A "stranger" has a key to my house. Martin and Co don't care.

5UB said:
uZm2V1u.jpg


Martin and Co claim that this is dodgy paint work in the contract. Strange considering it is still wet 5 months later. And in some areas the paint is coming off.
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FYI this is likely to be caused by condensation in the air rather than damp coming through the walls. You can buy air humidity meters that measure the temperature and humidity and work out the dew point at which you get liquid water - just search for "thermo hygrometer" on your favourite online retailer, they can be had for under £30

The simplest quick fix for this is to turn up your heating and/or open a couple of windows at opposite ends of your property to get some air flow through your place. This especially applies if your place is quite old and has been modernised with things like double-glazing - this tends to stop the place 'breathing' and turns it into a hermetically sealed box, making the condensation worse. If you have extractor fans in your bathroom and kitchen make sure you use them when cooking/showering, and don't air-dry clothes inside if at all possible (noting the towel over the door in the pic I quoted).

I have a very old house (1840s) and suffered quite badly from damp until I started following some of the advice from here: http://www.heritage-house.org/about-condensation.html
 
neoboy said:
The "buy to let" lot were mostly just useless plonks who fancied themselves as real businessmen thinking it's an easy buck and thought that houses will run by themselves. Agencies were mostly an unnecessary overhead that added to the cost of rent and did little to resolve anything.
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I think its more the person who's the landlord, my old landlord (who got Martin & co to do some of the management) was ok in the beginning and then became a snobby *** after 6 months. Came round for an inspection while we were out (we said it was ok....:rolleyes:) and commented that we should have made our bed and picked up our dirty clothes from the bathroom...:confused:

My current landlord I deal direct with no agencies involved whatsoever, he doesn't live in the country (Italy) and is 100x better than my previous landlord. Any issues that arise (only 2 so far) he's dealt with within a day and got engineers out as soon as possible. Luckily he rented before and hates agencies so is happy to do things himself.

Just had to change the locks myself as the gf lost her keys :rolleyes:. Very unlikely for anyone who picks them up to know where we live (block of flats with a separate key for the front door) but changed them just incase. Not gonna bother advising the landlord and will probably change the locks back if we ever have to move out.
 
Is it a basement flat? If it is, with that damp I'd be looking elsewhere as it costs a fair bit to sort so probably won't happen anytime soon.
Regardless the advice before is good too.
 
I'm with Martin & Co too,

2 weeks ago the same thing happened to me, though I don't think I can prove it. My girlfriend got a text at 5pm one day 'reminding' us of an inspection the following day (I wasn't contacted, even though I'm the lead tenant). I told her to phone them in the morning and let them know that they're required to give 24 hours notice and that they weren't welcome to do the inspection. She did this and they said it was fine, they'd re-arrange. They haven't re-arranged and I suspect they came round anyway, because the door was locked differently that day (gf actually couldn't get in - she sat outside waiting for me to get home to unlock the door as its dodgy sometimes - this time I guess it was particularly stiff because they managed to lock it differently somehow).

We've had all sorts of issues with them regarding lack of contact. Before we moved in we put as a condition of our tenancy that there should be a freezer installed as there wasn't one already and we'd be bringing frozen food. Despite many assurances that there had been one put in was there one there on moving day? was there ****. The landlord actually had to do it himself in the end. And he lives in abu dhabi!

It's easier to talk to them face to face by walking into their offices because they will never call you back. Even then we've been given excuses to send us away at the office like "oh the printer isn't working" (when asking for a copy of a document) and "so and so isn't here right now, i'll make a note" etc.

Now that we're in, we're in.. but I'm dreading anything going wrong or moving out because we'll have to deal with them again.. At least here in Scotland our deposit is protected etc.

5UB, just do everything by the book. record contact, get copies of what you need, get them to sign things. Their word isn't worth anything as I'm sure you know.
 
Haven't read every reply in this post, so apologies if this has been said, but If you want to take things further the first thing to do is put in a formal complaint to Martin & Co.

Their complaints procedures states...

If you have a complaint about the service that you have received from a Martin & Co local office you should put your concerns in writing to the Martin & Co office concerned. The correspondence will be acknowledged within 3 working days. The matter will then be investigated and a full response sent to you within 15 working days. If you feel the matter remains unresolved you need to address your complaint to the proprietor at the relevant Martin & Co office, marked for the attention of the proprietor, who will conduct an investigation and will give a final viewpoint.


If things don't get resolved to your satisfaction after this you can then take the complaint to the property ombudsman, as Martin & Co are members.

The property ombudsman will then look at your complaint (you should include a copy of your formal complaint that you submitted to Martin and Co) and decide whether they have a case to answer for.

I recently took a letting agent, who managed a property for me, to the property ombudsman and won the complaint.
 
5UB said:
Looks like I am going to have to, I moved 5 months ago... So annoying.
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If its of any use we used rocket rentals when the fiancée and I moved into a flat in Newcastle a few years back (The Mill off enderley street by the A34) and they seemed to be really good throughout everything.. Smaller, local company, I think their offices are in Wolstanton still, not far from OCUK HQ.
 
1. It is illegal for a landlord or agent to enter a property without consent.
It is NOT unlawful to change your own locks.
Those shown are a doddle, cost you a fiver and 5 mins to change. 1 screw,
Ask if you want more info.
 
Get a kango and drill an enormous trench by the door with a rug over it. When you come home you will have the dastardly intruder at your mercy. They will put the lotion on thier skin or they will get the hose again. If it backfires you can always plug it up with a load of concrete!


:D
 
Indeed, and when you tell them, 'it rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again' make sure to use your happiest, magician face, maybe with a 'hey presto' style hand guesture as you produce a bottle of lotion...
 
Boiler doesn't work now. No hot water, and no heating.

http://imgur.com/a/IWKeu

This just gets better and better. - Anyone from the photo above know what the problem/fix could be? Contacting Martin and Co will just be useless as usual.

The Martin&Co don't care list:

- Strangers entering the property without mine or landlord/agency's consent.
- Damp and mold around the house, in the bedrooms and under the stairs.
- No heating or hot water, as boiler is broken.
 
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