“Extremely Disappointing Experience – Avoid! ⭐
I placed an order for doors three weeks before my scheduled carpentry work, making it very clear that the doors had to be delivered on the Friday before the work started on Monday. The company assured me this would happen.
However, the doors never arrived, and I received no call or email informing me of any issue. As a result, I lost £2,000 paid to my carpenter, who had already taken time off, and £500 for a skip that was completely wasted. The lack of communication was shocking, and their customer service was unhelpful and indifferent when I tried to resolve the issue.
This has been a terrible experience, causing unnecessary stress and financial loss. If you need reliable service, look elsewhere!”
“Financial department keep hounding me for unpaid rent, even though I can prove I paid it, and have invoices from them for the amount I have paid.
Their communication skills are unbelievably bad”
“I would not recommend this agency. They appear to prioritize the interests of landlords over tenants, lacking impartiality in their decision-making. My entire deposit was almost deducted for reasons that seemed unreasonable and unjustified.”
“Their systems are awful. Portal regularly not accessible and I've now been waiting over 2 weeks for them to pay me the rent. Apparently the tenant paid it from a different bank account and they have yet to find it! Now their system is updating (for 8 days) so I have to wait longer. In the meantime I get nonsense emails from credit control saying the rent hasn't been paid, when they've already told me they have evidence that is has been paid. I pay them to take the stress out of renting, yet they create it. I've now made a formal complaint. Very disappointing and infuriating”
“I am writing to express my serious concerns regarding the performance of LEADERS as my property management agency. Unfortunately, my experience has been extremely disappointing, and I feel compelled to share my feedback, particularly for the benefit of other landlords who may consider using their services.
Over the past four months, my tenant has failed to pay rent, and despite this, They have not taken appropriate action. They have not issued any formal notices to the tenant, nor have they made any effort to gain access to the property in order to assess the situation. As a landlord, I find it unacceptable that they have not secured a single payment from the tenant during this period.
Moreover, I initially signed up for their Premier Service, which I believed would ensure a higher level of professionalism and responsiveness. However, this service was abruptly cancelled once they became aware of the tenant's credibility issues, which is concerning given that it was their responsibility to conduct thorough vetting prior to signing the tenant.
Additionally, I have experienced constant changes in my assigned property agent, which has resulted in a lack of continuity and effective communication. Despite the property abit far from the office, it is still their duty to manage it efficiently, for which they are compensated on monthly charges. Their reluctance to visit the property and take necessary actions has only exacerbated the situation.
In light of these issues, I strongly advise potential clients to reconsider partnering with LEADERS. My experience has been nothing short of frustrating, and I sincerely hope that this feedback is taken seriously.”
“Dreadful Experience
We had a massive mould issue which was reported in time via email and portal, and after agreeing to fix the issue, the person responsible for this matter Katie, decided not to fix as it was to expensive for the landlord.
We are going through lawyers as all the mould, coldness, no ventilation, poor insulation has affected our clothes, food and health.
Read review as the majority of people receive the same dreadful treatment with no customer service at all or if any most likely comes from artificial intelligence generated tools.
Almost all positive reviews come from customers that are at the initial search and find properties as the sales team are very good at selling, asking then for a positive review to help with the grow of their career and afterwards, at the first problem with the property everyone disappear.”
“the moment they took over the building managment everything went down.... horrible experience.
Getting deposit back was a mission impossible.
Being without hot water last winter for over 3 months
If anyone interested to see how they handle the work just ask, tons of photos and videos available.
So if tenant, do not pay last rent, let thgem take deposit otherwise goodluck to you.
If Landlord, stayaway, the are going to f. it up !!!”
“This platform is a prime example of poor service and leaders.co.uk. They seem more interested in taking your hard-earned money than actually providing support. I regret not researching them more thoroughly beforehand. I ended up losing $25,000 in just a month. Thankfully, I filed a complaint with M A D A C O V I . C O, and they helped me recover my funds last week.”
“If I could give a minus I would I have been waiting 8 weeks for a deposit to be returned, tenant has emailed them to release the deposit to me, takes days to get a response to an email and then each one contradicts a previous one, I am beyond frustrated now, raised a complaint and told that will take longer due to Christmas period at the point now of reporting to ombudsman’s as it’s an absolute joke! Cheek of it is then get an email can we help you relet your flat! My advice avoid if you want anything done in a normal time frame”
“Leaders Burgess Hill. Absolutely terrible experience with them particularly Alex Hodge. Very dishonest and have only the interests of the landlord at heart. If you're a tenant forget it.”
“I agree with all the bad reviews. I had my house with them and they are truly incompetent, management are awful. Company is just after your money!
Don't use this company if you are a landlord!”
“Dispicable treatment over maintenance charge. Refused to engage. Figures they claim are owed are completely fictitious. I have sent irrefutable evidence and yet they are still proceeding with legal action. Meanwhile, once smart flats are looking tired and shabby. Lazy, heartless and money-grabbing.”
“Although this company has now been taken over by Leaders and trade under their name, it was formely know as Alan Francis, which is the company who took my property on. The staff still work there, under the name of Leaders now. I feel obliged to write this review to expose the numerous shortcomings of this company. I can substantiate everything I have claimed on this review and welcome anyone who wishes to see this for themselves. I sigend up to this company through a mutual friend of both this company and myself to manage my 6 bedroom HMO (House of Multiple Occupancy). This happened to be the worst decision I have made during my time as a landlord. They presented themselves as very professional and understanding when they wanted to take on my property. Unfortunately I soon came to realise that this was a deceptive ploy when issues began with tenants they had placed into the property. I was being notified of numerous claims of damage being caused in a perfect, well-maintained property as I am very house proud. To add to this problem, the police had been involved to remove an unknown individual who was residing at the property. Any maintenace work was carried out to an absolutely embarrassing standard which would be fit for any 10 year old to be proud of. All this had to be paid for from my own pocket to be rectfied after paying for it initially by their so called skilled tradesman. I had two very longterm, relaible and decent tenants who I lost in quick succession after giving my property to Alan Francis to manage due to their complete disregard of the condition and wellfare of the individuals living there. Whenever I called to speak to either Mia Anderson or Jack Hurley, they were always conveniently 'in a meeting' or 'out the office'. They never returned any of my request for them to call me back when they were avaialble and everything simply always fell on deaf ears. When I began to ask to speak to the manager to express my disgust with how I was being treated, they simply always had an excuse: 'not in the office, 'away on holiday' etc.
Unfortunatley the complications didn't stop here for me. When I served notice to terminate my contract with these habitual and useless liars, my deposits were never returned to me, even after turning up to the office five weeks from the end of my contract date. When I finally met with Jack Hurley as I turned up to the office unannounced, I insisted I am not leaving until the deposits are returned. He went upstairs for 5 minutes and when he came back he told me striaght to my face that 'it's all done and will take a few days for it to come through'. I left the office with a huge sigh of relief as I was no longer associated with these con-artists. When a week passed and no deposit arrived into my DPS account, I took it upon myself to call their deposit company (TDS) who had told me nothing had been instructed by Alan Francis (now trading as Leaders).
It took me four long weeks of repairs to get my property back to it's former standard and in a habitable condition. When I made reports of the damage caused by thier tenants who were supposedly vetted, I was met with nothing but silence and the blame was put on the third party company (Sai Aryan) who had sub-let the property and I have not been paid a single penny to this date.
This is a very incompetent company who is only good for collecting your money and deducting their costs. I have been taken for a long ride by these rogues and can't stress enough for any newcomers to stay well clear of this horrendous company. Instead of having a peace of mind instructing an agent to act on my behalf, I have made a significant financial loss.
They have been very unresponsive to my calls and emails and I am really looking forward to their responce to this feedback as it will be the quickest responce I have ever recieved. I would just like to remind you that I have attempted to speak to the manager on numerous occasions, but was given the runaround. If you want to be disgraced, shamed and be treated like pond-life then simply do business with this company. Please take note how this company responds to negative feedback. They DO NOT respect every customer as an individual and their reply to feedback looks carelessly the same (copy and pasted). Absolute careless money-grabbers.”
“All online, no people. Even when dropping keys back, branch was supposed to be open, but door was locked, so ended up posting keys through letterbox.
As a tenant I found the experience terrible. No follow up on issues reported.
3 weeks to fix a outside door lock to secure a property is just one example.
2 weeks for a wasps nest in eaves that stopped us opening bedroom windows in summer and actually knocked a 2" piece of plaster off the wall due to hive vibration. Patched that myself as I'd given up at that point.
Still waiting on the light fixture fitting. Parts are there to replace internal faulty hardware found at start, but electrician to fit it has been missing since February.
Their paperwork is ridiculous. They don't know the properties. Mine was marketed with GCH but it was on OIL and they tried blaming the landlord.
In short, I wouldn't use Leaders to lead lemmings off a cliff.”
“Do not use this Lettings agency if you are a landlord. There is absolutely no staff accountability, no adherence to policy or procedure, unbelievably poor communication with clients and completely unprofessional approach to Lettings. There are many alternative good agents to choose from at a much lower percentage fee so please beware if Leaders.”
