Accommodation London

This company preys upon young travellers who don't know their rights or what is acceptable from a London/UK rental company/property. We paid a ridiculously high fee for a "garden property" (a SHED) for a couple months in 2002 (yes. I'm still bitter 20 yrs on). The "room" was so terrible we eventually requested to be moved, but were then placed in a small, grimy room in a smelly building with a gross entry, a shared, dirty bathroom and revolting shower. Oh, and we saw our first dead body ever on the road outside the front property.
We were told there simply were not other options available for people looking to let for under a year period. What liars.
They had us sign contracts upon arrival (literally 'straight off the boat' - v jetlagged) - I had a number of questions about some of the items I wasn't comfortable with in the contract and the 'greeter' ASSURED us that the contract just has a bunch of generic stuff in it that doesn't actually apply to us, and we didn't need to read it. Yes, this was a massive red flag - unfortunately though I wanted to walk away and just find a hostel temporarily, the girl I was travelling with (who worked in rental properties in the US) assured me she was confident they weren't dodgy. Let me just say we are no longer friends.
When we paid our final month's rent, we were told to come to their property at a certain time. There was a queue of 15 people we had to wait for in order to hand over our 'cash' (we were not advised we would be charged a fee for cc - and 3 of us were sharing a property, we didn't want to be carrying that kind of cash - I'm *CERTAIN* they don't report the full amount to the taxman). More young people just kept turning up behind us. When we got to the office, they made up a ton of fake charges - nothing that HAD been mentioned in the original, crazy 'contract', and then told us we owed additional fees because we WERE 'wedded' to the contract we signed (that we were explicitly advised wasn't relevant). Our original greeter who lied to us was present - I went mental. I called him out. And, I walked out of the office to ask each of the 15 further young people queuing up in the hall behind us if they told them the same rubbish as what they told us. EVERYONE in the queue said they had the same experience. Gentle hysteria was bubbling. The Accommodation Scumdon peeps finally relented just to keep me from exposing the truth to the rest of the crowd.
Unbelievable. Do Not Give Them Your Time, Money, or Trust

Accommodation London markets itself as a pleasant, inexpensive housing option for people starting out in London. And it is, for one week.

I'm from the States, and I was panicking thinking about where I would live once I arrived in London, which happened last November. I searched several hostel web sites and found Accommodation London, which offers both short-term and long-term housing, mostly beds, private rooms and studios. I signed up for one week and stayed at its Anson house in Brent. Everything went well enough, so I decided to get long-term accommodation.

The manager drove me around and showed me private rooms for about £140/week. In my head, I was thinking, OK, so for one month it would be £140 times 4. Wrong, it's £140 times 52 divided by 12, which is technically accurate but I had never seen anyone do that. Whatever. I needed a place so, I signed for six months. That's when it all went down hill.

When I arrived at the property, which was different from the properties they show short-term renters, I realised several things. First, the bathrooms do not have showers AND toilets. Instead, there are shower rooms and there are toilet rooms. Pretty annoying. Then, your bedroom door slams shut on you, so you have this slamming door thing to battle every time you want to go to the kitchen or the bathroom, er, I mean toilet room or shower room. But those are just annoyances.

Far worse is how this company neglects safety, violates the law and preys upon people new to the country who don't know the laws.

With regards to safety, the company does not change the locks to the rooms. That means that people who lived in your room before you, could have key access to your stuff if they made a copy of the key before they turned it in. In my new house with Accommodation London, two Italian travellers (living in separate rooms) had about £5,000 worth of photographic equipment stolen, and there was no evidence of forced entry. Obvious conclusion: They just walked in with their old key. When the police came and spoke with the manager about this breach of security, he took offence and started criticising the forensics team. He mocked and asked a veteran investigator if she was new to the force. Very mature.

In terms of breaking the law, Accommodation London does not pay its TV licencing fee and suckers its tenants to pay it instead, even though tenants are not required to pay the fee if they weren't the ones who installed the TV. As I write this, the board is opening an investigation into this aspect of Accommodation London's business practices.

Far worse is how the company will force a tenant out even if that tenant has a letter from a local housing authority stating it can't do that. My friend got laid off and tried to reach an agreement with Accommodation London to either return him his deposit (one month's rent) or use the deposit as rent for one more month. Accommodation London said no, which it has a right to do. What it wasn't allowed to do, but did anyway, was evict my friend without a court order. The company says that it doesn't have to comply with tenancy rights laws because it considers itself a holiday-letting company. Well, the local citizen advice reviewed the contract my friend signed and declared it sham. A representative wrote a letter using that word exactly. You can't say you're a holiday-letting company and offer accommodation for months, even years, he said. Because my friend was unemployed he was able to get a free solicitor to get an injunction against the company to let him back in the room. The company also threw away his stuff, which is obviously also illegal.

I suspect there are several other housing companies around London that have the same lack of ethics. My advice is the following:

First, find a place that will let you out of a tenancy agreement if you give sufficient warning, like a month, and doesn't tie you to some arbitrary date.

Second, don't sign a long-term tenancy agreement that purports to be holiday letting. The two don't go together. Holiday letting is for people staying a few days, maybe weeks, not months. A long-term, "holiday-letting" agreement is a clear sign the company thinks it's above the law.

Third, ask stupid questions. How are the bathrooms? Do you change the keys when someone moves out? How is the kitchen? How many people live here? What happens if I am unhappy? I call them stupid questions, because you won't think to ask them, but they end up being so important.

Fourth, don't assume because it's a large company the process will be better. In fact, it could be worse. In the case of Accommodation London, it doesn't accept checks and charges you extra for paying by credit card or with cash! It won't charge you extra if you pay with a building society's banker's draft, but, wait, you need to be living here long-term to get an account at a building society. That's when you ask yourself, I thought I was holiday letting?

Accommodationlondon.net are potentially one of the worse companies in London. The list of problems and complaints could make up a lengthy novel. But in summary, if you like rude staff who treat you like the scum of the earth, hundreds of pounds of unjust fees, and substandard accommodation that is a health risk to the public, then you will love this place. They are clearly avoiding tax by demanding rent is paid in cash, for which they charge you £12 just to do so (I have reported them to HMRC who have said they are aware of them, and are investigating). Oh and they don't tell you what day of the month they will collect rent, and if you are just minutes late, say goodbye to another £30! The houses are filthy dirty and never cleaned (Despite paying £20 a month for it). It costs £4 just to use a washing machine. The WIFI doesn't work 99% of the time. The staff don't even tell you their names! They have a hidden office with no address. And if you dare complain they don't respond! Oh and then they charge you another £25 just to get your bond back! This is on top of ridiculous "letting fees". They make you sign a "Holiday Letting Agreement" even if you sign a 6-12 month lease (This is illegal and has been confirmed by a lawyer, who reported them to the local councils in which they operate). Anyone wanting to live in London, I am begging you, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! You will regret every single day of it.