As a landlord of a number of properties that have been let with Lawsons, I have around 5 years experience to base this honest review upon.
With view to keeping the review unbiased and accurate I'll start with the strengths. They have found some good tenants overall without too many horror stories that you sometimes hear of, especially as they avoid DSS etc. Some of their staff are particularly helpful and enthusiastic, this includes Henry in management dept and Jason in Lawson's branch. Referring to over 18 months ago, I would have have given an excellent review for most aspects of the business.
Now onto the negative experiences more recently. Problems started when a long term staff member responsible for property inspections and inventories retired from the company. All of a sudden i experienced a spate of errors. Moving out inspections carried out completely missed tenants leaving rubbish behind, wall papering walls without permission, drilling holes in walls etc. Properties were being returned unacceptably filthy with effectively an element of damage.
The TDS consider that Landlords & Tenants should rely upon properly completed check in report and check out report as being the definitive documents recording the condition of the property at the beginning and end of tenancies. This was stated following a recent case.
Unfortunately Lawson's failed on a number of occasions to complete proper inspections resulting in a dispute. Having made formal representations to manager Jo Morrey, it took over 1 year to get a 1 paragraph dismissive response. Lawson's despite having earlier acknowledging the serious floors and mistakes made, then ignored the facts when asked to consider compensating their errors.
On a recent visit to the branch with the intention of letting out another 2 or 3 properties I was met with the most inappropriate rude service that could ever be imagined. Towards the end of the visit I'd simply asked if the issues to do with my long standing complaint had been dealt with (her recent email hadn't reached me). Jo didn't like the fact that i rightly had highlighted their shortcomings and hence continued in a sarcastic awkward manner to totally ignore the central cause. She dismissed the fact that Lawson's had failed in their contractual obligations to complete accurate check out reports as highlighted by the TDS. This resulted in me having no choice but to end the business relationship and come to the conclusion that Lawson's are in my opinion not the professional outfit they once were. Having diversified into other areas they are now failing at such basic important tasks as inventories and check out reports.
The fact that Lawson's now fail to accurately and professionally represent me as the Landlord and respond to concerns can only lead me to one conclusion; Lawson's in my opinion have become too financially driven, concentrating on the numbers of properties let, and forgetting about service standards provided to all concerned. Without diligent attention to contractual obligations, Lawson's failed to represent me as a Landlord, a service that had been paid for. Hence I will now use the services of other lettings agents in future.
05-05-13
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Lawsons Wolverhampton Landlord Review
