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2 reviews for Whitegates
All Reviews
Whitegates
7/6/2010
1 photo
This branch of Whitegates are based in Woolton, however they provide services across the whole of the North of England.
I rented a property with this branch last year and if I'm honest, I've had better service from estate agents in the past, and since then. The staff were quite pleasant and adequately helpful, when they were in the office. It seems that whenever you call looking to speak to the person dealing with your enquiry, they aren't in, and hardly get back to you if you leave a message.
Another issue that I had was that when I initially went to view the property, a member of the lettings team do not accompany you but simply arrange the viewing with the current tenant.
The property I rented was lovely, and I had no problems whilst I was there, but I didn't do any dealings with the agent, but direct through the landlord.
Whitegates
22/7/2010
We bought our house through Whitegates in Woolton in 2005 and things went smoothly enough that we decided to let it out through them in late 2008 when we couldn't sell it due to the downturn.
Victoria from Whitegates turned up in her Porsche and pretty much promised that every single detail would be taken care of if we paid for their "fully managed service". The inferred peace of mind is why we ultimately went with Whitegates after seeing a few other estate agents, as we were going to be moving up to Scotland and didn't want the hassle of being long distance landlords.
The problems started pretty much straight away, with several calls from Whitegates in the first month saying they'd had enquiries and asking if I'd be available to let people view the property. This was really frustrating - we were 400 miles away and they had the keys along with an up-front payment for their "Fully Managed Service".
We desperately needed to let the house out, yet Whitegates failed to show any urgency or an understanding of what they were contracted to do for us. Potential tenants should have been able to view the house the day they enquired, rather than waiting around whilst Whitegates needlessly contacted us.
When they finally found us some tenants some four months after we'd given them the keys, they managed to find and "vet" a tenant who cancelled their standing order after just one month in the house. For the five months that followed we had to chase Whitegates each time the payment was late, with them claiming to be "on top of things".
Considering Whitegates rarely returned phone calls or answered email in a timely fashion, that couldn't be further from the truth. And, as Jemma P says in her review, we were quite often told that the person who was dealing with our property wasn't in the office.
The late rent issue was finally resolved after we made the effort of going down to Liverpool and speaking to Whitegates face to face over the matter. They then went to our tenant and got her to sign a new standing order form so the rent was paid in time.
Things went quiet for a few months after that, up until Whitegates sent us just 17 days notice that our tenant was moving out. Seeing as we'd never seen the contract, even after asking several times, we had no idea they could just walk away with less than a month's notice after being in the property a year. We were only sent the contract after debating this point with them - it was no wonder they didn't want us seeing it before then.
They really did give us the impression that they were siding with the tenant over us, despite having been paid for their services and taking a cut of the rent each month.
The tenants moving out brought an end to our contract with Whitegates for their "Fully Managed Service" or "Pack of Lies" as I like to call it. But unfortunately not the end of our disappointment with them.
After the tenants had been checked out of our property and had their deposit refunded in full, we were assured by Whitegates that the house was in good condition.
However, a couple of months later when we came to Liverpool to check, we found a hole had been punched in the main bedroom door - not something that should be missed in an exit inspection. There was also a huge pile of mail on the floor for our previous tenants from debt collection agencies - clearly confirming that Whitegates vetting procedures leave a lot to be desired.
My hopefully final encounter with Whitegates Woolton was when I went into the office to ask them how they'd missed the hole being punched in the door. I was told that the person who dealt with it wasn't in the office - their stock excuse when they're trying to dodge responsibility.
I said they were useless as ever, and Victoria told me I was a rude man as I walked out of the door.
Not rude - just honest. Whitegates in Woolton are without a doubt the worst estate agent I have ever had the misfortune to deal with.
Avoid them like the plague.