Simple Life Longbenton reviews

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

Very poor experience so far

When I first contacted Simple Life I was given a few plots to choose from that had a railway line behind them. I asked if any other plots were available and I was told no. I started the process to rent one of these but then the next day, I saw new plots without the train line behind come up on Rightmove. I asked about these and was told "oh yes, some more just became available today". When I arrived the street was a mudbath and there is a lot of loud construction work still being carried out 2 doors away. It would have been professional to inform me of this as I could have chosen a plot further away from it.The young lad that handed over the keys did no introduction to the property whatsoever and I was left in the following days with many questions that could have easily been answered at that time. I saw another rep bring another family next door and asked to speak to him afterwards, he agreed but then just drove away. The downstairs toilet did not work, there had been a repair on the wall in the lounge but there is still a large crack in the paintwork, the heating downstairs would not come on and the back door would not lock. To get all these issues fixed, I had to walk into the building site and ask builders. When I finally talked to the site manager he was very angry and said I should talk to Simple Life about these problems. I tried to call them but the number in the emails didn't work so I emailed and Nick Critchley called me back (his response was prompt, the only positive out of my experience so far).Nick answered some of my questions but there are two outstanding which have left me unsatisfied. Firstly, although there are cable ports for TV, there is no aerial installed on the property so if I want to watch TV I have to pay for the installation myself. I have been quoted £150 for this and feel this is an unfair charge for a tenant because the aerial would obviously not be coming with me when I leave. Secondly, using the alteration request form, I asked if I could plant a small fir tree in the front of the house just so I could light it up for Christmas. The last two years have been very dark so I am looking forward to a big traditional Christmas this year. I offered to leave it or remove it when I moved and return the garden to its current state (mostly mud and plants at death's door). Nick informed me that this request had been rejected and gave no reason why :(Not a great start

Lindsay · 29 November 2021

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Megan is a helpful person

Megan is a helpful person. She responds to emails and calls. I want to thank her very much.Ayman

Ayman · 14 June 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Terrible communication, supposed to move on Monday but no paperwork signed or time given

I have never written a review on Trustpilot before, but it feels important here.My experience with Simple Life so far has been pretty terrible, especially on the communication level. First time I called, was told the property we were looking at would be ready to move in on the 19th, same date which was noted on Rightmove, but "there are many applicants so it'll be first come first served for the reservation". Was supposed to receive the email with the form to fill in within 10 minutes it took hours and me having to call them and email to finally receive it. (The "form" by the way is not very professional. It is just a few questions in an email, including items such as property rent per month, parking etc which should be filled in by the agency.)Filled in the "form" with the 19th as a date, all seemed fine, payed the reservation fee and had to again chase to get confirmation that it was reserved for us.Then had to chase, again, on the referencing team. We filled in the references shortly after receiving them, 2 days later had to chase once more to get a status update - that was the 18th, the day before we were supposed to move in. We then get confirmed for references and asked to pay the deposit, which we do right away, and get told the move-in date is actually on the 22nd, not the 19th. We had booked time-off for the 19th, so not great at all to have to move it the day before, but we accept it.Now, we are the 19th, and I am still waiting for the paperwork and to get confirmation on what time we will get the keys on the 22nd. I was told someone would contact me today, then called early afternoon to be told "oh actually she only works half-days so I will forward the information to another colleague". Still nothing from that new person either. It really feels like I am bothering them every time I try to get information that I need to move into a house I have already paid for.Honestly after all of this, and having to chase throughout the whole process, this doesn't make me feel confident about the move at all. The whole situation makes it feel like a scam, which is very unfortunate as we are very much looking forward to moving into our new house.

Séverine · 19 November 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Absolute joke of a company through out…

Absolute joke of a company through out my process of finding our new home everything was going perfect, spoke to a specialist who said everything was going fine and there was no problems there was delays in the referencing, then all off a sudden get a phone call to say we can no longer have the property, even though we was told our move in date to then be told referencing has failed due to guarantor no chance to change our guarantor when asked if we could was basically told straight up no and the property is no longer ours. Will make sure people know exactly how you treat people unfair.. now have to look for a new home in such a sort space of time thanks a lot.

Christiana · 17 November 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Currently living in a simple life home

Currently living in a simple life home, the ellesmere houses on James mill way. Been here over a year now and whilst the house is beautiful the 'simple life' company are terrible. They got took over by a different company when I made a previous review and so many months later they just went down hill. I have a decent sized garden and three small children that love to get out in the garden but when it rains it floods half of my garden its awful and I have massive drops which the kids can't play nicely, I told simple life about it and they got someone out to check it. The man dug 4 holes up around the garden to check and he even said there is clay underneath and a shallow depth of dirt so the water can't drain and said I'd need the grass to be re laid and sorted but according to simple life it's perfectly fine for me to have dips everywhere and a flooded garden.My shower has a small gap at the bottom of the shower screen where an attachment does not sit flush with the shower screen which is causing the gap so obviously my shower leaks, my skirting board is ruined and the bathroom lino is bouncy in that corner and according to simple life it's perfectly fine and is all fitted perfectly. The company are a joke. I wanted to attach photos but I can't find how to.So many people on my estate have had problems with simple life as they've not sorted their issues or they are just turning up without any notice. Also they have had their cars robbed from their drives on our estate and simple life was supposed to help to find a solution to prevent things like that happening but nothing.The only positive is they are pretty houses unless you have an issue

TERRI · 17 November 2021

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Good service

We dealt with a lovely lady called Catrina. Catrina was extremely helpful, she replied to all emails and queries quickly and the instructions on the next steps were very clear. Thank you for al your help.

Terran · 2 February 2021

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Tom Billington we thank you Sir

Moving to Manchester from Ipswich ,decided to come down for the week to look for different options. Unaware that nowadays everyone is pushing you to fill in forms online and with my income coming from abroad,my happy hunting week became a nightmare as the forms did not take into account my situation .With every agency we were going too, an appointment was required. We even had some asking us to leave .Until we went to Ascend on deansgate Manchester and met Thomas Billington, asked us if we had an appointment to which we said no ,however he asked us to sit down and LISTEN to us ,managed to arrange a viewing the next day and as we talking our offer on paying 6month upfront rent had been accepted on house and have signed the contract. We will forever be grateful to Tom as whenever we will talk about our move to Manchester his name will come to mind. Thank you so so so much Tom.

Dan · 11 November 2021

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Rebecca Evens was a please to talk to…

Rebecca Evens was a please to talk to replied so quickly and helped me with my processing of renting. Would definitely recommend thank you so much!!

Tegan · 31 August 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

I do not recommend!

If you are thinking about renting a property with Simple Life Homes then I would honestly forget it. This year, I moved out of property. After handing in keys, i then received a phone call to say that they had not been handed in. Now it just gets worse; We were told that within 10 days we would hear something about getting the deposit back. Finally got a response off the asset manager, (not a phone call but email) to say that multiple things had not been done in the house and that it was left a mess which was completely untrue. All the things that were stated in the email were general wear and tear. Have sent proof to say this is how the house was left and have not heard anything since. Have sent multiple emails and phone calls and still not had any response back which is appalling. Quick enough to take money from you but when you are entitled to getting it back they want to keep every penny.

Victoria · 1 November 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Unfortunately my experience with simple…

Unfortunately my experience with simple life’s hasn’t been the best. I was due to move into a semi detached property on the 25th October and was told on the 20th it wouldn’t be ready until the 9th of November. As I have a child I couldn’t wait for this and had to take a terraced house at the same price. I was also sent over priced that far lower than the price I’m paying I’m the original photos. I never got to see the property beforehand or a show home which wasn’t ideal and it just wasn’t a very good service. Maxwell did a good job but simple life as a whole were very poor

Jamal · 27 October 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

DONT EVER GO NEAR!!!!!

DONT EVER GO NEAR!!!!!! Try and con YOUNG people out of money and belittle you!! Had a mid year inspection a few months before leaving the property and the report was fine! Now they’re saying our house we was left in a poor condition. Our house was in a state when we moved in and we had to put up with that. Advised them of all the problems we had and nothing got sorted within the 18 months of us being there!!! We had a massive crack in the master bedroom and plaster fell off the ceiling, the garden was disgusting, we had more rocks then grass. The service is appalling!!!!

Courtney · 26 October 2021

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Reece was excellent in communication

Reece was excellent in communication, friendliness and very efficient in the application processVery grateful for the help.

Anthony · 30 June 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

DONT GO NEAR - NOT WORTH THE STRESS

“A new way of renting” “putting families at the heart”Until they hit you with a massive bill for absolutely no reason why your tenancy ends. £650 for a whole house redecoration because my paint was still fresh on the wall when I moved out. Absolute joke of a business who doesn’t care about their tenants one bit. Had to even end our tenancy due to issues we had throughout it with the house being a new build. Disgusting company who needs to look at how the law works

Ben · 21 October 2021

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Shannah is really a great staff helping…

Shannah is really a great staff helping us to get our new home, thank you so much!

Cheang · 27 June 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Rent somewhere else......

I was happy to move into simplelifes homes. However, I dont feel the same way anymore. Apart from them increasing the rent by £30.00 per month. This might be the reason why people are constantly moving out after 1 year. I have sent them emails about the floor boards, they squeak so loud, it's disturbing for the rest of the people in the house when waking up early to go to work and making all that noise. I twisted my ankle because one of the floor boards move slightly. So simple life response was that it's normal after having someone come and check and tell me that their are actually very loud. So nothing there. But they increase the rent.....The bushes on the side of the drive way makes it's very hard to get out of the car. I can't get out withought touching them and getting my clothes wet. My car is white and it has gone green on the side where the bushes are. I wish they would just cut these down. I have been on the pet waiting list for 2 years. Because they have a limit, but new neighbours have moved in with multiple pets. Also the way that they have made the drives way, makes it difficult for other people to park their car when some neighbours have 3 cars blocking the way. When I moved in the white paint would just off on your clothes I had to paint the whole house when I moved in. My friend moved out and they charged them 900£ on riddiculous things that are or should be categorised as wear and tear. Also the leaking in the bathroom, coming through the living room ceiling. The cracks on the walls. The weaver houses have a box room as the third room. This has stressed me so much as I couldn't fit a single bed in this room how I wanted to. It's super small, it's mostly like for an office space or storage and there's much more, and don't forget to take into that their house is 3 years old.....

Jessica · 19 October 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Got messed about by this company.

Got messed about by this company.First of all we went to view a property which me and my wife liked so we applied for it then got a call from simple life to say we had been accepted at 9am but was pressured into paying a holding deposit which had to be paid by 12 noon the same day. Even after explaining that I was working away in Scotland until the following morning and asked if I could pay first thing the next morning was told no needs to be done today so after phoning a few family and friends we got the holding deposit paid which was to cover references for 2 adults.Then got emails from referencing company asking for all my details which I sent after a week they came back and said that simple life told them I was living on my own without my wife and child and was told the reference company couldn't do anything and was simple life's mistake all this took over the 10 days the holding deposit would keep the property in my name so I ended up losing my holding deposit and now not getting any response from simple life

Dave · 13 October 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

ABSOLUTE HELL!

ABSOLUTE HELL FOR THE PAST 3 YEARS! Where do I start……I move into one of simple life properties in July 2018. I moved in, in the middle of a heatwave and it was explained that the turf in my back garden could not be laid yet due to the weather which was completely understandable! 5 days later….3 gardens come to my house to lay the turf, I explained to them that I was told this would not be done for a while due to the weather and they said they had been told to do it today and it was not their decision. I followed the instructions from the gardens and watered it etc however it was far to warm and did not take very well……after 3 years of emails, phone calls and letters to the head of the company I still have no garden in which my children can play in and furthermore I have had to have my children’s parties at family members houses due to the state of it…..it is absolutely embarrassing and I don’t like looking at it myself! My en-suite began leaking in April 2020 I was advise that due to COVID and the home having another functioning bathroom this was not urgent and will be repaired when they was allowed to. We are now in October 2021 and I still can not use my en-suite. Again numbers phone calls and emails have been sent and ignored! In July 2021 my main bathroom began leaking and caused damp in my front room, I was told as there is not water dripping it was not urgent. The water then started tricking down the walls so I called them again but still no sign of this being repaired. A week later I come home from work and found a huge deep puddle of water, I called again and finally a plumber come out, he advised that he could not see where the leak was coming from and they would need to take the ceiling down to see where it is coming from. He said he would report his findings back fo simple life. Another 4 weeks of phones calls and emails and still no further forward. I returned home from work again to find a huge puddle of water and dripping water from my light switch! I phoned the emergency team and they advised me to turn off the water and they would send someone out the following day. The following day a plumber come out and found the leak however he needed approval from simple life before he could carry out the work. 2 HOURS the plumber waited for simple life response and they said they would not pay for over the weekend and they would send someone out the following week. Can I just point out again that I had water coming through a light fitting with two young children in the house!!!! I paid my rent as I usually do at the beginning of the month in September, I was then hounded with phone calls and emails to say they had to received the rent, may I add this is the only time you will get communication from them!!! It turned out that they had changed there bank details and not notified me…..surprise surprise!!! The amount of damage to the home and also my own personal furniture from the leaks details above is absolutely heartbreaking and has left me dreading having to spend a minute longer in the home then I need to! I have had hell for 3 years, please do not make the same mistake as me and stay well clear from this company!

Paynton · 9 October 2021

★★★★★ 3/5

Trustpilot

Lack of consideration…

Myself and my family are excited to move into our new home but we’ve had to apply without seeing the house. I’d asked to see the house and got told the Lettings team would be in touch, this has not happened and I’m moving in this week - this is just a minor inconvenience really but it’s just the start!Not much communication happens after you’ve paid the money, I was told I’d get an email with details on where to pick up the keys the day before move in, this doesn’t fill you with confidence at all. I was due to move in 5th October, I had to be out of my current property by 30th September. Having spoken to my landlord, they agreed that 5th would be fine, luckily. I doubt others are so lucky though, especially if new tenants are moving in. 5 days before moving day (and a weekend within these 5 days) I receive a phone call stating work needs to be done to the property so can we be flexible with the move in date? The answer was no because we’ve all booked the day off work, to which my brother has spent 3 weeks arranging with his clients, booked in the van, booked internet and TV installation dates around us moving in on the Tuesday. The lady I spoke to said she’d speak with the person organising the contractors work and call me back. I did get the call back but it was ‘the earliest you can pick up the keys is Wednesday afternoon’. I offered for contractors to come in and do their work after we’d moved in as this was very inconvenient to move but I was told no, I still couldn’t have the keys and move in on Tuesday. I was told I’d receive a phone call on Friday with what time I could get the keys. It’s Monday afternoon now and I still haven’t received the phone call despite chasing it up this morning. I’ve requested a complaint form and told this would be sent to me, not received this either. In an extremely stressful time, unnecessary stress is being added by this company. I can’t guarantee that we’ll get to even move in this week and I’m in the difficult situation with my boss as I’ll not be able to give much notice as to what more time off I need. There’s been absolutely no consideration of people working, the stress of moving already before obstacles are put in the way, the organisation of other factors around moving or anything else! I’m extremely unhappy and have no idea what’s actually going to happen as we go through this week!EDIT: Lucy has saved the day! Sort of.. having chased up the phone call we’d been waiting on, we got through to Lucy who confirmed we can pick up the keys on our original moving date. We can’t rearrange everything again to get fully moved in, but it’s helped take some of the stress away.

Jessica · 4 October 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

An absolute sh**tttttt show of a…

An absolute sh**tttttt show of a company. We’ve had our dishwasher broken for 4 months and have had no help whatsoever. Our property manager Leah Gilford thought it was ideal to send gas engineers twice to fix a broken dishwasher, where is the logic in that? The staff seem to have little interest in helping us and we are constantly having to contact them for updates rather than them doing their job efficiently. Terrible service, terrible company, terrible staff.

Sandhiya · 15 November 2021

★★★★★ 3/5

Trustpilot

Great house in a lovely area

Great house in a lovely area. Had issues with arranging a viewing as they'd lost the keys, which meant I didn't see the actual house until 2 working days before my scheduled move-in date, and unfortunately it was an absolute mess from the previous tenants. Fortunately James and Adam listened to my concerns and had someone working like crazy to try to get it all ready. Still a few issues to resolve after move-in, so it could be worse, but obviously it wouldn't have been an issue if they hadn't caused the problem by losing the maintenance keys and so were unable to get in themselves or show me around in good time.Adding an edit to my review in response to the reply; the maintenance keys were lost - this was confirmed by the head office team; the previous tenants did not in fact return them on the original date, but the problem was caused by the loss of the maintenance keys. The remaining works are still outstanding - they're not planned for completion this week, in fact no date has yet been provided. I also had no choice but to move in - by the time I finally go to look around the property we'd passed the point of no return as I had to move out of my old property. It wasn't a great experience, but as I pointed out; James and Adam did a great job of handling what we could in a short space of time.

Customer · 9 September 2021

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Simple Life is prompt!

Simple Life is prompt! And their staff are amazing! I enquired about a property and within a few hours got a response from one of their staff which never happened with other letting agents during my period of search for a home. Every step of the way, they were very helpful and ensured that we had a great experience even during the referencing. I am very satisfied!

Uzoma · 4 April 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Simple Life Simple Management team !!

Terrible company absolutely awful. Im not your average tenant I moved into rented after moving from my long term home to take a year out and decide where my life is going after my wife passed away. My children are grown up and wanted to be near them for a while. Since moving into this house it has been a horrible experience. The dishwasher has never worked from day one, I have a loft hatch that can’t be closed. The build quality is shoddy. The management team are useless and just out of school. The team manger is arrogant! Nobody seems interested in resolving issues. I paid 18k upfront for a years rental. It’s the developers issue apparently🤷‍♂️ No it’s your issue resolve my issues. Will and James 🤬 The next step will be legal action for contravention of their own processes and polices. How can you not fix a dishwasher within a week? It’s actually been 3+ but trying to be reasonable 🤷‍♂️ If you need to rent then you have no choice I guess but don’t use these please 👍Response to Simple Life for the benefit of those viewing. The dishwasher didn’t need fixing as it could never have worked from the day of installation. The drain hose still had the seal installed. So this posses the question? Surely you audit your properties, check them and all appliances before tenants move in? Standard practice I would say so please don’t hide behind a fix SLA. It shouldn’t be down to me to report an appliance that has never worked that should have been identified before I moved in!!

Rèmma · 27 August 2021

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Still waiting for a refund promised 3…

Still waiting for a refund promised 3 days ago now … after been accepted and to pay holding fee in a hurry to secure plot but then told actually I’m not accepted but as no referencing been done would get a refund ASAP and had nothing I believe the agent chasing it up is doing his best however whoever is meant to do this refund isn’t and it’s becoming a joke now constantly chasing for my own money back my money i was urged to pay ASAP for the property but yet taking forever to get back

Kathryn · 25 August 2021

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

Rude staff and was miss led!.. Be careful!

When myself and my boyfriend made contact with Simple at the start everything seemed fine but then months later we was told a property was available so after paying a holding fee for a property we was not allowed to view yet and they said they did not have keys for it we thought this was odd but paid it as we had been waiting for months on a list for this house and was very interested but then when I would call up weeks later asking for an update or ask when we can go view the property every person I spoke to was extremely rude and condescending, they had no customer service skills at all it was quite shocking. We was then sent an email asking us both to fill out an application for the property and was told we would soon be able to view the property when we had done this. After both of our referencing and applications being accepted we was sent an email asking us to pay just over £1,600 to move into the property but we still had not been to view it yet which was very strange as who would pay all that money for a place they have not seen yet! I then called up to query this and was told ‘oh you can view it next week’ which then got cancelled and rescheduled due to short staff, then we was told we can view it the following Tuesday but I had a voicemail the day before on the Monday saying there was no one available to show us the property and this happened 3 times which kept prolonging the whole process which by this time was almost 2 months and with me being 7 months pregnant this was too much to deal with! It got to the point where myself and my boyfriend was so put off by the whole experience and our experience with the staff that we decided to not go through with it. After reading reviews since it’s a good job we did as there was so many negative reviews and there was no way we was going to be stuck with Simple Life. Oh they failed to tell us at the end of our garden was a very loud train track (the only way we could see the property was myself and my partner drove there and had to look from the outside) we was not impressed as online it was made to look like a nice big spacious family home but in person it was definitely not! Was definitely miss sold… be very careful!

AA · 23 August 2021