Trusted Agent profile · Cardiff
★★★★★
1,687 reviews across 3 platforms
66 Albany Road, Roath, Cardiff, CF24 3RR
CPS Homes's office in Cardiff, at 66 Albany Road, is rated 4.2 out of 5 across 1,687 reviews on three platforms, including 544 Google reviews rated 4.3.
Every review we hold for the Cardiff office, from every platform, shown as written. First names only.
5/5
TrustpilotCPS managed to rent my house out last…
Rhys and his team at CPS Cardiff,managed to rent my house out last year within 1 week. The tenants are excellent.CPS recently gave out a link to landlords to fill in and send out to their tenants as this is a requirement in Wales. Again CPS were meticulously ans thorougher and clearly spent a lot of time.Highly recommended experience
5/5
GoogleExcellent service from start to finish - A special mention to Chelsea who worked tirelessly to get the sale over the line. Would certainly recommend again.
Hi Edward, thank you very much for sharing your experience with Chelsea and the team, we're glad it's been a 5 star one! You know where to come if there's anything further we can assist you with in the future. Best wishes, Nathan and the team
1/5
GoogleNot used the for years. They had a person in their accounts department that withheld my rent and only paid when l chased them Also, they did a repair than after paying, they charged for matetials. As they were managing my property at the time they deducted the money. Also the person they used for the repair has a relationship, possibly brother or brother in law of one of the senior persons working there.
Hello S P, Thank you for leaving a review. Without you providing us with your name and/or the property we managed on your behalf (you're welcome to provide this to feedback@cpshomes.co.uk), we're unable to respond with detail, but what we will say for the public record is: - We pass the rent we collect from contract-holders onto landlords within the specified and agreed period of time, which is always within a few working days, so we don't recognise your experience in this regard. We only get paid when we deduct our pre-agreed management fee from the rent received and pass on the remainder, so it wouldn't be within our interests to withhold it as we wouldn't then earn an income. - We don't carry out repairs ourselves. We use trusted, reliable, third-party contractors who subsequently produce an invoice for their labour and materials, as is the industry standard, so it would be normal for you to be charged for the materials they purchased in order to carry out the job. The total cost of each job carried out by the contractors we use is always pre-agreed with each landlord. - Many letting agents are family-run businesses where issuing work to relatives or known acquaintances is commonplace. There is no law or guidance that prevents this. Providing the persons or companies instructed meet the landlord/letting agent's standards, are capable of completing the job asked of them and charge fairly for their time, there is no reason why such work should not be passed their way. In the same respect, some private landlords are builders, plumbers, carpenters etc by trade, or know somebody who is, so will carry out their own work on properties they own or pass it onto known acquaintances. Kind regards, The CPS Homes Team.
1/5
TrustpilotAppalling guarantor agreement - read carefully and run!
If you are planning on being a guarantor for one of their tenancies, you should be aware that your liability is unlimited, and they may claim against your own home.This is what they had to say when asked "There isn’t a maximum amount listed in regards to damages however any structural/environment would be down to the landlord whether they have home insurance or not as this isn’t a legal requirement however if it is tenant negligence for damage or caused on purpose to the property then we would look to the tenants/guarantors."
Hi Kerry,Thanks for your review. We're a little unsure of your concerns surrounding the guarantor agreement, so will attempt to allay them, or at least explain the position, in this reply.We should first point out that the guarantor agreement you've been asked to sign is signed by more than 4,000 guarantors every year.Whilst it is not a legal requirement for property owners to have building insurance, the vast majority, if not all, mortgage lenders will require it, particularly for buy-to-let properties, so it would be very rare for a landlord not to have building insurance. Additionally, our terms of business with every landlord dictate that building insurance is a must.Landlords can't insure tenants' belongings, so it's highly recommended that tenants take out their own contents' insurance policy.A guarantor agrees to meet the terms of the occupation contract where the person they are guaranteeing fails to do so. Although failure to comply with the terms of the contract is rare, where it does happen, it's most commonly for non-payment of rent or minor damages. The liability for rent is limited to the total rent owed. We have never seen a limit imposed for obligations that aren't rent payment-related, as they are impossible to quantify in advance. However, as stated above, they are usually always minor damage-related.Kind regards,The CPS Homes Team.
1/5
TrustpilotOnly just got deposit back today…
Only just got deposit back today (rented during last academic year) after having to file a complaint with the DPS. I moved out in July. Main recoccuring problem was that they let themselves into the property for viewings unannounced and without prior warning (if we were lucky a text 5 minutes before from a blocked number), they also gave out keys to workmen without letting us know. Happened multiple times. Once I was alone in the property in my pyjamas and a man let himself into the place (workman who thought CPS had let us know he was coming to take measurements) this was very intimidating. This seemed to just be how they operate. Feel as though I spent the whole year ringing and complaining and being mucked around. House was not in a nice condition and CPS attempted to charge us obsenely overpriced charges for tiny preexisiting scratches etc. The bedroom doors and toilet doors never locked and this was not fixed. Once a flatmate got locked into his room. Anticipate mold and potentially rats (they wont help).Tips if youŕe unfortunate enough to deal with them: - Remember names because they will not remember this is your 6th time calling about the same issue etc. (Keep going eventually theyĺl get the message).- Refuse entry everytime they let themselves in. Ring straight after to complain and email a follow up. - Take photos of absolutely everything when you move in and be prepared to spend your summer chasing them up and sending off appeals when they threaten you with outrageous charges.
5/5
GoogleVery helpful and approachable. Also were able to answer any questions for us and explained everything really well. Properties were of a good standard and they listened carefully to our requirements. Having been with them for 3 years now I would recommend them to others who were looking for a property in Cardiff
Thanks, Sophie :) We always try our best to find out exactly what our customers are looking, as we're confident we'll always be able to match them with something on our books. We hope you're looking forward to moving in!
5/5
TrustpilotGreat friendly service Nathan was…
Great friendly service Nathan was fabulous at getting back to me with my 1000s of questions if it was a job interview he would of had the job. Viewed a few houses in Canton with different agents felt CPS and Nathan really understand what I was looking for in a home. Thanks again guys.
1/5
TrustpilotThere is a long list of issues
There is a long list of issues, they were so bad to deal with I am actually writing a review. It took them over a month to clean up our backyard when we were told it would be done within a few days of moving in. They entered our apartment to do showings without 24 hr notices, they also left the back door open when they left and we were away for term break. We had plumbing and maintenance issues which they didn't take care of so we had to do it ourselves. We were international students from Canada and told them we will be paying by credit cards which they said were fine then randomly said that was against their policy a couple months later (they did let us continue paying with credit cards after a discussion with the manager). Our dryer broke and they took over a month to contact the landlord and finally replaced it. All in all they were a hassle to deal with and not worth it, once they have you signed up they don't care anymore. It also took months to get our deposit back because the landlord didn't respond to the DPS.
5/5
GoogleA relatively stress free process selling my property through Cps, Sian valued the property giving an honest valuation supported with comparable evidence on prices on similar properties, Scott did a fabulous job taking all the photographs, and Chelsea progressed the sale keeping me informed at each stage. Thank you all.
Thank you, Eirwen! We're so glad to hear that Sian, Scott, and Chelsea made your selling process smooth and stress-free.
1/5
TrustpilotWarning
Warning - do not use this company if you are a student renting a property. Reading the reviews, it appears they are a five star company if you are a landlord but am reluctant to give it even one star as a tenant.I don't have the time or the space to go into real detail but the long and the short of it is CPS Homes are Charlatans. The highlights are - they scare first year students into signing up for properties so early telling them they won't be able to find anything if they leave it later, then take almost £3,000 as a deposit which they had for over ten months. During the tenancy, various issues were reported, none were dealt with. At all. Damp was painted over, smoke alarms were not fixed, electrical issues not dealt with and so the list goes on. The check out visit was booked almost a month before the end of the tenancy as they had no appointments left so a month's rent was paid for nothing. The check-out visit was a farce as no issues were picked up on the day (except for the damp stain they tried to charge us for but was there when we moved in) but multiple issues were noted after the event and the grand finale is that it took from the beginning of June until the beginning of October to get the deposit back (well, the amount of deposit they saw fit to return after an exorbitant cleaning bill and various fictitious marks on the wall they needed repainting.
5/5
TrustpilotStress Free Student Rentals - Great Advice from Rhys!
I have dealt with Rhys at CPS for many years. He has always taken the time help me with my property queries - whether its advice on the new legislation/finding tenants for our student properties or help in finding tradesmen to do certain jobs. Definitely recommend Rhys and his team at CPS for student rentals.
1/5
TrustpilotBad estate agency
Renting with CPS as a mature student. The house I moved into was a disgrace and they refused to do anything about it. I had to clean it myself. Maintance was started 5-6 months after moving in. Multiple arguments with staff over finance problems that they caused due to lack of communication and now 'aparently' no evidence, staff have refused to let me speak to a manager, so now I'm paying yet again fees. Also, after 7 days late with rent my guarantor received emails and calls asking if they could pay my debt. Not student friendly. Advice - do not rent from CPS. Even my landlord is leaving.
1/5
TrustpilotTruly terrible company
Truly terrible company, avoid.I have had the misfortune of renting from CPS and must say they were atrocious. Friendly at start, then progressively crap.We moved into a rodent-infested flat which they then refused to do anything about claiming it was our problem. The mice were there before we were there, they were coming in through the walls. In one night our traps caught 5 miceWhile in tenancy they repeatedly let themselves into the flat without warning. Like no warning. They'd just walk in. Upon complaining they repeatedly fob you off, say it won't happen again, then it happens again.While there, our fridge freezer broke, and then men came to remove it and put a new one in. In the process of doing so, they scratched the walls. CPS then tried to take a chunk of our deposit to cover damages caused by their own workmen. Oh, and now we're on to the deposit. Not only did they spuriously attempt to take 1/5th of our deposit, they didn't even tell us this until 6 months after the tenancy ended. So, to sum, they're nice until you're a tenant: then they treat you terribly. You'll notice a lot of the positive reviews are from landlords, not tenants. There is a reason for this. [There are so many more things to say, but this is just a taste. Seriously.]
3/5
TrustpilotCommunication Poor
We rented with CPS homes for a year, and found that although the flat we had was in good condition, and we had no issues with it, their communication was poor. When taking on the property they were not flexible about when we could sign for the property and then tried to cancel our appointment last minute meaning we had to mess around trying to take time off work.We had lots of questions about the flat which they were unable to answer, we also had to ask about a parking permit as they didn’t give it with a key, lucky we did, as the parking at the flat was terrible.We had one inspection in the year we were there in which they gave us less than 24 hours notice, I rang to rearrange and ask if they had keys to access the property to which they didn’t even know if they did. When they did come to the flat it took longer for the kettle to boil than it did for the inspection of the flat to take place and we did not have time to raise any issues if we had any.We made one request the whole time we rented with them and it took them 6 weeks to respond to us, which is ridiculous.The worst thing was the communication when we moved out, they gave us 48 hours to make a decision on renting for a further year and then also said we would need to pay an admin fee and the rent was too increase. This is not adequate time to make a decision. We then decided not to rent for another year so viewings commenced, however, we were given little to no warning and would just receive texts saying ‘viewings tomorrow at about lunch time, hope ok’. Which is ridiculous, being sent to us at 6pm the night before. When we did move out we had to visit all three branches to get someone to take the keys off us and then received a message saying we had not paid rent when we had already moved out the month before. We did luckily get our bond back mostly but only after we chased several times for the check out inspection information.The properties they have are great but the communication is really poor and they need to work better at giving tenants more information and notice.
1/5
TrustpilotAfter hearing all of the horror stories…
After hearing all of the horror stories about CPS and how awful they were as a lettings agency, I believed everyone to be exaggerating and thought they could never be that bad. However, they are worse than I could ever imagine and it's unbelievable that they are allowed to get away with operating as they do. We began renting in September 2018 after they had spent the summer renovating the house. We had to move in late after they told us the works were not completed however it wasn't a big issue for us luckily. The first major issue was being accused of smashing the TV in the living room even though we reported it broken on the first day we moved in. Due to the breakage being on the inside of the TV, it wasn't visible during the check in inspection and it wasn't until it was switched on that anybody noticed but CPS refused to believe that it was obviously dropped (most likely by the builders who'd been working over summer) and continued to be condescending and rude via email until they finally realised they were wrong and replaced it without apology or even telling us someone would be attending the property. We should've guessed at this point that it was going to be a long year. For essentially the entire tenancy, two of the rooms in the house had no heating, with space heaters not being provided for a few months due to "miscommunication" between the landlord and the agency, even though we tried to report it via email and in person multiple times. Multiple times throughout the year we would report maintenance issues, (some of them urgent like water leaking from the bathroom into the kitchen near the electricity) and it would take weeks and even months to resolve the issues and some were never resolved. And of course, as many other people have reported on here, after nearly 3 months, there is no sign of our deposit being returned. Wanting to have no problems with the deposit return, we cleaned the house to perfection and the landlords daughter and the lady completing the check out even commenting on how clean the house was, saying there would be no charges. The only thing that was written down on check out were 2 freezer drawer fronts that had been cracked before we moved in but not written on the inventory. After looking online at prices of drawer fronts, we decide to just accept the charge as it'd be approx £16 per drawer front which between 5 of us, wouldn't have mattered much to the deposit. However they've finally come back with a quote (2 weeks after I sent an email with a link to the drawer fronts they needed to buy for £16 each) of £58 per drawer and a £54 "call out charge" to put some drawer fronts on. I've searched online and I honestly can't find one that expensive. There was also a sudden £50 cleaning charge that came out of nowhere and when I went in to ask about it, all they could show me linked to the cleaning were about 5 photos of a couple of drawers that had a small amount of dirt and dust around the edges which honestly would've required no more than 5 minutes and a wet cloth to resolve. As you can imagine we fell into the trap and replied to their email saying we were going to dispute the claims so now we haven't heard a single word back from them, meaning we can't go through the proper channels to dispute the charges as it hasn't been put forward to the DPS. Basically, just don't do it to yourselves. As nice as the house was for the year, the treatment, ignorance and rudeness from the CPS staff was not worth it. We are currently starting to take legal action against them so they don't do this to anymore students. They'll probably report this review in the next few days but I have all of the proof to back it up so they can't exactly say it's not a truthful review.
1/5
TrustpilotOur story is different.
Our story is different.We arranged viewing with cps agent called Nathan, on the day of viewing couple of hours before Nathan called for my partner and said that he cannot come because of the traffic, he don't want to late so could we come to viewing after another hour, so let's say our viewing supposed to be 16:30 but he said he need time to come so let's meet at the place 17:30....this time was agreed. So...we prepared ( we have newborn with ourselves) we almost at the place and cps calling to say that agent can't come inside the property so he cancelled. That was incredible....he could meet us at least and tell himself about not to put on someone else. Then we investigated, and the lady on the phone said that another viewing on 17:00 was cancelled as well. So...he literally put us before others, what was not really fair. We not trust them after and happy that didn't had any deals with them!!!!!!
5/5
TrustpilotProfessional
Professional, quick and efficient service indeed. Cath Taylor from CPS homes called us after the group interested in the property had made enquires, and Cath was very impressive indeed in the way that she had helped the group and also how she has conversed with us. I always have confidence in the fact that when i am contacting CPS homes, i will always get a member off staff that is very professional in their approach.
5/5
TrustpilotAmazing quick turnover
I’ve just recently contacted CPS Homes to market one of my properties in the Bay Area following a 5 yr let Jordan Parry and his team relet the property immediately after the first arranged viewing due to their professional approach and no doubt a lot of background effort Well done team Thank you very much David George
5/5
GoogleFrom the very outset CPS have always provided a professional and friendly service. They manage my property efficiently and the staff are always quick to notify of any issues and arrange solutions using reliable contractors at reasonable costs. Using their rent guarantee scheme ensures that I have no worries regarding rental revenue and peace of mind should there be a gap between tenancies.
Thanks Gillian. We strive to deliver exceptional service to all our clients, and your kind words motivate us to keep up the good work. If there's anything else we can do for you, please don't hesitate to let us know.
5/5
GoogleGreat customer service. Staff are always friendly and polite and prompt in their responses. Minor maintenance issues we've had have always been completely quickly even when they aren't priority repairs. I've been a tenant for 3 years and I've never had an issue with neither the letting agent or the landlord. Extremely happy to continue to live in a CPS managed property. Recent experience with Sam in maintenance for a request to the landlord. Extreme quick and punctual and can't thank him enough for his service! :)
Thanks so much for these wonderful comments Rhys and for taking the time to leave them. It means a lot to us to hear you've had positive experiences with Sam and our team over the past 3 years :) Thanks again!
1/5
GoogleTerrible service, very unprofessional, lazy and Fiona was incredibly rude. Unacceptable, why do agency get away with terrible customer service when you paying for their service. The worst experience I've ever had with an agency had to call 7 times a day to get answers, being told I will get a call back and never did, Fiona was very unprossasional and extremely rude. She never listen to what you had to say, asked the same question over and over and wouldn't accept your answer. Never called back, and hung up the phone. Didn't want to provide any solution to your problem because she could be bothered to deal with it.
5/5
GoogleAwesome experience with the agency , Really friendly and helpful .I managed to secure my property without being in the UK with ease.The agent helped me find a new property after the 1st one i liked was off the market , the viewing was booked right away and was mad after a couple of hours . There was no problems with the payment of the deposit to secure the property and after that everything is explained step by step to arrange the details and ask any questions if you want to know something more!
5/5
GoogleExtremely easy going experience. We were able to visit three different properties and put a deposit down on the one that we liked the most within the space of a few hours. The staff were amazing and extremely helpful. Marta helped us with the depositing of the house and told us about all of the information we needed. If you are a student looking to buy a second/third year property, I would highly recommend CPS homes Estate and Letting Agent.
5/5
GoogleFast and efficient. Jordan Parry is amazing. We closed the deal in less than 30 minutes.
Fantastic to hear! Thanks for your kind words Catalin :)
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