Black & White

Please please don't use this agency! I have used them for couple of years and had a terrible experience. They are rubbish, Please check their company reports before you appoint them. I had to go to property ombudsman and trading standards agency to resolve the issues with them. They are not even worth giving one star.

Thanks a lot for everything. Especially Ben Somes. He was very helpful. I am very glad that I have used Black & White. Would highly recommend.

Went to see a house to rent, loved it and paid a weeks rent plus solicitor fees, to have it taken off the market. This property was with 2 estate agents. A few days later I noticed it was still on the rental market. Phoned to ask why and was told someone else was viewing it with the other estate agent. It was then up to the landlord to choose. Maybe if it had been taken off the market we may of moved into it. Was then shown another house agreed to rent, a few days later after checking the landlord allowed dogs was told he had changed his mind. Still waiting to get my deposit back. Seriously not impressed. Alot of stress and having to chase estate agent for information.

I contacted Black & White Estate Agents to arrange a viewing under short notice and they were kind enough to oblige. Their Agent, Ben Somes, was extremely knowledgeable about the property and the area, and assisted us throughout the entire process - he was always available to discuss any queries I had. I was in a rush to move in before starting employment and therefore appreciated their ability and willingness to sort out all necessary paperwork and arrange for me to move in within 1 week of viewing the property. I highly recommend their service.

Honestly the worst customer experience of my life. False promises, unrealistic timescales, ignored emails, rude staff. Avoid them at all costs.

Fair and friendly estate agents. House in lovely order when received keys. No bother at all left at peace. Had trouble with the boiler and it was sorted same day. Can't fault them really. David is great to work with.

The woman who telephone me about a garage key was very rude as I told her we did not have a garage and she insisted we did as it was attached to the conservatory. She did not check the address before starting conversation and was very rude when I insisted we did not have a garages and I asked her the address of the property and it was not where I lived. She went quiet and then said "alright" and hung up the call NO SORRY EXPRESSED HOW RUDE

Not sure what the other comments are about, but for someone who has just moved back to the UK, B&W have helped us every step of the way. From securing us a property we wanted, to fixing any issues we had with our house, they were completely reliable and trustworthy. Thank you again B&W for your exceptional service.

I moved out with my partner through black & white. we had found a home we liked and went through the sales process that was relatively smooth. the house was up for sale however we were assured that this was for sale to another landlord and that we would not be affected by the sale. We lived in the house for approximately 6 weeks when we were told that we had to move as the house was sold and the buyer wanted to live in the property.

I was quite annoyed by this but gave black & white the benefit of the doubt as they claimed they had no idea that the buyer would want to move in. They confirmed that they would do everything they can to help us and would either find us a new property or refund our tenancy checks. This is where things began to go downhill. Whilst living in the property, there were 2-3 plumbing issues which clearly showed a lack of maintenance that he claimed was done regularly.

The garden was overgrown which he claimed would be sorted and the sheds were filled to the top with other tenants previous belongings. The house itself was nice but clearly not been maintained or cared for. We repaired and improved multiple aspects of the home in the short time we lived there to make it habitable. We began looking and found another property with another estate agents so requested the tenancy checks back.

Black & white had not been trying to help us find a new property and was beginning to ignore our contact attempts. It took a lot of back and forth before we finally got the tenancy check money back. Once we moved out of the property we were awaiting our deposit and they had informed us that they had taken 85 for a cleaning bill. He provided images of the apparent areas that needed cleaning and these areas were either spotless or had the smallest imperfection (such as a card clothing tag).

The house was spotless and in better condition than when we had moved in. I requested a copy of the invoice for the supposed cleaning bill and as expected they said they would provide this and never did. David is the owner of black & white and it astounds me that he is able to run a business. I have emails from this man saying we are 'well out of order', using capital letters to imply a raise of voice and just generally being unprofessional and immature.

His customer services skills are appalling and the other reviews reflect this. I had to threaten to take him to the ombudsman on multiple occasions before he agreed to be reasonable and refund the cleaning deposit. He seems to take advantage of people who are willing to just accept his terms and begins to panic when they decide to take it further.

To conclude, after 3 or so months after moving out of the property. We have had a constant battle with David for him to see sense and pay back our cleaning bill. He is completely incompetent and I would most definitely advise to avoid this company. Take heed of the other reviews and don't let him bully you into paying a cleaning bill that seems to be common practice after looking through other peoples experiences.

Worst estate agents I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. Completely and utterly incompetent, rude and dishonest. Emails take weeks to be answered, if you phone and leave a message no one will ever phone you back (unless it's to get money from you, then they are very quick to get in touch) Maintenance and repairs will take weeks and weeks to be dealt with and only if you constantly chase them. Took over 3 months to get our deposit back and they still kept just under 300 to pay for carpet cleaning, (we had already had the carpets professionally cleaned, but apparently not to their "standards", although they never provided any proof of actually having them cleaned so I'd say it's just a way to make money off people) and then replaced the living room carpet due to a stain, which we were up front and honest about when we left and were happy to pay towards the replacement.

So why charge us to clean a carpet that you are then having replaced? Again, no proof of any of this work carried out and we never received a check out inventory of any kind. When we originally viewed the property we were told it came with a dishwasher which was a nice surprise, only to then find out when we collected the keys that it didn't actually work and would not be fixed or replaced or even removed!

So we had a useless broken dishwasher sitting in the kitchen. The washing machine didn't work either and it took over 3 weeks before the landlord came to fix it. Bedroom window leaked water every time it rained, this was never fixed. During strong winds last year, a huge portion of our back fence blew down and it took another 2 weeks for the landlord to come out and fix it (we have a dog and the neighbours had cats and a dog, so we couldn't let our dog into the garden without being on a lead). when he did, my partner spent 4 hours during his day off work, to help repair the fence. The list goes on and on, so do yourself a favour and stay far away from this absolutely awful company. If I could give 0 stars I would.