homes4u

This estate agent has four branches in Manchester, and really capitalises on the student population by offering hundreds of student lets. These lets are never honestly advertised and the landlords are rarely decent.

As students, my friends and I let our first house through homes4u and had an awful experience. I would definitely say that homes4u put their profits ahead of the comfort and safety of the students living in their 'managed' properties.

The houses we viewed in our second year of uni were all with homes4u, because we wrongly assumed that the most advertised estate agents would be the best, and they were all horrible. The standards at homes4u are clearly very low, because we viewed some really nasty houses, one with black damp mould covering the entire living room ceiling and a bathroom that was rotten.

We ended up in an OK house, but with the worst landlord ever. I really felt that homes4u totally side with the landlord, because they own the property and hold the cards. Our landlord would 'pop in' three or four times a week, totally unannounced, and got us to cancel our direct debits so he could come round and collect our rent as cheques or cash. As four girls we felt really threatened and uncomfortable, and homes4u paid absolutely no attention to our complaints. In the end, one of our number dropped out and we were in the process of looking for another housemate for her room, when our landlord evicted us and kept a lot of money from our deposits. Again, homes4u did not want to hear about it.

Unless you're ready to fight against laziness and bad property management, steer clear.

Forget the estate agents. What about the fact that they sell bacon and sausage sandwiches for £1.50, with loads of ketchup!

And homemade soups too.

Who needs a roof over your head when you've got succulent juicy food?

Not I.

You're a student. You've lived in halls. You might have shifted around the campus accommodation blocks. You want to branch out into private. DON'T, I tell you! It's a minefield of electricity bills and arguments over water usage. But Homes 4U takes the difficulty out of it and finds you houseshares all over Manchester. From Ancoats to Withington, it encompasses the whole of the city.

Talk about cosy and welcoming - right next to Kro on Oxford Road you can have coffee and a chat while perusing your options. The staff are friendly and there's free internet access so all your needs are met in one place. Epic! Definitely a good one for the massive student population of Manchester.

Afterthought: I realise this place has less than positive reviews with students who've actually used them... what I'm simply reviewing is their facilities on Oxford Road so please take into account Rebecca and Elliot's experiences.

I have been working together with Homes4u and using their services as an agency for, letting, buying and selling my properties since year 2003 and I cannot describe how satisfied I have always been with the level of service I have been receiving. I have used other agencies in past and never been using anyone else but homes4u since I started with them. They always get 10 out of 10 from me and I have been always extremely satisfied with level of service being received. One of the points which I could mention and notice from the company that the staff has always been the same and always see familiar faces and voices on the phone which shows the company knows how to keep the staff happy which as a result how to keep the customers smiling and happy!


The level of communication is fantastic. I get regular calls from staff getting updates on progress of any visits to the property and everyone are extremely friendly and cooperative. You always have someone to speak to who is knowledgeable could always rely on progress on paperwork and contracts accurately and efficiently.


Management team and Staff are extremely attentive, friendly and confidante on what they do and I recommend this company to anyone.


Ali Nowroozi
Dimples General Manager
Manchester

Absolutely DISGUSTED at how Homes 4 u operate! They wont accept any correspondence via telephone and everything must be in an email, i'd much prefer to correspond via telephone as i know the job will be done as emails to Homes 4 u have been ignored in the past. I used Homes 4 u for 18 months or so, in that time it took over 6 months for them to replace the windows even after monthly emails stating the windows were shaking in the frames from the wind keeping me up all night to later realise the windows can be opened from the OUTSIDE! The landlord then arranged for them to be replaced giving a set of keys to their contractors allowing them full access to my flat without warning or notice! Being in bed sick with some strange men picking at my windows isn't the best for a woman living alone! All they did was say oh we didn't know about it and that was the last I'd heard on the subject! They're very fast at saying rent was paid late even after REPEATEDLY informing them my pay date had changed!

After reporting a severe damp problem 18 months ago they only did something about it when the damp had gotten into the mains. due to the severe damp and lack of insulation my gas alone was over £90 a month and nothing was done about it.

Having contacted them for a letter stating the end of my lease for council tax reasons they were firm on saying i needed to email in. After questioning why the adviser then hung up on me after I asked for which email I would need to send to!

This estate agent doesn't care about their tenants, they have been TERRIBLE property managers! avoid at all costs!

Please do not use this agency, they are very rude on the phone, dont get back to you . I am a landlord and this is the worst agency I have ever used. They dont market the property and dont look after student clients or landlords. stay away or you will regret it.

I was told I could move in without issue on a certain day but when I arrived to collect keys I was told I was not allowed (despite being told on the phone and sending an email two weeks before arriving). They never attempted to solve the problem and instead just feel back on their legal documents and when asked about the email I had sent (and the lack of a reply), all they could muster by way of an excuse was that the email "didn't go through"

DO NOT RENT WITH THIS COMPANY. As students in our second year we decided to rent with Homes4u and they have done nothing but try to rip us off and get extra money from us at every point. They are so busy trying to please the landlords that they will ignore problems and complaints from students, If you have unfortunately already set up to rent using homes for you make sure you take pictures of every single scratch/mark on every wall and check the inventory as they will try and grab every penny of your deposit at the end of the year. We got charged for marks on the wall despite our tenancy agreement having an allowance for fair wear and tear and the property not being painted for at least two years. Also despite leaving the property perfectly clean and spending days deep cleaning it (we have video evidence of how clean it was) we were charged for cleaning when we left, obviously just another way they can grab money off you. There were also items in the property that were there when we arrived left from old tenants (despite them having supposedly cleaned the whole property in the 24hrs from the old tenants moving out and us moving in).