Elms Estates Reviews 6

One of the worst estate agents I have ever dealt with.

Avoid them at all costs, they have no interest in helping you they just want your money.

Reasonable experience overall, staff very friendly but not that helpful with finding a flat

Disappointing, I'm afraid. They might be good for landlords/tenants, I wouldn't know about that, but trying to sell my flat in a prime location? Shoddy, to say the least. After a few frustrating months with nothing happening, and only one derisory offer, we sacked them off and went with someone else who sold it (4 good offers on the first day of viewings). How did this happen? Well, the new estate agent took care over the photos and the blurb, they garnered interest by slotting all the viewings into one afternoon. Guys, come on, it's really not that hard. Genuinely wasted months with Elms. As is typical with most East End agents, no care, no motivation, just poor.

Good and professional service. Shaun and Husnain were incredibly helpful and responsive. Would recommend any time.

ELMS is extremely disappointing. Dealing with them was quite acceptable until the coronavirus crisis arrived. Avoid this agency at all costs, because when it comes difficult times or you are in trouble they will take advantage on you. They don’t cooperate, they just watch for their own benefit. Everything is about putting obstacles and muddying the waters. Don't trust them, their tone has been very threatening.

We are four people in a house, some of us lost our jobs and the others got in furlough. As a result, our source of income has been reduced and we did let them know our delicate situation from the beginning. For personal reasons we had to return to our countries of residence and stay with our families.

We tried to negotiate with ELMS, I don’t want to give names but they answer late, rude and they took advantage of our situation. We asked them to put our house up for rent and we wanted to speak to our Landlord to break the contract, but they avoided our query and we are still paying the rent after 3 months, even when the house is empty (rent + supply bills + council tax). It seems like they are not making big efforts to let the property or help us, as they are requesting our payment every month, instead of finding new tenants to replace us.

Elms Estates is, in our experience, one of the worst places for customer service and property management. My partner and I lived in an Elms Estates managed rental property in Mapledene Road E8, London, between 2016 and 2019. During our 3-year tenancy, the following are only some of the most extravagant highlights of Elms’ substandard service:

Coming into our property without prior notice or authorisation using the management agency’s own keys. When I arrived home after work one day, I noticed our laundry had been moved around in the house (!!!) - after questioning this, the estate agent admitted of having come into the flat without authorisation or notice.
Large water leak left untreated. In the living room of our property, there was a very large water leak caused by - it was assumed - a blocked gutter. It took us over 10 months of repeated complaining to come to the conclusion that the agency did not intend to repair the leak despite their promises. This made the living room unappealing, let alone being a health risk.
Cracks in walls. My partner and I made attempts at bringing cracking across several walls of the property to the agency’s attention, but these were either ignored or no action was ever taken to rectify them.
Broken radiator. Despite us notifying that the radiator in the halfway was broken, the agency did not resolve it.
Missed appointments: on occasion, Elms “arranged” for someone to come and take a look at faults and disrepairs. However, such appointments did not hold and without any prior warning, the service person just didn’t turn up. Wasted time.
Rude and illogical communication - in general, there are more excuses this agency will throw in your face for its mismanagement than there are pubs in East London. Usual ones include someone else to blame - whether a colleague or a third party contractor.
Finally, a deduction was made to our deposit for cleaning fees (we had previously paid for our own end of tenancy clean). I accepted the deduction but once I saw photo evidence and complained to the manager of all of the above problems, their response was (drumroll please) that I was blackmailing them for intending to publish my review.

The above list is not exhaustive. Please think carefully before you embark on this journey, whether as a tenant or landlord. I can imagine service will be better nearly anywhere else than here, so thank you to the whole team. Lucky to be out.