Does Foxtons deserve its reputation?

[Boyandgirlanddone]

We’re very eager to sell our house quickly as we’ve had an offer accepted on another property we love. We’ve had ours on the market with two local agents for over a month and a smattering of viewings but no offers. I’ve spied in on the viewings on the doorbell and not ever been inspired by the current agents selling techniques. One buyer commented that he was looking for somewhere with good transport links and the agent replied “oh right” rather than emphasising that if nothing else our house has incredible transport links!
So, pushy old Foxtons is starting to look appealing.
What are people’s experience of it recently?
I saw a MN thread from 2018 saying how awful they were but I’m wondering if they’ve got any better recently. Grateful for any opinions!

Mercifully I haven't dealt with them for some years, but having rented through them several times previously: yes. In spades. Biggest unscrupulous bastards in an industry of unscrupulous bastards (and clueless kids).

I really wouldn't use them. There must be other agents in your area? How many did you have round before choosing?

I'd pick up with your current agents if you don't think they're doing their job BUT I'd steer away from Foxtons. The problem is that their reputation could well put off potential buyers if yours is one of broadly similar houses in the area.

I've come across them before and would avoid a Foxtons listing ie I'd view if necessary but would view other places first.

I wouldn’t use them - my experiences with them as a tenant have been enough to put me off ever using them as an estate agent, and I’d be very wary about buying a house marketed by them because I know from experience that they are unscrupulous liars.

Wouldn't go through Foxtons. Terrible reputation here. Very rarely see the foxtons boards / mini anymore.

They (like Dexters) have the reputation of inflating valuations to win your business, then allowing the property to linger on the market before getting you to drop the price. I had both round to value, didn't use either of them (I went with the agent giving the lowest valuation) and the property sold at 25% under the valuation Foxtons and Dexters had both given.

We used them to buy and sell in our last property purchase. They were fine, in fact the estate agent who dealt with our purchase was really lovely. I agree they did inflate the valuation when we put it on the market but we reduced it pretty soon and they worked really hard to get a sale.

I agree they are like Dexters with their overvaluations.

I think they are trash and wouldn't want to deal with them as a buyer.

As a seller it's a harder question because they do have some good sales techniques. The Foxtons EAs I have come across have been hungry to get the deal done which is a useful trait in an EA when you have a house to sell in a slow market.

Friend was a tenant with them in a flat share a few years ago. The contact had run out due to foxtons not getting their ass in gear. Friend wanted to move out and other tenants wanted to replace them. However, estate agents wouldn’t give friend deposit back or a reference for the new flat until new housemate had moved in and paid rent etc. At that point it wasn’t even legal though as there was no contact binding friend to the house! Don’t answer the phone, didnt care that friend desperately needed a reference to secure next place just held them to ransom!

Also that flat had been serially rented for years & years. Was in a complete state of disrepair as no work had ever been done. Foxtons still kept trying to enforce 15%/20% rent increases each year saying the ‘market had gone up’ not one penny was being spent on the house. Even suggested it didn’t matter that the shower broke as they had a bath!

No personal experience but I'd still avoid like the plague. They are legendary in London.

But surely what that means is you’re paying a higher fee since their agency fee is determined by the price it’s originally listed at not what it sells at?

Subconsciously I tend to be put off by properties listed with Foxtons too as I just assume they’re overpriced, even though I’ve never dealt with them directly.

They left my front door open after a veiwing. Not just unlocked , actually swinging wide open.

A few years back our landlord was selling our rental house via Foxtons. One day I got home to find they'd left the garden doors wide open after a viewing and also taken the only garden key away with them. This was an urban area with a LOT of burglaries. When I phoned Foxtons to complain the branch manager denied it had been them and told me I was wrong, he was so bloody stupid he stuck to this story even though he had to return the garden door key ASAP so we could lock up for the night.

They are rude and unprofessional beyond belief and I would actively be put off a property if it meant dealing with them.

@BooToYouHalloween Out contract was based on the sold price, not the listing price

EA contacts are nearly always based on what the property sells for not what it was listed at. It’s based on a percentage of the price achieved unless you use a cheap online company like Purple Bricks.

We rented through Foxtons a few years ago when we had a year between owning properties.

Given that the ethical standards of most estate agents are generally low, Foxtons were the absolute pits of the earth.

They attempted to charge us over £4k when we left a property we had rented for a year and they threatened us and pressured us to give up our £2k deposit as ‘a compromise’. As an illustration, they asked us to pay £270 for a replacement door handle (eventually valued at £5)

The quotes for the ‘damage’ that we had caused were provided by their own subsidiary company and were 4 x market price, notwithstanding the fact that the ‘damage’ did not exist in the first place.

We pursued our deposit through the arbitration scheme and we received virtually all of it back. The assessors report was scathing. Of their original £4k claim, only about £200 was allowed.

Foxtons business model is to make threatening claims and hope that a certain % of tenants simply hand over their deposits for a quiet life.

I would avoid them like the plague.

Just thought I'd add an update to this, incase anyone is in our position and searches Mumsnet for Foxtons opinions...
Foxtons came in and saved the day for us. Yes, they were pushy, but that's exactly what we needed. They actually sold our house rather than just showing people around. We had an offer within 2 weeks of going with Foxtons, for over asking price. They charged an arm and a leg, but they got it done and I wish we'd gone with them in the first place.

Suprisingly one of our better rental experiences was with Foxtons - we had no problems moving out somewhere at 8 months when it turned out our landlord hadn't been paying his mortgage ( we hadbailiffs round) and they gave our deposit back to us within 3 days and before we had even moved out so we could sort somewhere else out pronto - we also had no trouble getting repairs sorted when we were in the place -

Rented through them once. They raved about the parking space but didn't mention that the landlord wasn't including it in the rental agreement. Deposit was paid and contracts signed before we noticed the convenient error.

I’ve had the experience from hell with Foxtons and my landlord. So I rented a studio flat and after I first arrived I struggled to get through the house door due to a faulty lock. The flat had not been cleaned (poo in toilet) and the water didn’t work and the pipes were blocked.

So naturally I had a bad feeling about the landlord’s professionalism which proved to be true. The landlord was a weird rogue who turned up over 30 times with no notice in the time I lived there.

He would send workmen round often with no notice. It got to the stage where I was concerned about leaving my expensive jewellery in the flat as so many strangers were going in and out the flat with no notice.

Also the lights in the hall, staircase and first floor never worked so when I moved out I had to carry boxes down the stairs in the dark!! So dangerous.

My emails were all ignored by Foxtons and when I complained verbally to an estate agent he didn’t care.

The fridge broke and it took 4 weeks in the summer for the landlord to replace it!

Finally, the estate agent foolishly admitted the truth - that all the keys to the flats in the building were kept in an open box in an open cupboard in the hall. I was horrified. Particularly as an attractive woman (the builders sometimes are overly friendly with me) that they all had access to my flat at any time!!

Have asked for deposit back landlord is ignoring me. Problem is it was so run down and shabby when I moved in - how am I meant to prove that the prior damage done by previous tenants was not me?

Never again. You have been warned!

They should have done an inventory and taken pictures when you moved in. Without it they have no proof and if they try to make deposit deductions the deposit scheme is more than likely to side with you.
Make sure you request the deposit is returned in writing. If they don’t respond you can use the deposit scheme dispute process.

I’ve found Foxtons dreadful. Actually had a v good experience with dexters in kings x though.

Ha! I used to work for Foxtons back in 2002/2003 and they were a bunch of unscrupulous coked-up arseholes then - looks like nothing has changed!