Foxtons UK Property Management reviews and complaints

Experience with Foxtons has been awful to say the least. We checked out of the flat on 5 Dec, I had 3 cleaners from professional cleaning company cleaning the flat up till 12noon, the lights in the flat were on. Cleaners left I turned off all lights and left the property. The inventory clerk turned up at the property around 1:30pm so I went back to let him in, he was keen for me to go, stating there shouldn't be any issues, if there is he will let me know. He called me around 2:30 stating he couldn't turn on the sitting room lights, I stated the light switch are above the sideboard, he stated apart from this there is no other issue. He did not call me back about not being able to turn on lights. 4 days later, on 9th Dec, I heard from Foxtons via email 11 lightbulb so not working-the entire kitchen circuits not working. Foxtons claimed thatsome linens were missing. The last person in the flat was the inventory clerk on his own. I offered to go back to the flat and see for it myself. Foxtons refused. Foxtons then wanted to deduct sums for 11 lightbulbs, refusing to answer my questions about the fuse being faulty. Refusing to provide me with an electrical safety checks report. Also wanting to deduct sums for some duvet cover and pillow cases on the 15th Dec. Should not have handed over the key to the inventory clerk and left him stay in the flat on his own, they may be in cahoots with each other. Since we've moved out Foxtons have been showing the flat to potential buyers, with people coming and going. I will not let them get away with this. This may be their little trick for getting back at me for complaining about there terrible services which I won't go into here. Now I understand why Foxtons have such bad reputation being called shysters and crooks. Foxtons may think they are being clever in 'paying' back the tenant who have complained about them, but their behaviour is very short sighted. We will never rent from Foxtons nor sell properties through them in future. They have just lost out on hefty commission in selling a house in Wimbledon Village as we will never be using them again over this petty deductions. We will raise a dispute with My Deposit and have the matter decided by adjudicator. The amount that they want to deduct will be far less than the legal costs I will incur, but I will not let them get away with it that easily. There ought to be more scrutiny in their inventory check in/out process. This is one agent to avoid using ever again.

Why you do not want Foxtons to manage your property

I moved to USA and decided to rent out my apartment in Central London. I chose Foxtons to find tenants and to manage my property.

Firstly everyone needs to know this: Foxtons take ALL their commission in the first few months of your rental, and you’ll see no rent until they have collected their dues. For instance, if you have signed a two year contract with a tenant, then you will not see any rent in the first three to four months as that is Foxtons collecting ALL their commission for the entire two years first. Only after that will you start to receive monies from the rent. That way, when things go wrong, such as a tenant’s failure to pay the rent, you are one hundred percent alone in bearing the loss.
Therefore, before you even read on, ask yourselves this: what incentive does Foxtons have to manage your property with any level of competence and integrity?

So here’s my story: It is such a messy story that spans over four years that I will break it down into bullet points.

Tenancy number 1: [protected]
• Foxtons found me a tenant who was a con artist. He trashed the apartment and failed to pay me the last 6 months rent.

• My contact person at Foxtons changed so frequently that I never spoke to the same person twice. Furthermore it was impossible for me to contact a property manager at Foxtons, as they are always “in meetings.” But when my dishonest tenant wanted something fixed, Foxtons had no trouble in contacting me.

• I spent a fortune fixing things in my apartment that were suspect to say the least. A hole in the wall, a door knob that fell off. Only after the tenant left, did I realize that this animal had been doing structural damage in my apartment. Needless to say, the value of the apartment decreased and I was unable to re rent it for the same price.

[protected]
Tenant stopped paying the rent for 6 months. Of course the only person to feel this loss was me, as Foxtons had already collected their full commission at the start of the tenancy.

[protected]
Bankruptcy petition filed against tenant, delays more delays, and, two years later at my expense, this is still ongoing.

During the course of this tenancy I made a net LOSS. In otherwords this tenancy cost me money.

Tenancy number 2: [protected]
• New tenants found. Low caliber tenants, whose rent is paid for by the council. Due to devaluation of my property by previous tenant, my rent was now decreased. Foxtons ‘sold’ me these tenants, with the following argument, ‘as the council is paying the rent, at least this time you can be certain to receive your rent payments.’
So, like an idiot, who lives a ten hour flight and an eight hour time difference away, I agreed to this.

• Turns out my nearly new, high quality furniture wasn’t good enough for my free-loading, council-supported tenants. Foxtons told me that my tenants want £1000 to buy new furniture, because they didn’t like the colour of my furniture. I said no, find me new tenants. Foxtons advised that it was worth paying them £1000 rather than lose the equivalent in rent whilst searching for new tenants. So, like an idiot who lives 10 hours flight and 8 hours time difference away, I agreed. I had no way to recoup my own furniture, so have no idea what happened to it. In conclusion, this has cost me much more that £1000.

• Free-loading, council-supported tenants requested many things over this time. Paint the wall, paint the ceiling, change the curtains. I heard from Foxtons regularly with these mainly aesthetic demands.

• Foxtons forgot to pay me one month of my dues.

• Foxtons charged me twice for a large paint job performed at the request of my tenants

• Clearly my tenants had no trouble contacting my property manager at Foxtons. I on the other had had enormous trouble contacting my property manager. Whilst trying to resolve the discrepancy of why I was charged twice for a large job, thereby costing me another whole month worth of rent, my property manager ignored all my emails and phone calls.

• I contacted the person above him. My email was ignored. I contacted the person above the person above him and my email was also ignored. I phoned Foxtons and was repeatedly told that everyone was in meetings. Everyone was always in meetings.

This tenancy is still ongoing, so as yet I do not know whether I have made a net loss or net gain. Right now though, I suspect that I have made a loss, but we’ll see.

In conclusion
Foxtons will scam you. If you are buying, selling, renting or letting a property, then Foxtons shows themselves to be impressively energetic and hard working. BUT the moment you have signed that lettings contract and handed your property over to them for management, you can expect them to hand you over to a team who lives in the dark recesses of the company. A team who is careless and incompetent. A team who doesn’t care.
My advice? Find someone else to manage your property. I don’t yet know what the others are like, I’m sure they have their pros and cons, but I very much doubt that any property management set up is as well designed to scam you as Foxtons.