Letting agents in SW London/ N. Surrey area - who should I avoid...

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and who are the good ones?

Please tell me your experiences - I was thinking of using Curchods in particular..

County Property Management are useless.

Penny and Co were awful

Home and Away (small family business based in Surbiton) were brilliant

but it was a few years ago when I dealt with both of them

thanks! I was also thinking of Townends but have just been told by a mate that they are dreadful too..

bumping for more help please..

Avoid Townends, we rented a house through them a couple of years ago and they were useless .

We use Browns in Epsom for a flat that we're renting out, they're good.

Sorry I should say that they're agents for our flat in Espom.

Friends have been pleased with Buckinghams but not so pleased with Richard Stubbs or Curchods.

Oh really? that's a shame, I thought CUrchods were quite good...

Ok, Buckinghams then - anyone got anything bad about them?

mind you, not sure I am in their league!!

I'm sure they're all grateful for business in this climate - maybe best just to go for the one that is most central to your area with similar properties already on their books?

oh no, there are about 8 in my local area and I don't want to touch any of them. I know bad things of at least half of them and another one has just been struck off the list. Buckingham's is a bit further out and has slightly bigger properties than mine in general but is a v. good agent, iirc.

bumping in the hopes of more replies...

letting agencies are rubbish in general.
go with a private landlord.

From a landlords perspective (I am renting out my sw london home), I use Foxtons, and I think they are looking after the needs of the tenant MORE than they look after my needs as landlord. They were also very skillfull in negotiating the rent DOWN on behalf of the tenant. In fact the rent is 25% lower than asking price. (But in this climate, as a landlord, you should be happy with what you get I suppose)

Maybe as a tenant, Foxtons is the way to go.....

Whichever one you chose, DO haggle. Start by taking off 25% and take it from there. Good Luck

nope sorry, I am going to be a landlord, not a tenant. Thanks for the tip re Foxton's, QS! Another one off the list...

maybe try listing it in the loot, or other places then. with alot of letting agents you dont get to meet the tenants first. i wouldnt feel comfortable letting out my property to someone i had never met.

thanks natty - if I was going to still be in the country I would do that but I won't be - we are emigrating so I need an agent to look after the property while we are abroad.

oh i see makes sense!

we used Duncan Green originally - don't even know if they still exist. I wouldn't bother looking them up - they were shockers. Definitely on the side of the tenant (we had more than one bill for the maintenance team going round to change lightbulbs ffs.

We now use IMM properties.

they are ok. We have had a few issues with them, but have found if you stand up to them a bit (ie on negotiating the rent down for tenants) then they take it ok (and we get the right rent)

Salbysea, we bought through Penney and Co once and they were pretty good I thought.
OP, if you're considering Kingston or Surbiton, Gibson Lane are good. We've rented our other house out through them.

Avoid Foxtons.

What about Hamptons - anyone got any thoughts on them?