Townends Estate Agents Reviews 

Townends are by far, in my opinion, the worst Estate Agency out there, and have been an absolute nightmare, as tenants, to deal with. The majority are unprofessional, unreliable, utterly useless and complete liars. I will never, ever, use this company for anything ever again.

If you ever use this company then proceed with extreme caution. Dont expect to ever be called back once they have your money, don't expect property repairs to be dealt with without you chasing them persistently (over one month without hot water or heating in Dec/Jan time), dont expect documentation to be fully accurate, dont expect them to turn up to viewings but instead ask the current tenants to show you around. Do expect them to lie to put the Landlord to shame, even though they are at fault (as confirmed by the Lanlord) do expect your property to be left insecure when they have attended, do expect your property to be damaged when they have attended, do expect to speak with people who do not carry out actions they say they will. Do expect rudeness and disappointment from day 1. Do expect them to say your in arrears, when they get the date wrong on their accounts and don't even notice until you tell them....I could go on.

Townends Woking, property management and rentals in particular, should be absolutely ashamed of themselves, the last 4 years dealing with Townends Woking has been a nightmare.

Very Bad at all.
They try to be friendly until getting your holding deposit.
After that, you do not have the right to discuss anything with them.
Usually not replying after that.
Be careful this is my experience with Guildford office.

Croydon Office, waste of time! All talk and no action. Arrange a couple of viewings but forget to advise the viewings have been cancelled, typical week to week excuses by this agent!

Total lack of consideration and respect for tenants!
I strongly suggest that you avoid dealing with them at all cost, and if you cannot, check you finances very carefully - They will try to steal from their tenants (charge an inventory fee when they do not carry it for intance).
First, as soon as your tenancy has started, do not expect them to answer any of your emails (warning sign #1).
They will also try to force access (without your consent) to the property whenever they want (everyday, multiple times a day as they see fit) for visits when you have given your notice to leave - which obviously will infringe with your right to enjoy the property you pay/have paid rent for...
Ensure you know your rights and if possible, sue them! It will definitely calm them down and be a good incentive to change their culture!

This agency has the highest charges for administration and does nothing for the clients in return ,600 pounds for emailing a contract and when you call them to get help with any problems once you`ve agreed and paid a rental they don´t even reply ,this was our experience at the Guildford office so if you are thinking of renting through them ,try other agents if I was you !!!

Avoid by all means!
No communication,nobody knows anything,need to explain to each one what's the issue.Their roll is to charge yo as much as possible.Never ever again will use them.

Like many others reviewers I wish I could award minus stars for the complete lack of customer service at our local branch. In our case the letting agent went to great lengths to explain a check in service she was aware the landlord had never and would never use when trying to hard sell the property to us.The letting agreement signed by both parties contained 3 clauses specific to use of the check in service and we were then left to discover, on key handover (by the landlord late at night and not by the letting agent as we had expected) that , not only was there no check in service but the flat was also up for sale with the same branch and had been for a while...very unnerving for 1st time renters. I have since had several elusive emails from the same letting manager to my complaint about this and she has been allowed to answer my complaint about herself, which I had anticipated would be handle by her line manager. I've contacted Townends head office to specifically ask about their company policy on when they tell tenants that no inventory will be done(as the letting agent claims they err on the side of the landlord and give him/ her an opportunity right up to commencement of tenancy, to suddenly opt in to the service even if he/ she has never done so before and has told them he/ she will not be using it) I have waited the promised 3 weeeks for a Head office response and today have learnt they feel the letting agent has answered the concern fully and have closed the case- WITHOUT ANYONE COMMENTING ON THEIR SPECIFIC COMPANY POLICY... a very elusive company to deal with and very poor customer care for tenants who have paid a higher than average agency fee for very shoddy service. I would warn everyone to steer clear of such a misleading company.

I'm a Building manager of a 126 flats property , and today was delivered by post, a letter from this company, without refer the flat number only the name of the building, on this letter this company congratulated the residents for putting the property on market, most of these residents are elderly people and many of them started calling me very scared because any of them had putting the flats to sale. This kind of action is for me haressement.

Would never Let through them again...

Poor communication, never get back to you, always have to keep chasing them. They don't have any follow up procedures with anything and really do not seem to care once you are in the property. I have far too many inefficient examples to list.

I wish I could give them less than one star. These are the biggest blood sucking parasites I have ever come across. Their agents are liars of the highest order, disrespectful and insincere towards their clients who pay heavy fees for their garbage like services. Don't trust them whatever they tell you. Demand in writing every information they give you as they shamelessly lie and backtrack from every promise they make. They are only interested in your money and as soon as you have transferred their fee you are totally at their mercy. If possible try other agencies that have better reputation and avoid Townends altogether.

If I could give negative stars I would.
Agents tell you whatever they think you want to hear, branch mangers don't resolve problems and head office staff give you wrong information.
These people lied to me, wasted my time and refused to take responsibility for anything.
As soon as they have your money, you're nothing to them.
Save yourself the frustration and use another agency!
I wish I had.

Worst company ever for renting a place! The agent gave us a lot of false informatin about the place we moved in (eg. Type of heating, parking space) and when asked to solve them took ages. Some of the issues haven't been solved because the landlord didn't want to pay contractors to do the work and the agency accepted. Also the fees are higer than other agencies. Like this wasn't enough all the staff we were in contact with - highly unprofessional.

Dreadful, they took photos of our possessions when we were out, they were supposedly showing people around. Then used the photos to say it was our fault why the property was not let. Moved out two months ago, house still not let. Stay away from Townends. they are spawned from Satan.

Six months ago I moved into a house with three other tenants. After a week we realised the shower in the shared bathroom was terrible and barely usable. Shortly after, our toilet in the same bathroom broke.

We wanted to try and get both problems fixed - by getting a better shower and a working toilet. Two reasonable wishes.

Six months down the line we have had four visits from various plumbing companies, with constant promises from Townends that "we're hoping we can fit a new shower next week" and then unexplained silences or delays.

After getting nowhere with head office, I contacted the Putney branch. Someone answered the phone - even though it wasn't his job to help, he heard how frustrated I was and offered to step in.

He then went silent for a few days, but after I phoned him he told me "a new shower would be fitted next Wednesday". I spoke with head office the following week, and our property manager said "no new shower has been authorised". The man at the Putney branch has since ignored my emails.

The latest from head office is that our toilet and shower are in "satisfactory working condition" and the landlord is therefore not willing to carry out any work. The toilet is unable to flush toilet paper away. The shower is the worst any of us (or any guests) have ever used.

If I had direct contact with the landlord, a conclusion one way or another would have been reached within one week. Townends have managed to drag this issue out over several months, with no resolution, causing a lot of stress and annoyance to myself and the other tenants.

I lived in SW11 a stones throw from Wimbledon. I was new to the renting game from the tenant side. I saw a place on zoopla & contacted the agent. The agent seemed pleasant & helpful (especially as I’d have to pay all rent upfront due to poor credit history.....). She showed me a few places & then I was shown a tiny but seemingly usable one bedroom flat. The agent told me of the 6 month break clause and that I could have those terms (as I was unaware of such a clause to be honest). I agreed. They sent me a subject to contract letter via email which I had to electronically sign 1st May 2015, move in date 2nd May 2015. The document stated the term of 6 month break clause, and so I happily paid £10k knowing that if I didn’t like se25 Thornton Heath that at least I could leave and look elsewhere.
The neighbour there that I shared the main communal front door with has great mental health issues, is an alcoholic & heavy drug user often shouting racist abuse. The landlord was/is aware of him & his conduct, so too were/are the agents. There was also a rat & mice problem (saw them in the ‘daytime’.......). I applied for my 6 month break clause early & was told via the phone that I didn’t get it granted. (I was gutted and couldn’t prove anything because I couldn’t access my emails yet due to no WiFi in place at the time, I took their word as fact and just sunk in the flat, began staying in bed all day).
In January I was attacked by the neighbour, the police are aware of his many episodes and all the tenants leaving early because of how he is. I was purposely given an unsafe place to live as all they wanted was the £10k upfront. After my attack I needed my paperwork to work out my move in date etc and guess what I found? The invoice/subject to contract which features term 6 month break. I was horrified. I contacted them and told them I felt scammed as here is the proof here. They turned around and lied to me that the landlord didn’t want a break clause because of my poor credit history (told me in January.........). That’s unilateral means. So far they got away with it, but when I did a search on the address I was disgusted to see that Townends readvertised the flat before I’d even officially moved out (& from hear say I’ve heard that that tenant after me fled early too).
The lawyers fees are expensive, but I must conclude the matter legally as that was my savings, & I know they’d used tricks because the landlord lives abroad and in the space of time may 1st to May 2nd they’d told me they couldn’t get hold off her. So how did she tell them to not give me a 6 month break then? I thought them a company you could trust as they’ve been around as long as McDonald’s as I’d of been reluctant to use a newbie agent tbh smh.
Loads of us had fled that flat. And Even recently.

One of the worst agency in London. Their employees are totally unqualified and unable to manage properties and offer a serious customer relationship. In our experience they left us without a working fridge in the premises for over a month ignoring completely our claims.
They do not answer at the phone, extremely slow answering mail and completely disorganised between their offices.
Be aware of renting an house with them, because their poor management skills and their way of making business will drag you into a nightmare.

Stay away for your renting experience in london!!

Put a terrible tenant into our flat. Contract signed was 2 year fix with no break clause (we clearly should have checked more carefully as never previously come across a tenancy with no 6 month break clause). Had to evict tenant due to all kinds of issues including rent arrears etc. Guarantors document they got the tenants mother to sign turned out not to be legally compliant and worthless so we have potentially lost thousands. Then they failed to comply with their own complaints procedure. Awaiting a final response to our formal complaint which is now days overdue according to their - respond within 15 working days.

Worst experience I have had renting through an agent.

The property managers were worse than useless. They didn't answer phones at the office, or emails. They are genuinely rude and dismissive. Do not complete repairs, constantly lie, obstructive. The people in the office haven't a clue.

The service stops the moment the contract is signed. I would advise against using this agent as a landlord or tenant

There is a lot of five star review on allagents - but only average 1.5 star review on reviewcentre.com. Suspicious!

Threatening and abusive practices.
Please avoid any transaction neither as a tenant nor as a landlord with them.
Under their abusive practices:
1. They will impose their clauses as opposed to the agreed clauses by the landlord and the tenant
2. They will lie putting in each party's mouth not agreed conditions that make a negotiation very difficult.
3. They don't follow your instructions, they don't stick to the mandate you give them as a landlord
4. The overall purpose is to get another fee on top of the very expensive ones they charge.
5. They wait until the deadline (i.e. moving date, renewal date) to force both parties to accept their imposed clauses even if tenant and landlord have not agreed to them.
6. They use threatening language misusing current regulations to achieve their purpose. If you are not a lawyer you might fall in their bullyish trap.

Liars, it's the worst kind of Estate Agents you could deal with
As a tenants, they keep threatening us about speaking to Landlord for having access to our property even during moving out!

No respect of Tenancy Agreements and the 24h agreements

Don't trust them at any costs!