Trusted Agent profile · Harlow

Simple Life Base at Newhall reviews in Harlow

3.8

★★★★★ Good

1,169 reviews across 1 platform

Barnfield Way, Harlow, CM17 9TN

Simple Life's office in Harlow, at Barnfield Way, is rated 3.8 out of 5 across 1,169 reviews on 1 platform.

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1,169

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Reviews

Every review we hold for the Harlow office, from every platform, shown as written. First names only.

1/5

Trustpilot

Terrible experience, terrible company

My recent experience with Simple Life Homes was incredibly disappointing and frustrating. The application process was nothing short of a nightmare. The representative handling our case, Shannah, was consistently rude and unhelpful throughout. Every interaction felt like an uphill battle, with her dismissive attitude making an already stressful situation even worse.There were some delays in our application process due to my wife's HR team being difficult (which we communicated to them) with providing references. While we acknowledge this caused some setbacks, you can truly judge a company by how compassionate and understanding they are when things don't go exactly as planned. Unfortunately, Simple Life Homes showed no compassion or understanding during this time. Instead of working with us, they added to our stress and frustration.One of the most significant issues was their refusal to adjust our move-in date to allow for a proper in-person viewing of the property. We wanted to ensure the home met our expectations before making any commitments, but Simple Life Homes made this impossible. They seemed entirely unwilling to accommodate this reasonable request, pressuring us to make hasty decisions without adequate information.It felt like we were being time-pressured at every step, leaving us no choice but to sign documents and move forward without the due diligence we deserved. This high-pressure tactic made us feel like we were signing away our rights and agreeing to terms we weren't fully comfortable with.Overall, the experience was highly unsatisfactory, and I would not recommend Simple Life Homes to anyone looking for a stress-free and respectful home rental process. Their lack of flexibility, poor customer service, and absence of compassion left a lasting negative impression.Looking at all the unpaid reviews, you could say we got lucky in rescinding our application. Avoid.Edit:We later got a call from a contracting company on behalf of simple life wanting to do repairs, they thought we were living at the property even though we had rescinded our application. It turns out, that the bath was rotting due to leaks, no wonder they didn't want us to see the property! Watch out for 75 Newport Lane, do thorough checks!

Edmundo · 14 June 2024

Agent replied · 24 August 2024

Hi Edmundo,Thank you for getting back to us with some identifiable information, allowing us to look into our communication records with you.Firstly, we’d like to say that we’re really sorry if you felt pressured in any way. For all our applications, our system allows a 24 hour hold for the applicant to pay the initial holding deposit, which subsequently secures the property from the market. Due to the high levels of demand, we do this to ensure that our customers are not left disappointed should another applicant take the property they are interested in, hence the 24 hour grace period.We can see that due to the dates that this property was available and as it was subject to high demand, it was communicated from the offset that the move in date would need to be adhered to. We can see that only the day before move in, a viewing had been requested. Whilst we would always try to accommodate such a request and having already communicated the move in date, regretfully, we were unable to facilitate the viewing at such short notice on this occasion.We’re sorry that this felt inflexible and you felt our team lacked compassion, this certainly wasn’t our aim and we will feed this back to the team.Finally, we want to address your unjust accusation around paid reviews, we have never incentivised reviews any of the reviews you have seen on Trust Pilot. If you have any evidence of this, then we would be keen to investigate, so please share with us.

5/5

Trustpilot

George was very quick to update us on…

George was very quick to update us on our progress during the application process, many thanks George

Tom · 18 May 2026

Agent replied · 8 June 2026

Thank you for your lovely feedback, Tom!

1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid!! Rude!! Unhelpful!! Money scamming!!

avoid!! Want you to hand in your notice before they even accept you .. why would I hand in my notice and risk being homeless with 3 children! Accepted me a week before they wanted me to move into their property! Asked for it to be pushed back a week or so but no they've absolutely refused, continue to blame me for not handing in my notice.. for a property I wasn't even accepted for, for 3 weeks!! Alicia is rude and very unhelpful. Asked to view the property over & over again, they offered 1 date which I couldn't do, so I emailed another 5 or so times just to be ignored !! Should've believed all the bad reviews they had on their Facebook page. Won't let you change the date you pay rent. Shambles of a company!!

Georgia · 10 June 2024

Agent replied · 24 August 2024

Hi Georgia,We can see numerous members of the lettings team have had conversations with you on this matter. We take applications based on a number of criteria, one of the many factors we consider will be when someone says they are able to move in, particularly on a development where we are experiencing high demand. We can see that you were offered a property based on a specific move in date. You had requested that this date was moved back a week, which the team were happy to, and did, facilitate. A week before your new move in date you had told us that you hadn’t yet served notice to your current landlord and therefore wanted to push the date back further, which we were unable to accommodate. It is the responsibility of the applicant to make sure that they are in a position to move in or afford the rent on the date that has been agreed by all parties.As this is a brand new home, we took your application off-plan. Therefore, we hadn’t had handover of the property from the housebuilder to facilitate a viewing until construction was complete. This is very normal within the new build industry, whether you are buying or renting a property. We can see the team offered a viewing but unfortunately, you were unable to make that date and given the limited amount of time before your move in date, we were unable to find a date and time that both you and Simple Life could attend. We’re sorry if this caused you any inconvenience but our team makes every effort to give you a good representation of the home including photos, video walkthrough videos, floorplans and room measurements.

5/5

Trustpilot

Best rental accommodation experience out there!

Simplelife Homes is leading the way how to manage rented accommodation. They have thought of everything and it’s clear they have invested time, effort and money in making the process as smooth for the tent ant as possible. They have a dedicated app and process to manage your property, report problems, seek help and much more. They have even included user manuals for all of your appliances in their app. That’s pretty impressive. Ashley Jones has been great in managing the Empyrean site and is always quick to respond and help out. I would highly recommend!

Nikola · 3 June 2024

Agent replied · 24 August 2024

Hi Nikola, thank you for your lovely review! We will make sure that Ashley is aware of your kind feedback!

2/5

Trustpilot

A very bad experience

A very bad experience. Had to pay a holding fee of £260 to apply for a tenancy. After three weeks I got an email to tell me that my planned move in day was that very day and as the referencing was taking too long they had to cancel my application. I did not fit the criteria. They kept £120 of my holding fee.I followed this up and asked if I would be accepted if I paid a full year's rent up front ( I have cash but a low income) . They said yes.All this and I hadn't even viewed the property!They must be making thousands by keeping peoples money.If they are so bad at this stage I'm hoping I dodged a bullet. I can't imagine what being a tenant would be like!Surely the process should be - 1.Register interest and view property. 2.Pay for referencing.3.Arrange acceptance of tenancy and mutually agree moving in date. How are people supposed to give notice to current landlords without a defined process?Update - cut and copied from email from Simple Life - "With the proposed tenancy start date being today, I’m not able to give you any more time for referencing, so I’ll have to cancel your application."This has cost me £120. Update - Jade was kind enough to refund me the relisting fee of £50 +VAT. I am very grateful for that.

Jayne · 31 May 2024

Agent replied · 24 August 2024

Hi Jayne,At the time of taking your application we did not have access to the property you were applying for. In an ideal situation, the process you outline would be preferable. None of our applicants are required to put down a holding deposit before viewing a property, but where we are unable to gain access for a while, often applicants are prepared to pay their holding deposit to reserve their property before viewing it. This reserves the property and removes it from the open market. Applicants can wait to view before proceeding with their application but due to high demand we’re unable to guarantee that the property will still be available at that stage. We make it clear that a part of the holding deposit will be retained if referencing is failed due to not meeting the criteria, with our criteria being clearly communicated before taking an application to ensure that the applicant feels that they meet with the requirements. We can also confirm that your application was not cancelled because referencing was taking too long. If you’d like to discuss this situation further, then please give us a call and we would be happy to chat through in further detail which we are unable to do via a public forum.

1/5

Trustpilot

Nightmare of an experience.

All seems well at the beginning. The company are quick to take your holding fee and begin references. They then prompt the remaining deposit and first months rent. We still hadn't viewed the property but had been to other developments and watched the walk through online. Less than a week before our move in date, and less than 24 hours after we sent the remaining payment over to them (just short of 2k) we were told the move date has been pushed back by two weeks, although this is still only a provisional date. We had already booked the moving van, sold furniture, purchased new furniture, given our landlord an exit date. The works. We were told the reason was an electrical issue, and zero empathy or help was offered other than offering a different property, in an unsuitable location. They said as they don't sign their side of the tenancy agreement until we collect the keys on move in day, they have zero responsibility to us as tenants, or our financial loss and potential homelessness. We then went to view the property two days later, and it was filthly. It smelled like cigarettes, the bathroom silicone was black with mould. The inside of the toilet bowl was black, the back garden was overgrown and we were told the grass would remain that way for another month or two as they don't cut it before you move in if it's wet weather. It has been dry and sunny for 10 days straight by this time. There were piles of post behind the door, which lead us to believe that the company hadn't even started fixing the property at all, and we lost all faith that this would be completed in less than two weeks time. We requested a full refund, which was processed quickly. The staff were helpful in the beginning but little to no customer service by the end. The contract is also ridiculous, lots of strict rules about how often to wash your windows, how often to cut the grass (which they don't adhere to themselves) having to request written permission to put up a certain pole, then pay an admin fee to amend your contract (for each time you amend it or add any poles/shelves etc) and then return the property without the curtain pole at the end of the tenancy.From reading other experiences, we certainly dodged a bullet. Their replies to people who have had poor experiences also show their integrity and lack of empathy.

Billie · 27 May 2024

Agent replied · 24 August 2024

Hi Billie,Thank you for your honest feedback and for providing us with further identifiable information so we can look into your records.We feel there has been misunderstanding across a number of areas here. We’re sorry that your move in date was delayed, this was due to the meter not supplying power to the property, which meant the electricity would not have worked. This needed sorting before we are able to allow you to move in. Until we are able to gain access to the property ourselves and a check-out report is completed following the vacation of previous residents, we can never be 100% certain what issues around the house may need addressing to bring it up to our standards, hence move in dates remaining as proposed until such a time that we are certain of works required and time needed to complete them.From an end of tenancy perspective, we generally have a turnaround window of 2 weeks to have the property at a lettable condition for move in, it looks like you viewed the property before the works have been commenced, which given the time frame before the move in, this is completely normal, as all works would be expected to be completed during that two week timeframe.We’d also like to give you clarity over our fees. Whilst we do ask residents to fill out a very quick property alteration request form, so we can monitor what is being changed within our properties, there are no fees associated with a resident making those changes. In some cases, and generally with larger works we will stipulate that the resident has to revert the property back to its original condition upon moving out. A small fee is only applied when making fundamental changes to the tenancy e.g. adding or removing a tenant.

1/5

Trustpilot

THE WORST EXPERIENCE.

DO NOT & I repeat, DO NOT bother applying for a property via ‘Simple’ life homes. They are the most inept, ignorant and down right rude company I’ve ever had to deal with. I applied and was immediately met with late night emails, 9-10pm about placing a holding deposit so the application could go ahead as ‘soon as possible!’. Which of course I took the bait, paid the holding deposit and replied to the email instantly, a little while later I was sent to referencing in which again, I complied and provided all info required, ASAP. Two days went by and the referencing was complete, sent back from Let Alliance to ‘Simple’ Life. I then chased up ‘Simple’ life to be told ‘The referencing has gone through and I’ve been deemed as an acceptable tenant and the house is mine!’ Yay! maybe. Probably not. I was then contacted a couple hours later informing me that a CCJ had appeared on my file, which I had no idea about but I take full responsibility. I was informed I can get it removed, then the application with the property can go ahead! Complete lies. You cannot remove a CCJ. I informed ‘Simple’ life of this, only to be told ‘It doesn’t matter if I could anyway as I also need a guarantor, with or without satisfying the CCJ’ so I now need a guarantor! Great. I went and asked everybody I knew to be my guarantor, ones that qualified to the criteria set by ‘Simple’ life. In the meantime I offered the possibility of 6 months rent upfront, which is in the FAQ’s as a ‘solution’. They instantly declined stating it would only be acceptable as 12 months upfront. Hilarious. £7,320, along with the full deposit instantly declined. Ah well. I waited to Let Alliance to then reference my guarantor, they had acceptable income, no adverse credit such as CCJ’s & Bankruptcies and also savings exceeding the amount needed to cover the 36x the PCM rent. Referencing was completed after 12 days! Continuously asked for the same things, which again, needs must. Referencing complete and my guarantor is declined by ‘Simple’ life. They are so incompetent, time and time again they was clueless as to what their own policies are, endless amount of times of ‘let me just ask my colleague’. But they was quick enough to instantly answer a firm no to 6 month rent upfront. This company is all about getting as much money out of you. I now await my holding deposit back but I won’t hold my breath after reading other review as it seems to be a common experience. Avoid at all costs, another scheme which definitely doesn’t operate how they say they do.

Beth · 14 May 2024

Agent replied · 29 October 2023

Hi Beth,Thank you for your comments. We understand that our Head of Build to Rent, Adam, has since been in touch with you to discuss the situation. We accept that human error led to you being given the wrong keys at move-in, for which we apologise. Due to Covid protocols at the time for your move-in, we were not conducting full property walk-arounds, although this should have been explained to you in full. All our keys are monitored and logged in and out when used, looking at our records, we have no indication of any keys being logged out aside from during your move-in, therefore are confident that none of our team attempted to access your property. We can also see that Jennifer responded to your query in December within 24 hours, but did not receive any further requests from you until March when she was off. Communications had been sent to all residents regarding Jennifer’s maternity leave, which we can see were received by yourself and your partner though not opened, which suggests they may have ended up in your junk folder. We’re glad that your conversation with Adam to clear up these few issues went well and you were satisfied with the explanations.

5/5

Trustpilot

Lovely member of staff

Have spoken to a few companies before about renting and they haven't been very helpful on the phone. They are all very dismissive. Charlotte the girl I spoke to was very helpful and went above and beyond, patiently answering all my questions. If I do decide to rent a property from the company then I will definitely request Charlotte to help me. 🙂

P · 21 May 2026

Agent replied · 8 June 2026

This is wonderful to hear! Thank you so much for taking to time to leave a review.

1/5

Trustpilot

What a way to treat your new residents.

I have been a resident with simple life for a week. I have never received my meter reading for electricity. On the inventory, only the water reading was available. Me and my partner have phoned up and raised this issue on probably 5 separate occasions only to be met with the most ignorant, unhelpful responses. Staff have told us “it’s on the inventory” and when we assured them it is not they simple told us “it is” and hung up. On Thursday I rang again and got though to Heather who was slightly helpful. She confirmed that she can see on our inventory that the electricity reading is missing. I explained to her that we really need this reading as a matter of urgency as we can’t set up any utilities until we have this and she understood. She told me there will be someone on sight on Friday 3rd May to take the reading and she will send it to us that same day. She did not. We phoned twice asking for this just to be told Heather is busy and no one else can help us.We have lived here for 10 days only. We had problems from the moment we physically opened our front door and the lock came flying off which we had to get replaced on our first day. Now this rude approach and customer service. It’s such a horrible start to our tenancy we are extremely disappointed. I would like this to be dealt with as a matter of urgency or I am ready to take this further. What a way to treat your new residents.

Zuzanna · 4 May 2024

Agent replied · 24 August 2024

Hi Zuzanna,Thank you for your review and your valuable feedback.We can see that we did confirm that the meter reading for electricity was not recorded on your inventory. The property inspector was new and still undergoing training at the time of your inventory was taken so it looks like this was accidentally missed off, we’re very sorry for any inconvenience caused and we can confirm this isn’t up to our usual standards. Additionally, we can see that one of our property inspectors was due to attend, however there was a mix up with the fobs which prevented access to the property. We can only apologise for all the inconvenience caused, we completely hold our hands up and agree that the experience you have had so far is not good enough. Team leader Ashley has organised for someone to re-attend as soon as possible. He will be in touch very shortly, if he hasn’t already to ensure this is seen to.

3/5

Trustpilot

Great concept - prospective tenants experience needs refining

We are not renting through Simple Life but I do find the process of procuring a property with the company a little bit uncomfortable.We showed interest in a property that was advertised for an indicative move in date of 2nd June. It took 3 weeks of chasing before we were sent a link to pay a fee to take the property off the market and undergo referencing.We expressed interest but had to beg for acceptance to be confirmed in an email. It was sent eventually but it was very generic and almost like a note. We had to contact again for next steps.We did eventually receive the link to pay and were given 24hrs to do so. After 3 weeks of waiting, I couldn't be sure that other people weren't also sent the same link for same property. I was told it was first come first serve but with explicit fees if you 'fail referencing', how could we be certain that we wouldn't be intentionally failed? And how would we know that it's just us going through referencing? Had the whole initial contact been smoother then we may well have pursued. I think the customer service needs to be significantly improved, prospective tenants shouldn't be left to feel as if they have to chase. It kind of sets the tone to what it would be like living in one of the properties, if there was an issue.There is a lot of emphasis on indicative move in dates. It's understandable that as the majority of the properties are under construction, it can be difficult to pin down a date for move in. I don't understand why Simple Life couldn't just wait until the properties are substantially complete before marketing to mitigate this worry for customers. Otherwise, in light of not being able to confirm an exact date or view the property, give a little more comfort by providing an option to view before full internal fit-out or present a rental show property just so prospective tenants can get an idea of what theirs might look like. Seeing absolutely nothing but indicative images before handing over £2.5K with no firm move in date is a little wild for a rental at least. I'd like more clarity on the reasons behind the current process.In all, we were too nervous about pursuing a property Simple Life due to the lack of communication at these early stages and the process . Such a shame really as it's a great concept and much needed in our area. I hope processes can be refined.Updated 18th April: Thanks Simplelife, I think the fact that we made contact via phone since before 18th March and then by email/phone on 18th March about passing pre-tenancy checks. To only just receive information on how to pay the deposit on 8th April is not great. Maybe, it was just unfortunate for us in this instance.I appreciate you outlining the process it makes sense. I think an indicative timeline would be good for prospective tenants, if you guarantee a viewing before moving in. I don't think simply ensuring plenty time is enough for some people. Of course it may work for some others.If the customer services team were undergoing some changes. It would have just been good to be informed, that could of been a simple automated email but I was met with silence. That didn't sit right with me.In any case, thanks for your prompt response here and offering clarity. I do hope if we consider you in the future we will have a better experience. Good luck - it's still a good initiative to provide quality rental homes.

Rococo · 18 April 2024

Agent replied · 24 August 2024

Hello,Thank you for responding to our find reviewer request, allowing us to be able to identify you on our records so we can looking to the problems you have faced.Firstly, we’d like to thank you for your valuable feedback, although this hasn’t been a good experience for you, it has really helped us to identify areas where we have fallen short and allowed us to address changes required.We can see that you had chased the holding deposit link once on 25th and once on 26th with no response. Although this is no excuse for the lack of communication you faced we did have a different customer service team in place at the time and we have since had a re-structure and new personnel put in place. This came into effect on 1st April, so as soon as the new team had their first chaser from you on 6th, they responded right away with the payment link, to which we didn’t get a response. We’d like to take this opportunity to clarify a few points you have made around our processes in the hope of alleviating any fears. Referencing fees are only withheld if references fail where applicants have knowingly provided incorrect information such as certain types of CCJs that wouldn’t meet our criteria or the household income quoted before applying is incorrect.We appreciate your concerns over indicative move dates and you are correct in outlining that new development schemes can sometimes have unexpected delays which are unforeseen. We only release properties to the market when we are confident that the indicative move in dates will be met to reduce risk of delays. Unfortunately, letting off-plan for brand new sites is unavoidable, just as open market sale properties are often bought off-plan also, however all applicants should be offered the chance to view the property before they collect their keys to ensure that it meets with their expectations and a confirmed move in date is set in plenty of time before the move in date comes around so there is time to plan. Of course, applicants can choose to only apply once we have handover of a property and a viewing is possible, however, we can't guarantee that the property is still available at this point due to high demand and as we operate on a first come, first served basis.We’re sorry for the delays you previously faced and we’d like to reassure you that we would still love to be able to assist you on the hunt for your perfect home. If there is any chance you’d still like to proceed with a Simple Life home then please get in touch with us at hello@simplelifehomes.com.

1/5

Trustpilot

AWFUL MANAGEMENT AND COSTUMER SERVICE!

Any good review you see for simple life on here is a complete lie...Simple life sucks. I am writing this review because I know they would try to contact to solve the issues and it is such a shame I have had to rest to this kind of tactics to get their attention. I don't even know where to begin! They try their very best to never ever want to give you back your deposit by bringing up the most ridiculous excuses! A neighbour of ours moved out and they talked about how Simple life refused to give them back their deposit due to 'damages' they caused in the house. Mind you I know who moved in to the house and they guaranteed all the damages simple life claimed where made to the property where still there so why where they refusing to give back the deposit since they claimed to have used it for repairs? Liars! They even had the nerve to ask for more money, but didn't fix anything! There was even mold on the windows!They never respond! When we first moved in the garden was overgrown! Spiders everywhere! They didn't even bother mowing it! We called SEVERALLY before they finally came to mow it, but they still did a pretty bad job! I am a hundred percent sure they tried to or infact refused to pay the old neighbours their deposit because of this but it still wasn't fixed when we arrived. I am sure of this because I have personally witnessed this.SEVERALLY have we called them to fix stuff in our house they never actually come , when they do, they don't even resolve the issue. We have been calling them for months to fix our stairs and dishwasher, it has still not being fixed! Mind you most of this damages are due to the poor building materials used in the building of the houses! Yes a lot of their houses are very poorly built and have obvious signs of cheapskatery! A friend of mine e has been dealing with mould in their house due to a leak somewhere in the walls, they haven't co.e yo fix it yet! They claim that it isn't urgent enough! Not urgent enough? Is it until someone dies of mould poisoning before it becomes urgent? Honestly if we could move out right now we would! The only reason why we are still here is because we actually have a good community of people here( the only few good things about this place not like its any thanks to them anyways!) And there isn't really a better option yet. They are soo quick to call to increase rent but never call back when we need them! The only thing they care about is money! Avoid thus company like a plague for your own sanity!

Khadeejah · 18 April 2024

Agent replied · 24 August 2024

Dear Khadeejah,Thank you for getting in touch. As you will have seen, we have sent you a find reviewer request in order to be able to identify your tenancy and to be in a position to help you further. We can see that you haven’t yet responded to this request and we have been unable to identify you on our system using the information available to us in your review.

1/5

Trustpilot

Waste of time and energy.

Yet another Edit: So as I thought, it was a complete mistake to listen to anything this company says. Jade completely lied about getting back to us early in the week, in fact she didn't bother ringing at all, my husband had to ring them to tell them not to bother as definitely not worth the hassle, they were happy to take £270 from us for the deposit to rent a property, we had to ask several times for it back to which they only refunded £150 they blame let alliance for a "failed reference" so now £120 down for being completely messed around, I've heard bad things about these lot but this just takes the mick, clearly don't know what they're doing, advertise houses that don't exist, constantly lie and now steal money! Steer well clear! Edit: Spoke to Jade who has been more helpful, so will see how it goes.Edit: That's another lie, you said on the phone that you can't discuss on the phone so I don't know why you're lying on this public forum.Weird, waste of time company! Made us wait weeks to apply for a house to rent, everything came back great by let alliance but simple life decided we can only rent a property if we pay 12 months upfront!! Without good reason, seems nobody there knows what they're doing, they put up houses that they've never even heard of. Kept sending us aroujd in circles telling us to phone let alliance to get answers as to where are application was at etc. Spent weeks now waiting for a simple answer from them to finally be told they want 12 months up front, they seem very dodgy and don't know what they're doing in all honesty, steer well clear.

Jo · 15 April 2024

Agent replied · 9 June 2023

Thank you for your review Jo!

2/5

Trustpilot

Simply Shambolic - No accountabilty for tenants living conditions

Simple life homes may provide cost effective housing but the new builds homes still suffer the same problems we see across the new build housing market. shoddy workmanship and cheap materials means that the living experience in these homes is not as comfortable as the company advertise. Multiple neighbours have shared they experience the same issues, lack of consistent heating or broken plumbing. My biggest gripe is however Simplelifes complete disregard for property maintenance whether its a small job or a major issue, the staff behind the keyboard don't care or are at least not empowered to take action. It will take months for someone to fix serious issues, If at all. The company uses smoke and mirror tactics to parade itself as an organisation for fair housing, but in reality there is a complete disregard for tenants living conditions. Accountability is not a word Simplelife homes know the meaning of.

NF · 11 March 2024

Agent replied · 24 March 2024

Hello,Thank you for responding to our find reviewer request so we are able to identify you and your tenancy.We’re sad to see you’re unhappy with the quality of your home. We can see that since you moved in only 3 repairs have been raised, two of which have been closed within our expected timeframes and one that was raised early February. We can see this has fallen out of our expected timeframes slightly, so the team are chasing this up and we’re very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused. We’re also pleased to see that the team have continued to proactively keep you up to date on any progress. We can see the team are actively working on your issue and they are hopeful that someone will be able to attend this week. The team will be in touch shortly to confirm.

5/5

Trustpilot

This is going to be first time when…

This is going to be first time when we’re going to rent a new build home , and Simple Life Homes made this to happen! It was a very smooth and easy process, on which we received the great news today that our application was successful and we will soon be able to move in !Thank you Simple Life for your service and we can’t wait to move in!

Anca · 18 September 2024

Agent replied · 26 October 2024

Thank you for your lovely feedback! Good luck with the move.

5/5

Trustpilot

Great from start to finish for 3 years....Stonefield Edge

Well, there are some negative comments on here, but tbh I don't have anything bad to say. I had to sell my house due to a relationship breakdown and moved into a Simple Life home. Lucy S from the very beginning was very very helpful and nothing was ever too much trouble for them - mainly as I was due to move in April 2020 and then boom Covid hit. I had to wait until August 2020 before I could move as the house still needed to be finished. Again Jade, Lucy and a few others at SL and the letting agent Ascend properties were really good.I moved in and I did my own snagging list. I had around 70 issues (standard for a new build) and these were all rectified within about 45 days of me moving in. My only concern during the 3 years of my tenancy was the amount of asset managers they had gone through, but still didn't affect any communications which was great and appreciated.As for the rent comments, well life has been difficult for many companies and people and I originally paid £795 a month which reached £950 a month. Given it's a newly built house with all new appliances I still think this is still very good value for money. Simple Life gave me confidence to stay in the house as long as I wanted, which would be hard if you used private renters who could sell anytime and really affect your life.I got permission to decorate how I wanted, add TVs to the wall and did some nice things to the garden (but please bear in mind you must put this back to standard state if moving, which I knew about and did cost me a few hundred quid to get matching paint etc get ovens cleaned but if you want your deposit back you really need to do this. I got the matching white paint called Crown Obliterating emulsion)The only thing I had to pay for was a leaking waste pipe under the sink which they did not cover which was fair enough. My only 1 niggle was the drainage of the garden which had large puddles of water, not SL fault but rather the contractors. I re-raised the issue before I handed my tenancy notice in so it could be done for the new tenants which I believe is in progress in my absence.Contractors for issues reported via an app called fixflo all arrived on time and on the date that was arranged, so that was appreciated even though didn't quite affect me working from home.I maintained the house and looked after the house like it was mine. I was fortunate through unfortunate circumstances that I was left an inheritance which meant I could buy my own house again in October 2023I've never rented before but I had a pleasurable time with Simple Life and have no bad comments. As for the deposit, I had a full visit before I moved out and then another when I moved out. I was told I would get the full deposit refund back (£917) which I received today about 2 weeks after the visit, and huge thanks to Ciara for chasing it up for me to ensure I got it.So all in all, thank you, Simple Life it was a pleasure and helped me out in troublesome times. Some appreciation also to Ascend properties.Extra feedback to SL based on my 3 years - please check on your gardening and landscaping team. They don't quite do all the gardens and necessary weedkilling that you are probably being charged for. Thanks again for everything.

Ian · 24 February 2024

Agent replied · 24 March 2024

Thank you so much for your review Ian and for you helpful feedback!

5/5

Trustpilot

Charlotte was very patient and…

Charlotte was very patient and welcoming and followed through with my request

Ify · 13 May 2026

Agent replied · 8 June 2026

Thank you for your lovely review!

1/5

Trustpilot

Break-ins, drug dealing and poor management...

Avoid Simple Life Homes! As a long-term renter, I've had much better experiences with a private landlord.Main things to be wary of: -Simple Life do not sign the tenancy agreement until the day before move in, so they can back out of the contract at any time and are not liable for your costs/homelessness in the event of a delay.-Simple Life make it mandatory for you to use their glitchy fixflo app, but will randomly decide to call/email you instead leaving you stressed when you've had no app notifications but discover maintenance workers have been in your home without your knowledge. -No matter how many times we asked them to get our consent prior to entering our home, they send notice and proceed anyway, even when we decline access on that date. Only after us changing the locks did this stop.-Someone broke into our home via the back door using a key- which aside from our set the only other key was held by simple life, who admitted a contractor still had it! There was no work scheduled, no investigation by simple life, no apology or reassurances. I still don't know if the key was ever returned. The police strongly advised our locks to be changed by the landlord, simple life said we'd have to pay them to do it. -We have issues with serious drug use on the street at a significant level. Police raids, back yards being used as skips, dead animals (and not by natural causes), people coming and going from a specific house at all hours, for a few minutes asking if they're 'still selling'. Multiple neighbours have reported this to simple life and the police. I was actually told by simple life over the phone that there was only a small amount of drugs found and drug use isn't actually prohibited in the tenancy agreement! never did get that call log when I asked for it, nor the subject access request policy, or complaints procedure. When you call back, you'll be put through to someone else who'll have no clue what you're on about, and will have to explain yourself 5x over to get something resolved. Lastly, whatever you agree to pay when signing, make sure you can afford atleast £100 more each year you live there, as thats been consistent with mine and my neighbours experiences. If you offer them an alternative increase, for example due to the amount of complaints and issues, or due to just being a good tenant, you'll be told to take it to tribunal if you disagree. But then, they can set their own market rate by owning the entire street.The best part about living here has been watching their trustpilot score gradually drop...they might have been a good landlord many years ago, but not anymore!----UPDATEAs of 1wk+ later, I've still not been contacted despite being told I'd get a call? But please pretend every 1* review is lying about their complaints. Thats great PR.Not signing a tenancy beforehand might be standard procedure for simple life, but not for most other landlords. We were not offered this accommodation you say exists when we were told our move in date was delayed, and were told to make arrangements at our own cost over Christmas, at this point we had already paid around £2k in deposits and rent. Only through near twice daily calls and sheer luck did we move in before Christmas. Are you saying now this shouldn't have happened? Because your senior management said otherwise. Maintenance On 14th Dec we called to reschedule a planned visit, and were told a contractor would call to rearrange. On 21st, i found our things disturbed and the alarm replaced, with the old one left. 22nd Dec I called Simple Life to ask whether a contractor had been in the home. You gave the contractor a key and allowed the visit anyway. As I received no response to my 22nd Dec report, I followed up on fixflo on 8th Jan 2024. Its feb and no-ones responded to my complaints.Break inThe visit wasnt for a fault but an annual inspection. A police report WAS filed, simple life were informed, remedial action suggested, simple life declined to co-operate with advice unless we paid for it, they failed to follow up on unreturned keys from contractors.No background checks for contractors either- as confirmed via phone call and after contractors were in our home discussing criminal activity and being found wandering in rooms they werent working in during another visit (if you need help finding that one, see emails with Leah Gilford 17/2/23 and phone call prior)Request for policies was 16 Oct 2023 at 10:37 if you'd like to check your records again. It's disappointing, as I'd genuinely hoped that raising this in a public forum might have highlighted to the SL team the issues their tenants face, and that you would have committed to doing better in the future. I'm not giving you any new information, this is all logged on your tenant system/fixflo so I'm not sure how it disappears when I complain.

Chrissy · 2 February 2024

Agent replied · 24 March 2024

Hi Chrissy,Thank you for responding to our find reviewer request which has allowed us to identify your tenancy and records. As this is a lengthy review, we will attempt to tackle your main points within our response, but if you would like a more in-depth conversation, please do call the team and we would be happy to chat though with you.To confirm, it is standard procedure for the tenancy agreement to be signed on the day of the tenancy. This is best practice in case there is a last minute issue with the move in date or property prior to move in. This does not mean that we don’t take responsibility should any dates change last minute, this very rarely occurs and in extreme circumstances alternative accommodation or an alternative property would be provided by Simple Life. Regarding access to your property, we always give notice of any appointments made, allowing you time to refuse access if required (which we can see you have taken up previously). Where access is required for emergency issues which are deemed as a threat to life or which falls within our responsibility as a landlord to keep our residents safe, a shorter window of 24 hour notice may be given. As far as we can see from our contractors records and the communication log on FixFlo no one has entered your property without your consent or prior knowledge.We sympathise with your concerns over experiencing a break in but pleased to note that it was advised nothing was stolen. As we have communicated over the phone, one trusted gas engineer had a copy of your keys at the time of the event (with their visit to replace your faulty CO2 alarm taking place 1-2 days prior), so we have no reason to believe that this had anything to do with your break in. As discussed over the phone, burglary is a police matter and should be reported directly to the police.Similarly, whilst Simple Life does not condone anti-social behaviour and we can issue warnings and remind residents of the rules stipulated in their tenancy agreements, eviction is a lengthy process and both identification of culprits and evidence would be legally required for this process to take place. Unfortunately, a landlord cannot control any activity taking place in other public places such as the roads. In both instances, this is a police matter and should be reported to both the police and local authority, who have the appropriate power to take immediate action.We can also confirm that it is industry standard and outlined within your tenancy agreement that rent will be reviewed once per year, in line with local market rents. If your rent is no longer suitable for you and you are unhappy with the area, then please raise this with the team, they would be happy to discuss alternative options and locations that would better fit with your requirements.We’re sorry that you feel a subject access request policies and complaints procedures have not been willingly provided to you, following this review we have checked our records and we are unable to source any such correspondence, but of course, we would be happy to send anything you require. We will arrange for one of the team to give you a call early next week to discuss the information you need.

5/5

Trustpilot

I have just reserved a property with…

I have just reserved a property with Paulina, she has been extremely informative throughout and managed to get me a same day viewing, I was interested in 2 properties and she has ensured I had visibility to both before submitting an application for one. Extremely helpful and kind and has made the process smooth for me! Thank you.

Affia · 19 May 2026

Agent replied · 8 June 2026

Thank you so much for your kind feedback. We’re delighted to hear that Paulina has made your experience such a positive one from the very beginning.

5/5

Trustpilot

Money making deposit scheme - *updated*

Money making deposit scheme. We have enquired about a few properties with Simple Life Homes but have been told we need to put down holding deposit of around £200 before even viewing the place and that upon viewing and if we change our mind, we would only get £90 of that £200 back. Just makes me wonder how they would be as the Landlord once you’ve moved into the property and need repairs or maintenance work completing. Absolutely sham of a company, very disappointed.Update - 18.01.24:After writing the review, Simple Life reached out and have made every effort to ensure that any miscommunication was rectified in a timely and efficient manner which is greatly appreciated. I had no idea Simple Life took as much pride in their company reputation as they do and it is refreshing to see a company that will learn from miscommunication and rapidly evolve to give a much better customer experience. Thank you Adam and Jade for taking onboard our concerns and addressing them, you have gone above and beyond and have thankfully restored my faith in the company, which is a bonus as your properties are amazingly well presented! We have now thankfully been able to book 2 viewings to see the properties were interested in. Big thank you to Adam, Operations Director, for reaching out to us personally!

Saibah · 18 January 2024

Agent replied · 24 March 2024

Hi Saibah, thank you for getting in touch. It sounds like there has been some miscommunication here as we do not require a holding deposit before viewing a property. A holding deposit is required for making an application on a property and the £90 you are referring to is likely to be in reference to if an application fails or is retracted. We have looked on our systems and based on the information provided to us in this review we have been unable to locate your enquiry on our teams databases. If you could get email us at slmarketing@simplelifehomes.com with some further information of who you spoke to and which development your enquiry was regarding, we can look in to this further for you.

1/5

Trustpilot

Report a maintenance issue and you will…

Report a maintenance issue and you will be waiting months to have it rectified. I am now having to get the property ombudsman involved just to get my dishwasher fixed as it is coming up to 6 months now since initially reporting the problem.

Daniel · 13 August 2026

Agent replied · 31 December 2023

Hi Daniel, Thank you for reaching out. We have looked at your records and can see that you first reported this on 6th May (3 months ago). Our findings show that whilst the dishwasher remains fully functional, it has come away from the cupboard door. We apologise for the delay experienced in waiting for the new door to arrive. We are pleased to confirm that this has now been received, and a contract will be in touch shortly (if not already) to arrange a date for this to be fixed.

1/5

Trustpilot

Liars and criminals

Well, where to start?I actually left this exact same review 2 years ago, and once somebody called me to be overly nice to solve the situation, they asked me to REMOVE MY REVIEW so that it didn’t look bad for the company.This is the SECOND time that simple life has increased our rent with NO NOTICE.2 years back, they admitted that it was a mistake in the system. They apologised and we agreed that they would hold off on the increase for 3 months as they had not given any notice period. I was satisfied with this outcome.This time, the same has happened again. NO NOTICE given, only now to claim we are in ARREARS. I have never missed a payment and actually pay before the specified date.They are now claiming that they sent an email out in October. I have checked all folders, inbox, junk, trash. There is nothing there. This is not the type of email I would ignore. Their poor systems and high staff turnover (lost count of how many property managers we have had over the years) result in miscommunication.Recently, we were charged £80 for a piece of MDF wood beneath the bath tub that of course was rotting (who puts MDF wood below a bath tub?) they then charged us £80 for somebody to come and put sealant on it.I’ve had countless experiences with Simple Life over the years, which time and time again result in a poor customer experience. I had once called to let them know that there was no hot water and boiler was leaking (filling tubs with water every hour) during the winter months, to which they replied ‘we can get someone out to you next week’. They have no care or respect for their tenants. Please think carefully before signing with these cowboys.

Sarah · 8 December 2023

Agent replied · 31 December 2023

Hi Sarah, Thank you for responding to our find reviewer request allowing us to identify your tenancy records. We are aware that our credit control team have been in touch with you and clarified when and where the email as sent to. As this is a legal notice, we have to track that it has been delivered and we can see that it had been delivered to your email. If you require further evidence of this, we would be happy to provide it to you. We can see that you are currently in dispute about water damage charges to the skirting board around the bath panel. A member of the team has tried to get in touch with you to discuss this in more detail over the phone but has been unable to get hold of you. Unfortunately, as the panel was brand new when you moved in and now has substantial damage to it, it is deemed as resident damage. We can also confirm that the skirting board has been completed replaced and sealed when attended to.

5/5

Trustpilot

Hannah @ Simple Life Homes

I recently had the pleasure of interacting with Hannah from the maintenance team at Simple Life Homes. Her professionalism and expertise truly stood out. Hannah was not only prompt in responding to our maintenance requests but also displayed a deep understanding of the issues at hand. Her approach was both efficient and thorough, ensuring that all problems were resolved quickly and effectively.What really sets Hannah apart is her friendly and approachable demeanor. She took the time to explain the maintenance work in simple terms, which was greatly appreciated. Her dedication to customer satisfaction is evident in the way she handles every task with care and precision.Overall, my experience with Hannah and Simple Life Homes has been extremely positive. It's reassuring to know that such a capable and reliable person is handling our estate's maintenance needs. I would highly recommend Hannah and the Simple Life Homes team for anyone looking for top-notch maintenance services.

JordyE · 30 November 2023

Agent replied · 31 December 2023

Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful feedback with us! I am sure Hannah will be delighted with your review! We're so pleased that you're happy with the service provided by Simple Life!

5/5

Trustpilot

Charlotte was very pleasant and quite…

Charlotte was very pleasant and quite helpful.

Olufunke · 14 May 2026

Agent replied · 8 June 2026

Thank you for your lovely review!

3/5

Trustpilot

Disrespectful experience by Simple Life

We are very disheartened by the recent experience we had with Simple Life Homes Bertha property management. We had written dozen emails and keep calling for getting a request form for a month which was hardly answered since the email /phone is rarely attended. After long wait and multiple attempts once we got the email response and was told the property is no longer available but their website is shown there are few options.Finally we could connected to the responsible staff @ Jade and we got request form. We had passed all the reference check and deposit & advanced 6 months rental are settled. However, she mentioned that the key is not returned to the office yet and not available to view the property. The nonsense part is that she told us the rental starting date would be Oct 20 and not acceptable to change. No key and no viewing but we have to bare the rental. Not sure if we could move in on Oct 20 as well. This is so unfair to the tenants.Felt insulted and sorry to say that this company do not have any customer care interest which reflects from many feedback for them and seems that trust pilot is the customer care hub. Hope the things will be rectified for your good.Updated:Trust pilot is the best. The staffs @ Simple life are more responsive now. Viewing is arranged and rental starting date could be rescheduled.Updated v2:Credit should go to Shannah Levey who sort out all the issues with prompt action.

BonHo · 20 October 2023

Agent replied · 29 October 2023

Thank you for bringing your experience to our attention. We’re very sorry to hear that you haven’t been satisfied by the service provided to you.I believe Team Leader, Jade, has been in touch to apologise on behalf of Simple Life and has found you a suitable resolution.We really hope that you settle into your new home and have a much better experience with us here on in.

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Questions about Simple Life Base at Newhall

How many reviews does Simple Life Base at Newhall have?

Simple Life's Harlow office has 1,169 reviews across 1 platform: 1,169 on Trustpilot (across the whole business).

What is Simple Life Base at Newhall's rating?

Simple Life Base at Newhall is rated 3.8 out of 5 across all 1,169 reviews.

Where is Simple Life's Harlow office?

Simple Life Base at Newhall, Barnfield Way, Harlow, CM17 9TN.

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