tape to hide the damage but just dropped back down (this was reported on day one and not fixed during my whole eight month tenancy), again not shown on the listing. I was left without hot water and heating for two weeks due to nobody knowing how to operate the heating system. I was left two weeks not being able to wash any clothing due to the washing machine being clogged up and not releasing water when I first moved in and had to wait for a contractor to come out (who only worked Saturdays). When I moved in there was what appeared to be grout, that had been dropped on the heated towel rail in the bathroom, I have a photo of this the day I moved in, yet they are now trying to charge me for this and claiming it is damage, not that their contractor are poor decorators. Both the kitchen sink and the bath were clogged when I moved in and did not drain water and I was asked to pay for unclogging them myself, which I did. After just over a month in the property the air conditioning until started displaying an error message saying it was working at 54%, this was reported and after a month, nothing had been arranged, I asked for this to be postponed from Dec to mid Jan due to covid, yet this was not done in mid Jan and another seven months later when I moved out they still hadn't serviced it. I had no working key for the rear door to the property for months on end, the intercom repeatedly broke, the back door repeatedly broke. Although I have photos of the property being spotless when I moved out and have been supplied to them, they are now trying to charge me cleaning costs for "debris", which from their photos appears to be dust, they do not seem to understand that if they leave a property empty dust is going to fall, especially with an air-conditioning until that has not been serviced. They also are attempting to charge for damage to a door that they claim was done by "opening and closing the door". So be careful not to use doors in rented properties. After a few weeks of phone calls to them at the beginning of the tenancy to advise of further damage I had noticed, I was repeatedly told "don't worry, it is only minor so we don't need it to be listed", yet at the end of the tenancy they are trying to charge me for dust. If you rent with this company I would advise taking hundreds of photographs when moving in. When you are met at the property by the contractor who has done his own report of damage, I would advise not signing this off until you have been around every inch of the property. The report the contractor does should actually done with the tenant, so damage they have missed can be pointed out. Do not be naïve as I was and think that the Estate Agents are professionals and will not try and scam you out of money.NegativeResponsiveness, Quality, Professionalism

When looking for my first rented home, I was advised time and time again not to use letting agents due to their poor reputation. Unfortunately my experience with Martin and Co WGC was not an exception to this and why I've felt it necessary to leave a review. In the time I was renting through this company, I have only had one polite conversation with various members of the team. Despite always being polite and lenient myself, most correspondence had via email and phone call has been particularly rude, unprofessional and incompetent, and not at all the standards expected of a company who supposedly prides themselves in their customer service. Working in a similar industry myself, I can understand tenants frustrations but always would respond in a professional and courteous manner, unfortunately this isn't the case with the majority of the team at Martin and Co. Welwyn Garden City. We were left without hot water on several occasions and went 3 months without a working washing machine. All requests were recorded on our part but regularly we experienced far longer delays than seemingly necessary. It was very clear they didn't want to report or deal with a lot of maintenance problems as that involved asking the vendor of the property to spend money to fix them, thereby risking upsetting the vendor and losing business. While I understand you need to speak with the landlord to handle maintenance issues, that does not excuse problems lasting for weeks, months in my experience. At one point we received an email from a team member with an accusatory tone implying we had somehow broken an electrical item in the property, even though twice the professional THEY sent out informed both us and the company that it was a fault of the model itself and nothing to do with any user interference. Any emails regarding this from here were not responded to, or again, responded to in an impolite way. Attempts to contact the team were often unsuccessful, and when they were answered there was no consistent reply as to who was the property manager, which surely would be recorded on CRM systems that a well-known company such as Martin and Co. would use. Lastly, as I imagine someone from the team will be reading this, I encourage you to retain some of your humanity when dealing with enquiries regarding major problems with the properties you manage. Please remember these are people's homes, where people spend most of their lives.  For tenants to already be trying to live around problems they can't control and then for the people that can help them to be rude and unhelpful, it's enough to make someone feel extremely uncomfortable living in their home and it is a reason we did not want to continue business with this company. I would not advise anyone looking to rent to use Martin and Co due to my experience with the company. For any new tenants or landlords I encourage you to research the rights and expectations of you and the letting company to ensure you're not taken advantage of. I want to finish by saying none of my comments are in relation to the period of lockdown/interference due to COVID-19, I can appreciate that delays during this time are completely impossible to avoid. .NegativeResponsiveness, Quality, Professionalism, Value

Just finished my tenancy with these guys and I have to say I've not really been impressed throughout the 2 year tenancy. When we started the tenancy they presented us with a 30 page contract (yes. 30 pages.) and the agent was then dismayed and irritated when I insisted on reading every page before initialling and signing it (as you would - seeing as my previous contracts have been as short as 4 pages of A4). This was because they wanted to get out on time at 4pm on a Friday - You'd think being paid the fat end of £2.5k would warrant an extra 15 to 30 minutes in the office right? Right from the start of tenancy we had issues with the garage door opener which didn't work and it took them nearly 7 months to get us a replacement remote which actually worked. This was despite us chasing them weekly and even contacting the manufacturer ourselves to get the right spec - this definitely is above and beyond what I as the tenant should be doing. During the tenancy they wanted to conduct regular inspections - I have no issue with this but they were VERY uncooperative on when these inspections happened. Me and my housemate are both NHS healthcare professionals working shifts and they point blank refused to accommodate our shift pattern into their inspections because "they are very busy" and at one point even woke me up between nightshifts at 11am just to peak into my bathroom. (She was also surprised by me when I woke up with a start meaning that it clearly wasn't communicated to her that would be post-nights/sleeping either!) Around midway through the tenancy we encountered an issue with our utility supplier because we had been giving them readings from the wrong meter - when we asked M&Co where our electricity meter actually was, they wanted an £80 call-out fee to come and show us, even though the meter we had been taking readings from was the one they stipulated on their inventory documents. Thanks to assistance from other residence in the building, the actual meter was discovered behind a locked door which I was not provided a key for - in the end I had to go get one cut (oh and they refused to reimburse me for this too). This brings me on to the final issue with M&Co. FEES. Every single little thing has a fee attached to it and frankly, I've never known anything like it and I've rented a couple of times in different places around the county. So lets run though it: Set up fee: £225. Additional tenant fee: £75. Tenancy renewal fee: £75. Checkout fee: £120. Oh and call out fee: £80. (others that I thankfully managed to avoid paying include Guarantor Fee: £90, Amendment fee: £450 and out of hours service: £60). So for two people staying 2 years is a minimum of £495 in fees alone which I found to be unacceptable. (Oh and all of these are in addition to whatever they are charging the landlord - so good luck to the landlord here..) Another small niggle is that they are very sluggish to reply to emails which when they do reply, include lack of basic grammar and email etiquette. Written communications sometimes included one line and even one word replies - frankly its unprofessional. Your tenants are just as much your customers as your landlords are. Show some care and respect! I will given them that beyond the above, our tenancy ran smoothly and the property was lovely - but frankly I can't give them more than 1 star for this because these are the basics! There was no effort made on their part to improve the service they gave and frankly, when you're paying just short of £500 for something, I want it gold standard - this isn't. Sorry guys - You did ask for a review!NegativeResponsiveness, Quality, Professionalism, Value

This letting agents is a con, they claim to be managing the property on behalf of a landlord but don’t actually do anything. AVOID AT ALL COSTS. I checked out of the property in early June and was going away on holiday. Martin and Co and planned to do my check out on my return. This date was changed, probably purposefully, to a date that I was away. Thereby the check out report was filled with lies and accusations. Myself and the landlord had a very good relationship and that’s been ruined by the lies that Martin and Co made to the landlord who lives abroad. These lies included “damaging the property” and “not having the property professionally cleaned”. The damage was a lie and the house was professionally cleaned by the company that Martin and Co suggested and had the certificate to prove it. So it wasn’t long until these lies were proved to be a lie. It’s now been nearly 3 months since the deposit should have been released and Martin and Co keep saying that the deposit can’t be released as it’s down to the landlord to release. The Landlord agreed the release of the deposit a month ago. In short, they are by far the most lazy, work shy staff I’ve ever come across who clearly have only ever had training in who to pass the buck and claim no responsibility. All I ever find is that “the person dealing with your case is on annual leave or in a meeting” I urge any prospective new tenants and landlords looking for a management company to take your money elsewhere. It really isn’t worth the time and energy it takes to deal with this shambolic company.

By answering emails and returning our deposit.

Hi I rented the house with Martin and Co and found the experience to be bad. They, were quite unprofessional in getting the things sorted for my electricity meter etc. The problem still have not been solved after 3 months of complaint Regards, Pankaj Agarwal