Trusted Agent profile · Manchester, Greater Manchester
Verified
★★★★★
745 reviews across 2 platforms
241 Deansgate, Manchester, Greater Manchester, M3 4EN
Ascend Properties's office in Manchester, Greater Manchester, at 241 Deansgate, is rated 3.5 out of 5 across 745 reviews on two platforms, including 724 Google reviews rated 3.5.
What sellers, buyers, landlords and tenants say, where the review tells us who wrote it.
As an investor client, I cannot fault Ascend, by far the best agency I've dealt with over the years. Adam Stephenson is a pleasure to deal with, attentive and ...Read all 2 from landlords
Ascend were very quick to arrange a viewing for me and during the viewing Aaron was very helpful, answering questions and then providing clear next steps. He ...Read all 17 from tenants
Welcome to an independently-run, independently-minded estate and lettings agency. Ascend was founded on the belief that estate agents could do a lot better. We’d been working in the industry for a long time and were frustrated that most agencies were just so ordinary. Like their houses, these places were in need of a new lick of paint. Bit of rising damp in the basement too. So we decided to build our own home. This new home wasn’t made of sticks or straw. It was founded on a deep-rooted, decade-long knowledge of Manchester, from the very bricks and mortar of the city centre to its outer reaches. By a team of savvy individuals who loved the city and loved helping people invest, move and live in it. A team of quick thinkers and good listeners who did that rare thing: treat customers like people instead of transactions. Because they knew great service wasn’t just about experience and expertise. We had one philosophy: to keep the promises we made. Then we opened the doors. Welcome to Ascend. We’re built on higher standards.
Every review we hold for the Manchester office, from every platform, shown as written. First names only.
5/5
GoogleAscend properties have just oversaw our renting of our new property and they made it super easy and where very helpful. Everything was quick and clear. The gentlemen Adam that took us round our viewing was very professional and was able to answer all our questions. Overall 5 star experience and will use them again if i ever need to find a new property!
5/5
GoogleAdam has been truly fantastic. Very supportive and really goes all out to help. Highly recommended.
Hi Craig, thanks for taking the time to leave us a review. It means a lot to us. I will ensure that Adam gets to read your kind words. Many thanks, Ascend Deansgate Team.
1/5
GoogleAVOID AT All COSTS. Totally unprofessional company. Customer Services a disgrace. Been trying to call for 3 days and the sales telephone line just rings. Called all 5 offices, 4 Monton office, 5 Leeds office, 5 Liverpool office and 9 Deansgate office. To no avail ! ! ! Finally got through to “head office” asking to speak to a manager or Director of the company. To be told I can’t speak to them. What a joke, they advertise on their website “meet the team” but avoid dealing with a customer who wants to sell a property. Clearly they are not a “different sales agent” I can honestly say they are the worst in Manchester. Finally when I said I will post a comment on Google, surprise surprise I was put through to the Operations Manager, who said that everyone was in training and can’t understand why the phone just rings. Wow 3 days training and the loss of potential business, obviously not interested in the customer. Manager confirmed she would get back the next day. 26 hours later NO CALL. Ascend must be making a fortune and can afford to loose 5k in fees. For hassle free sales, please find another agent.
We are extremely sorry you feel that our company provides an unprofessional service, this is the exact opposite of what we pride ourselves on and as such, a thorough investigation has been carried out by the Quality team to listen to all calls between yourself and Ascend, in addition to a full review being conducted to find reasoning behind the unanswered calls. While it is true you called all five of our branches multiple times, you let the phone ring past a minute on only two occasions, at which point you were offered the chance to leave a message for someone to call back but opted not to do so, without a message there is no prompt to call you back or reason for us to know the purpose of your call. On four occasions you gave up after 30 secs equating to just four rings, which goes some way to explaining the high volume of failed attempts, this coupled with the fact you were ringing different branches all at the same time of day i.e. mid-afternoon it is more than feasible that they were equally busy. When you did physically speak to a member of staff requesting messages to be passed on to Lucy Wakeland, it was done so on each occasion, Lucy being the Head of Sales attends a lot of viewings and the vast majority of appraisals, so she can only return a call once back in the office which she duly did; on her work mobile Monday 29.07.19 @ 16:54, due to this going straight through to an answer phone message stating you were on another line with no option to leave a voicemail she backed this up with a text, you subsequently called back in 16:54 which was missed and Lucy connected with you 17:21 the same day where you advised you no longer wanted to proceed. You were also given ample opportunity to address your concerns speaking directly to both the Lettings Manager for Deansgate (Robert Healy) and Operations Manager (Stacey Rushworth), in addition to being offered the complaints procedure to make your complaint official on more than one occasion, which was refused. It would seem we are not the right fit due to you subjecting our staff to both verbal abuse and name calling across the two days, which is not how we would want to conduct business, so we wish you well in your search for an alternate Estate Agent.
1/5
GoogleThey work for your landlord, not you! Our tenancy contract switched landlords halfway through our contract, which we were told would be seamless and no problem to us. We took Ascend at their word and the problems started when we tried to end our tenancy. They did NOT hold our deposit as their deposit-protection paperwork stated, which means that it took a long time to get it back! On top of this there was a deduction for 'cleaning' which the landlord randomly pulled out of his head, far too much for dust on the skirting boards! When I queried this cost Ascend backed up the landlord and said he got to think of our contribution, whilst saying that the new cabinates and lighting we fitted at our own expense were allowed to be left as a FAVOUR to us! Their attitude was horrendous, stating inflated costs for removing a cabinate and making out that we should be greatful that the landlord accepted his new free possessions. They did not respond to many phone calls about the deposit or deductions, and do not prioritise you as the Tennant who has been stuck with them through no choice of their own. I would be happy to never have anything to do with this company again.
Hello Fiona, it is with regret that you feel the service you received by Ascend was unsatisfactory. I can confirm that we are instructed by the landlord and only facilitate the landlords requests. The landlord is within their rights to ask that the property is returned to them in the same condition that it was let and to ask you to remove belongings which the landlord did not want to keep. The landlord is able to charge for removal of items that were not present at the start of the tenancy, however agreed to keep hold of them as you did not wish to remove them and there was no charge to yourself for this. In regards to your deposit, unfortunately the former agent did not send this to us following repeated requests and therefore we had no control over the deposit release timescales, despite our best efforts to resolve this.
4/5
GoogleMOVING OUT REVIEW All I can say is that there are still some issues internally with Ascend. If it was not for some members of staff creating problems. Many of my issues would not have happened. There are members of staff who think they know everything, then there are those who redeem the companies reputation after the prior have finished with their drama. The fixers tend to be Matthew and Adam, who genuinely seem to care. Overall if they had not resolved some of the issues after I had left the premises. And Adam did not work there, I would have rated a 1 star. MOVING IN REVIEW Ascend were the perfect example of how not to run a property management company. The customer service was non existent. Issues I've had include a lack of communication, it was difficult to understand where in the application and move in process I was. Most of the issues I had have been resolved although I have reported numerous issues with building quality that have yet to be repaired such as a faulty boiler and the flooring lifting. Since opening their leeds office things have improved marginally although it is noisy with quite a few noisy neighbours and dog waste not being cleaned up properly. Blocks B and C I imagine will be far better to live in. With regards to offering to end my tenancy. I had paid a year in advance and the offer was not concrete. I had replied numerous times but unfortunately it was your staff that did not convey the message to the correct recipients. Another case of information going missing.
Firstly, we are very sorry that you are not satisfied with the service provided by Ascend. We understand you have moved into phase 1 of a new development, the development is live site with ongoing works. These works were present and visible when you viewed the property and will continue until the site is complete. In relation to the setting up of a Standing Order, this is an autogenerated email and was sent to you automatically. We thank you for bringing this to our attention and we have made steps to change this for future tenants who pay rent in advance. We have moved over 30 tenants into the development so far, all of whom are happy with both the development and property. However, we understand you are not and have therefore given you the opportunity to end your tenancy with no penalty. Unfortunately, you have not responded to our emails and calls offering this resolution. We therefore accept you wish to continue living at the development.
5/5
GoogleArdent Julius has been really helpful in guiding us through reserving the property we hope to get.
Hi Robyn, thanks for taking the time to leave us a review. I will make sure that Ardent gets to see it. We wish you well on your journey with Ascend! Many thanks, the Ascend Deansgate Team.
1/5
GoogleAVOID at all costs. Working with this managing agency was the worst mistake I ever made. They do not care about their clients be it a landlord or tenant. They do not respect contractual agreements, they falsify legal documentation, keep your deposit once it has been released from the deposit holding scheme. They are a total sham. The photo attached shows how I found my apartment which they were being paid to manage and regularly check. They considered this an acceptable state to continue viewings when the tenant vacated and did not feel I should be told about the damage until I asked why no new tenant had wanted to move in. A total joke.
Hi Amy, You experienced an unfortunate sequence of events during your ownership of a property managed by Ascend. We strongly refute allegations of falsifying legal documentation. Ascend have provided advice on your situation and made recommendations based on our experience. We have also advised on legal opportunities available in relation to recovering your previous tenants arrears. You are still within your rights to pursue this balance. Again, we are very sorry for the experience you have had.
1/5
GoogleAVOID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If i could give -0 star i would!!!! First of all, where my mum previously lived as a tenant she had issues of leaks and it was difficult to get a response from ASCEND to send a repair team to the apartment. As soon as i put a google review about how poor their service was they called the next day and threatened to evict my mum with 2 kids out if i didn't take the post down.The post was taken down straight away as i was scared my mum would be bullied by Ascend. Now that my mum has found a new tenant i wanted to put this review back up to let people know about their poor service. My mum was also made aware from previous tenants they were asked to take their google review down if it was negative against Ascend! (THIS IS THE REASON WHY YOU WONT SEE AS MUCH 1 STAR REVIEWS) Overall very poor service, take a while to respond back to you, the staff who work at Ascend Manchester office clearly don't communicate with each other because on multiple occasions we've received multiple calls from Ascend. For example, when we were giving the keys back i was asked by Jade to drop them in the Manchester office on Deansgate, when i did i was greeted by another woman who didn't seem to know who 'Jade' was however, i gave the keys once i confirmed the address and took a picture of the agreement signed and keys. The next day i received 5 calls from Jade and multiple voicemails saying i've not dropped off the keys and this issue may be escalated further. This is only a small fraction of the rubbish they put my mum through over the 2 years. My mum was charged a ridiculous amount monthly for rubbish service she received. Her whole deposit of £1300 was taken away as they said deep cleaning cost £600 and the rest was marks on the wall! I am pretty sure a 3 bedroom apartment deep clean doesn't cost that much and there were no marks on the wall!!!! Be careful if you're thinking of being a tenant under Ascend! they may be good at selling you the home but once you're trapped in they really do take the mick! and do come across as intimidating! Thank you for looking further into the issues I have raised. However, it is very clear by the previous 1 star reviews that the claims i have raised in my review are very similar to others. This is just a review on my personal experience with Ascend & is not a false statement, so please don’t contemptuously disregard my review Has my third point of poor communication between staff been investigated?
Dear Shanice, We are very sorry to hear that your mother was unhappy with the service received. I have thoroughly investigated your points raised and would like to reply as follows. Firstly, we strongly deny that we ever threatened to evict your mother due to leaving a review. We only act on behalf of the landlord and have no authority to evict tenants for our own causes. We have never had a discussion with your mother about eviction. In regards to the deposit, you are correct in that we made a claim, the reasons why being the following: - 49 Bin bags of rubbish were removed from the property which required a skip. - All carpets needed to be professionally cleaned due to heavy staining - The intense cleaning took 3 days to complete - Heavy marks to the walls which required painting We cannot make a claim against the deposit without evidence. The evidence we have is an inventory showing the condition of the property at move in (which your mother signed, agreeing that it was a true reflection of the condition of the property), a full check out report and invoices from contractors. All reports are accompanied by date stamped photographs. Your mother disputed the claim so was advised her to raise a dispute with the adjudication service. 3 months after this advice, a dispute was finally raised, however no evidence was provided to challenge the proposed deductions. Due to this, the deductions from the deposit were approved. We at Ascend welcome all feedback and feel it is essential in assisting us to improve our service to our clients, however we cannot welcome false statements.
2/5
GoogleI'll start with the positives: the staff are all friendly and professional when you go into their store. You would think that with all the fees you are paying that they would at least be willing to help with our problems, anything you report must be chased daily for anything to be done. Like everyone is saying, they have awful communication. We had a break in and my motorbike was stolen, they wouldn't do anything to repair the damage caused during the break in, leaving our house vulnerable. Our boiler broke in December (the coldest month of the year) and it took almost 3 weeks for them to sort the problem and give us hot water and heating again.
Hello Conor, I am very sorry to hear that you have been dissatisfied with the service received. Unfortunately I am unable to locate you on our system therefore cannot provide further comment at present. If you would like to discuss the matter further, please email our Operations Manager, Stacey Rushworth - Stacey.rushworth@ascendproperties.com
1/5
GoogleWe had a really bad experience (probably the worst with any agent) with Ascend. They showed a complete lack of professionalism and communication. Also, their fees are very onerous and there are hidden gems within the contract. More details on that below. The gist of the issue: We viewed a house, we liked it and wanted to move. We mentioned during the viewing that we wanted a cat (no mention of pets on the advert). We received written confirmation that the cat won't be an issue, so we paid the fees. The draft contract arrived with no pets stated. Answered back that e-mail, highlighting the issue. No one came back to me. Two e-mails more to all the different accounts that have e-mailed me in the next couple of days. Nothing. Final contract arrives four days after with no changes. Rang them. They made up excuses and promised to look into in in half an hour. Came back to me saying that pets are and won't be allowed in the property. End of story. We were out of a property we had written confirmation from an Ascend agent it admitted pets. No one was bothered to provide a proper explanation of what happened. To be fair, they apologised and gave our fees back but this is simply not enough. They have wasted two weeks of our lives and all the planning of moving onto a new house. Fortunately we read the whole draft contract and never notified our current landlord we were moving until we have signed the final contract. If that was the case, we would be in serious trouble because the wrongdoing of Ascend. The house was too good to be true. The pricing was clearly under market value. It was clear once we started reading the contract, that the money would come elsewhere. There are charges for every imaginable thing, including amongst many others: Agent fees £410 - (2 people); Deposit Protection Fee £30.00 - (Quite standard I know); Check in fee: £30.00 (Whatever that is); Right to Rent checks: £19.20 per person (As if the Agent fees weren't sufficient to cover this); Renewal Tenancy agreements: £180 (Yearly); Check out charge: £120 (+£30 if they need to come back); To top this up, we were forced to pay a tenants liability insurance, as if a deposit of 150% the value of a monthly payment was not sufficient to cover cheap IKEA furniture. Furthermore, the company offering the referencing services opportunistically sent an e-mail offering such insurance. To finish with outrageous payments, the minimum amount that the landlord was a fixed amount of £25 a year, completely unrelated to the performance of the economy or the rental market. Of course this might not be the responsibility of the agency to set, but it just adds to the extra costs of renting the property. Based on all this, one couldn't help having the feeling that getting money off the tenants is one of this agency's key goals. The agency fees are extortionate and disproportionate to the cost of the rental monthly payment and are under no circumstances justified. Of course, they have Audi as company cars. When you are on the rental market as a tenant and you like a property, the letting agency comes imposed, which is terribly unfair. We were fortunate in a way as the letting didn't come forward in this case, as once we learnt the fees implied, we were completely unhappy by the unexpected associated payments. Last, the lack of communication. We dealt with more than five e-mail accounts during the whole process, which made reporting anything extremely difficult. My original e-mail highlighting the issue with the pets on the contract sat on their inbox for 4 days, which I resent up to two times to all the accounts involved during this time. We will never rent a property from them.
Hello David, we’re very sorry to hear about your dissatisfaction with the service received. We would welcome the opportunity to look into this matter, however are unable to do so with your first name only. Please feel free to send an email to our Operations Manager, Stacey.rushworth@ascendproperties.com and she will be more than happy to review.
1/5
GoogleMaybe “Built on high standards” but definitely crashed low. Ascend agents looks nice, dressed up, drive good cars, offices look posh... but after the contract is signed issues begin. No support, no replying to emails for weeks, ignorant, unapologetic, false promises, not acting upon FixFlo reports, not replying to formal complaints, refuse to escalate complaints to higher level.. Avoid at all cost. Luckily enough I changed the letting agency and life seems normal now. Unbelievable how a letting agency can make you miserable.
Hi Franko, Whilst we appreciate and take on-board your comments about our service, upon investigation we don’t completely agree with them. According to our records, you haven't been a tenant of ours for nearly 3 years now and any issues you raised during your tenancy were resolved prior to you vacating the property. If you would like to discuss anything over the phone, we are more than happy to do so.
5/5
GoogleAgent - Aaron Rasheed Aaron has been very helpful and flexible in arranging viewings for both me and my partner at different times, as well as showing us a number of different options in the same building. He also helped us negotiate a convenient move in date. Suzanne McKay has also been very helpful and communication re. sorting references etc has been excellent. Would highly recommend.
1/5
GoogleAvoid like the plague. They lied to get us to sign the contract, claiming that a leak had been fixed which we raised at the viewing. We signed on this basis, moved in and discovered that the leak was NOT FIXED. Upon arrival in late June 2023, we discovered that there was only one bed, despite the property being advertised as a two-bed ‘fully furnished’. We began to experience mould and damp in the property in July 23 (the height of summer!) and reported this on the 24th of the month. It took Ascend until the 11th August to send somebody out, who confirmed that there were serious issues involving the structure of the property. This rolled on until October, with nothing having being done about the mould - the landlord blaming Ascend and Ascend blaming the landlord. Nobody taking responsibility. We discovered mould on our personal belongings, including saucepans and kitchen utensils. Manchester City Council then deemed the property unfit for habitation. Only then, after months of arguing that the contract was invalid because it was signed under false pretences, did Ascend begin to discuss early termination. We agreed, multiple times, what the conditions of terminating the tenancy would be. I have multiple emails from Ascend confirming this. Despite it being agreed that the deposit would be returned within 10 days, it took 34 days for me to receive my deposit (moved out 11th Nov, received 14th December). This was after Ascend went back on their word and attempted to deduct ‘cleaning fees’, despite it being agreed that these would not be charged due to our experience. They had already agreed to send the full deposit back through the TDS portal, but tried to reverse this. They were 13 minutes too late as per the TDS 24 hour reversal process. Just about sums up the incompetence of Ascend. We had 5 property managers in our 5 months. They are impossible to contact - I regularly had to call 20+ times to get through. The most dishonest, disingenuous company I could possibly fathom. Save your mental wellbeing and AVOID.
1/5
GoogleUseless and waste of time . My family is experiencing hard times in the property they are .
2/5
GoogleI'll start with the positives: the staff are all friendly and professional when you go into their store. You would think that with all the fees you are paying that they would at least be willing to help with our problems, anything you report must be chased daily for anything to be done. Like everyone is saying, they have awful communication. We had a break in and my motorbike was stolen, they wouldn't do anything to repair the damage caused during the break in, leaving our house vulnerable. Our boiler broke in December (the coldest month of the year) and it took almost 3 weeks for them to sort the problem and give us hot water and heating again.
Hello Conor, I am very sorry to hear that you have been dissatisfied with the service received. Unfortunately I am unable to locate you on our system therefore cannot provide further comment at present. If you would like to discuss the matter further, please email our Operations Manager, Stacey Rushworth - Stacey.rushworth@ascendproperties.com
1/5
GoogleWent to a viewing at Victoria Mill with Ascend. The flat was nothing like on the photos. We were told "most of the flats in the building have been renovated and that's where the photos were from. But unfortunately not this one". The flat was a total mess like it has been rented to crack addicts or something but it was ok as they will get "a professional cleaner in" to tidy the mess before we move in To top it off they wanted £180 PER PERSON as a signing fee for the crack den. No thanks. Probably an agency to avoid EDIT: watch out for fake 5 star reviews for this company!!
Hi Nash Nash, thanks for your feedback. Unfortunately when conducting viewings on properties which already have tenants in, we cannot control the presentation of it due to people living there. We manage a large number of apartments within this development and are very clear on our marketing literature that our images are for marketing purposes only and there may be discrepancies between these and the actual units. We do assure new tenants that all apartments are professionally cleaned and freshened up, ready for the new occupiers. If you’d like to be alerted once any other units become available, please do let us know and we’d be happy to show you around. Also, your note regarding our fees is incorrect, these can be viewed on our website.
5/5
GoogleAgent - Aaron Rasheed Aaron has been very helpful and flexible in arranging viewings for both me and my partner at different times, as well as showing us a number of different options in the same building. He also helped us negotiate a convenient move in date. Suzanne McKay has also been very helpful and communication re. sorting references etc has been excellent. Would highly recommend.
1/5
GoogleBe very careful when renting with Acend Manchester. We got charged £120 checkout that we where not advised about and they charged us £250 for the end of tenancy clean even though we had a professional & reputable cleaning company come in! Honestly it was spotless!!! Look at the people that give the 5 star reviews, funny that they have only done 1 review 🤔 either they bought the reviews or have the employers putting in the reviews.
Hello Fouzy, I’m sorry to hear of your dissatisfaction regarding our fees and deposit deductions. I can confirm that when you entered into the tenancy, you signed a tenancy agreement which lists all applicable fees. When you sign this agreement, you are confirming you have read the contract and are in agreement to all terms within. Further to this, fees are also added to each property listing to ensure that we are totally transparent and to make you are aware of any costs before booking a viewing of a property. In regards to the cleaning costs, should you not be in agreement with these, you are able to raise a dispute with the TDS as previously communicated with you and I believe that you have now done this. We will only propose deductions where there is evidence to support the claim. The evidence used in this instance was the inventory report and check out report which showed the property was not returned to us in the same condition that it was let to yourself. We have not made any deductions to the deposit as of yet and the result will be decided by an independent adjudicator.
1/5
GoogleIF i could give them zero i would do.The worst company i had to deal with.They charge us 65 pound so that they can move us faster and when we moved there in feb the heater and hot water was not working.They took 4 days to fix it and then our journey of suffering began.The neighbour had complained after one month that the water is leaking to their house ,we reported to ascend but they took 3 month to fix it.After that we start to noticed some cockroach we reported but no response as usual.It was a nightmare we have to solve it ourselve so we contacted the council to do the treatment and we pay for it.The guy who did the treatment told us that the whole building had this problem for five years and no gurantee that it will not come back.so we decided to move and handel the key.We cleaned the house very well and we waited for the deposit but we were very surprise when they told us that the house was not clean since they open it after 10 days and they took 800 for some marks on the sofa.They send us an email after 6 month to ask for money of two days which we have paied 6 month ago.and then month later t ask for a month missing which was paied as well.That give me aclue why they property manger do not resposne to fault.IF I am a landlord I will never give my house to them.
Thank you for your feedback, we take our customer service levels very seriously and can only apologise that the service you received was below our usually high standard. After looking into it the matter I can see that works were instructed as soon as they were raised with quotes provided and authorised within a prompt time-frame to ensure the property was well maintained, including a pest controller instructed by ourselves. Regarding the deposit we would always recommend to dispute any deposit deductions you feel are unfair or unjustified, this enables a fair and independent adjudicator to provide a decision based on evidence provided by all parties. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further, if you wish to then please contact Adam Stephenson on 07872025102.
1/5
GoogleViewing agent was very polite, patient and helpful, however, the fact that Ascend: lied about the rent advertised online, never informed me that the photos were doctored for marketing, and lied about the specification of all three flats I viewed in respect of appliances which I stated as must haves for me to consider viewing is a disgrace. I travelled 30 miles at my own expense to have all our time completely wasted. I should report this to trading standards.
Thank you for your feedback, we take our customer service levels very seriously. We are lucky enough to have a team that analyse all calls and emails we receive. Having listened to the only call from your number we can conclude that you were very specific about having a dishwasher and not being on the ground floor. The properties we showed you did in fact all have a dishwasher and none were ground floor. We do on occasions use marketing pictures were a property is tenanted, this is clearly detailed in the property description. We can only apologise if there has been some level of miscommunication.
2/5
GoogleI spent a year living in a property managed by Ascend. They do have many professional and reliable members of staff who will deal with any queries or issues competently and efficiently. Don’t let the ones that don’t give everyone else a bad name. Just going to give James Hardern a mention as when he was the property manager things got dealt with and sorted efficiently and quickly. So a bit of advice to people moving into a property with Ascend, make sure you take pictures of all faults and damage as soon as moving in and do keep a copy because you will need them when moving out to prove you’re not responsible. I found the check in inventory was much less thorough than the checkout and unless you can prove it wasn’t you, you may see deductions from your deposit. One thing that got me was light marks on the living room wall known as general wear and tear were referred to as heavily stained in the checkout inventory. Again, upon moving out takes photos. They’ll support you when having to raise or respond to a dispute. A deposit is lot of money to lose because you have no way of backing yourself up. I was fortunate to get all of mine back although it was just massively delayed with no explanation as to why because all deposits should be returned within 10 days of leaving a property. I know it’s a business but I feel charges are high and too frequent. To pay each time a tenancy is renewed is simply greed. It’s all done electronically so doesn’t really involve any work. It’s a hefty fee for the sake of it because we can kind of attitude. I actually thought at one point they may start charging to talk over the phone. If you request any references again expect silly fees for the sake of it. They’ve only made all kinds of money from when you moved in and don’t forget they’re paid by the landlord regularly too. Know your legal rights so you can’t be ill advised or misled into renewing things you don’t actually have to like your tenancy when it ends. That’s a biggie everyone should know. I very nearly fell into this trap after receiving quite a snotty email stating if I wanted to remain in the property then I must renew my tenancy which would have meant I was locked in for a further 6 months with no get out clause. I knew I didn’t want to remain in the property that much longer as I was simply moving on so a statutory periodic rolling tenancy which an expired tenancy then legally becomes was perfect for me. Do your own research, everything’s online. Look it up. It’ll certainly pay in the end when some agents may try it on. So all in all, not a bad estate agents but they should reduce their ridiculous fees and just be more open, honest and transparent with tenants. It goes a long way and ensures they maintain trust and a good reputation.
Thank you for your review and feedback. We have looked into the points raised and would like to make the below comments. Any fees associated with the tenancy are clearly detailed before moving into the property. They are further confirmed within the tenancy agreement which you are provided in advance. We therefore feel we are transparent with any costs which may be incurred during the tenancy, such as you wishing to renew the agreement for a fixed term. It is the Landlords decision to offer a fixed term or periodic agreement. Ascend act on the Landlords instruction in this respect. The only item noted on your final checkout inspection was marked walls to the lounge, otherwise the property was left in acceptable condition. Upon discussing the condition of the walls when you moved into the property and the length of tenancy with your landlord, they agreed to not make any deduction from the deposit. The deposit was refunded to you 16 working days after the tenancy ended, any delay in relation to the return was as a result of the discussions between Ascend and your Landlord over the level of wear and tear to the lounge walls. It is not Ascend that proposes any deduction to the deposit. Any deposit deductions are paid to the landlord to cover works completed following the end of the tenancy which fall under the tenants responsibility. Ascend do not profit from any deposit deduction.
1/5
GoogleAwful service from the beginning to the end of our tenancy. Avoid at all costs. Pre existing issues before we moved into the property were never resolved, the management did not know about fire safety systems in the property which could have let rain damage occur. Deposit dispute took a long time to resolve due to ascend intentionally drawing out the process. Obviously, we won the dispute in the end. This is a generous review.
1/5
GoogleI was asked to confirm the viewing n a guy called Collins grumpily picked up. Upon viewing I had problems finding the entrance as the house number in the confirmation is different. I was told to call back when I arrive which was a minute later. I called 4 times, let it rang as long as possible each time ending up on voicemail. Finally Collin picked up n told me the wrong floor but right apartment number. I knocked several times. No answer. I entered n found him happily chatting away. The apartment was not quite like on the photos. I left. Don't know about other people's experiences but this was mine.
Thank you for your feedback, we are disappointed to hear things didn’t go as smoothly as we would have liked. We don’t have a Collins working at Ascend, we do however have a Courtney who we can see you had a viewing with. Our notes say that you arrived late and Courtney was at that point already inside viewing with other people, we apologise if the confusion lays with us here, but the other applicants did manage to find the property ok. We are surprised at your comments re Courtney being ‘grumpy’ we have certainly never had that said about him before, quite the contrary. The fact you said he was ‘happily chatting away’ confirms this in some way. Again we apologise if this is the way you felt, we pride ourselves on our customer service and attention to detail, we have therefore taken note of all your comments.
5/5
GoogleGreat experience using this agency. We were late for the viewing but Terrie was happy to wait and showed us rounderstand answering all our questions. We asked about getting new furniture as some of it was a little worse for wear and he was able to arrange new furniture to be put in before we move in. The application process has been very straightforward too.
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17 reviews from tenants, rated 3.0 out of 5 on average. For example, Stephanie wrote: "Ascend were very quick to arrange a viewing for me and during the viewing Aaron was very helpful, answering questions and then providing clear next steps. He ..."
