Landlords rated higher than lettings agents in this year’s Rate Your Landlord survey, organised by the Universities of Sussex and Brighton Students’ Unions.
In all areas of comparison, landlords came out on top. These included Helpfulness, Politeness, Contactability, Repairs and Value for Money.
Landlords were more than four times as likely to be rated ‘very good’ in Helpfulness than letting agents, and letting agents were more than twice as likely to be rated ‘fairly’ or ‘very poor’ in the Contactability section.
Although Homelets say on their website that they are ‘able to offer a service second to none’, they received a satisfaction rating of only 25 percent from respondents, as did other letting agents such as Just Lets and Kendrick Property Services.
Of all letting agents, the highest satisfaction rating went to MTM Property services with 62 percent.
The survey co-ordinated yearly by the Students’ Union Welfare Officer, provides a lot of information helpful to those looking for accommodation.
The highlights of the survey, accessible on the Students’ Union website, www.sussexstudent.com, deal with issues such as ‘Finding Accommodation’ as well as a comparison of student experiences with landlords and lettings agents.
This year’s survey, co-ordinated by Welfare Officer Jo Goodman, was open to students from both Sussex and Brighton universities and had a total of 580 respondents. The most interesting findings of this survey are in the ‘Landlords vs. Lettings Agents’ section.
Jo Goodman’s final advice in light of the survey was to “never rush into a contract before you know you’re getting a good deal. You can get your contract checked either at the Students’ Union Advice and Representation Centre or the university’s Housing Office.”
“Always try to go through the Housing Office’s Studentpad database to ensure the best results.”
Please note that the results and information are from what respondents have given and should not be considered an objective judgement on any letting agent.
