Trusted Agent profile · Nottingham
★★★★★
325 reviews across 2 platforms
34 Shakespeare Street, Nottingham, NG1 4FQ
Oak Student Letts's office in Nottingham, at 34 Shakespeare Street, is rated 1.9 out of 5 across 325 reviews on two platforms, including 278 Google reviews rated 2.0.
Every review we hold for the Nottingham office, from every platform, shown as written. First names only.
1/5
GoogleWe haven’t even moved in yet and it’s a shambles! No confirmation of deposit. And if it wasn’t for us going in to ask if they have received it we would of never know we had to pay another upfront cost this weekend! Wow 2 days notice👍🏼. We wish we had looked else where because this company is a joke. The staff are rude and unprofessional and unorganised. Stay away!!! P.s the company doesn’t even deserve one star!
1/5
Yell,The most awful letting company ever!!
1. Refuse to fix the lift when I got stuck in it for 40 mins (live in top floor, 6 flights of stairs)2. Entered the flat and secretly removed heating dial so now the flat is freezing cold 24/7 and cannot be adjusted3. Said the smell of gas was normal for months but when the nation grid arrived they sorted it straight away as it could have been very dangerous4. With the lift being broken, they have turnt the buzzer to let people in off. Have to walk 6 flights of stairs to open the door.5. Very very rude women employers6. Never call back when they say they will or reply to emails7. Broken dishwasher8. Broken shelves in fridge and freezer
1/5
GooglePossibly one of the worst letting agents I have ever come across. Complaints and enquirers are never dealt with. The customer support/care/service is appalling. They also like to profiteer when it comes to handing your property back over by charging you for things that were already wrong with the property. Oak Student letts also breach their written contracts with tenants and also breach the housing act of 1988... that being gaining unlawful access to property without prior consent or warning. The way the whole business run is a shambles and they operate with the attitude of treating students with complete disrespect. AVOID AT ALL COSTS YOU'VE BEEN WARNED !
1/5
GoogleWish there was an option for no stars! This company is awful! Do not get a Propety with them! The staff are rude and unreasonable, they don't care about their clients, they have lied to me on multiple occasions, the staff don't follow procedures correctly and they try to get as much money from you as possible. I feel like I've been scammed. This is without a doubt the worst letting agency in the whole of Nottingham, avoid them at all costs! I've been through months and months of stress and anxiety because of the company - don't make the same mistakes as me!
1/5
GoogleWish I could give no stars. I feel like an idiot for not believing the rest of the quite frankly horrific reviews - they are all very accurate. Oak Student Letts are cowboys. I barely know where to begin with stress they have caused me. I stupidly signed up for a house with them, it looked like a fantastic house, good location and value. But it has all gone to crap since I signed that dotted line. I was a student at Notts until I changed course to begin at Birmingham City Uni in September. Therefore I need to get someone else in the house to replace me before the 28th August and I have honestly tried so hard to do so. But Oak Student Letts have made it so hard for me to get anyone in because of a number of reasons as follows: They don't reply to their emails, contacting them is a nightmare. Found out today from the one viewing they remembered to attend after I had kept reminding them - after days of trying to contact them - that they haven't even cleaned the house. It's now 6 days till the move in date!!! I can't believe it. They have also told everyone else that is interested in the house that they will have to pay the money in a shorter period - 8 months instead of 11 months. Which has put everyone off. What I see from that is they have my money and now trying their best to make sure no one else gets in, its disgusting! I cannot afford it, I have never been so stressed! Other reviews say they are crap at keeping up with the maintenance and ignore calls etc. and from my experience, that does not surprise me one bit. If I were to mention anymore issues this review would go on for a while so I will keep it short with the main reasons for my review. I BEG IF YOU ARE READING THIS, DO NOT SIGN WITH ANY HOUSE IN THIS AGENCY. IGNORE ANY DECENT REVIEWS (IF ANY) THE RISK IS TOO GREAT FOR THE OFF CHANCE THEY ARE ACTUALLY HELPFUL.
1/5
YellDo not use
I couldn't believe the manner that the Oaks people have to never take any authority to fix any issues and will do anything to pawn it off on to someone else i.e the landlord or maintenance. Very rude staff, unprofessional by copying in all residences on private emails regarding rent. Nothing is ever fixed within a week even though maintence states 24 hours for emergency. Beautiful flats but notice so many issues once moved in. Don't supply basics they claim to offer in contract such as hoover. All round awful company.
1/5
YellAVOID THIS LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE
I am currently living in a flat who I tend from by this company and I can honestly say it has been an endless battle so far. Bearing in mind I have only been living here since the end of September, I already regret my decision to go with this company. All major issues so far: mould growing around windows and walls, damp on the walls, washing machine is filthy (impossible to clean) and makes your clothes smell, dishwasher doesn't work properly, broken desk chairs, broken sofa. When we moved in you could tell it wasn't cleaned properly so we had to scrub the flat head to toe. We've been emailing them since the start with no replies at all. They are rude and clueless. AVOID.
1/5
YellAVOID AVOID AVOID
currently renting a property from oak student letts and it is problem after problem after problem. We arrived to find our hob was broken and leaking gas and a hole in our kitchen window. Both took endless phone calls/talks, and was only fixed after a tenants mother called them about it, all in all this took three weeks. The washing machine is dirty after countless times washing it, making all our bed linen/clothes filthy. the whole flat is damp, we have an infestation of ladybugs which although not harmless are pests. They have not given us an inventory after being here nearly 2 months, which is a pain as there are a lot of problems with flat including loose floor tiles, marked carpets and broken baths. The whole flat is cold and our bills are through the roof. We pay £406 a year for water. The whole estate agents is a joke, avoiding all problems and refusing to fix ones which are clearly their fault. Wouldn't even give them 1 star if i could! Please avoid all properties let by them.
1/5
YellAwful communication
So having been at my flat since September 28th ... A month later the broken hob still hasn't been fixed or replaced. 3 of us are having to share an oven so cooking any meal takes half an hour longer (to allow the oven to heat up). After countless emails they eventually organised a gas appliance fitter to contact us... Who called to say he can't fit appliances try someone else. That someone else turned out to be a plumber who on the day he arranged to come and fit a new hob called to say the landlord changed his mind he wants an electric hob fitted. So here we are 4 week later... Two failed attempts later waiting for an electrician to come and quote it and fit it... No doubt another two weeks will pass with no working hob! All the communication has been between the gas/plumbing company and myself ... Oaks haven't contacted us at all to put our minds at rest.... They are quick enough to take our rent for next year but not to send a simple email apologising and sorting out a date!
1/5
YellAVOID THESE MONEY GRABBERS
I have not even moved in yet and I've already had a belly full of this company! So our contract started in Augustus rather than in September meaning that they were able to take far more money from us, We then received a reminder email about our 2nd period rent, however it said that I had already paid upto date, when I asked for them to confirm they never replied to me. I then got an email stating that my rent was overdue! Even though I'd asked them to confirm!When I emailed again asking why this had happeneed they didn't acknowledge the problem but stated I owed in the region of £400 of rent, however when I emailed again asking them to now explain what had happened the reply I got was extremely terse and included the words "well this was obviously a mistake"
1/5
GooglePlease don't put your self through it. Its been a year of hell dealing with our dangerous flat. Numerous leaks, breakages, faulty boiler, dangerous electrical work, flooding toilets. To top it off RUDE and NEGLECTFUL people on the other end of the phone. If you are a student looking for accommodation or a parent looking on behalf of your child, i strongly advise/beg you to look else ware, otherwise you are in for a year of emailing problems they never get fixed, finally to end up with a massive bill for OAK LETTS mistakes. SHOCKING !! Should be illegal !
1/5
GoogleThe worst possible letting agents imaginable, unhelpful rude staff who lack any form of conscience when dealing with students or unhappy tenants, proceed with caution as all they care about is getting your student loan into their accounts. I worry for the future of NTU and UoN students if they sign with Oak Student Letts. Some of the issues we faced with our rentals included: Bailiffs entering the property to install an electric meter when bills were supposed to be included, rats on the property, disgusting state of the property when moving in(no doubt they charged the previous tenants 'cleaning fees'), being left without power over a weekend, having emails and maintenance requests outright ignored, being lied to over rent arrangements and 'warning emails' that were never sent, broken showers and toilet facilities, mould and damp growing on walls. These 'letting agents' are essentially con artists, for your safety and parents assurance, I urge you do not sign with them; it will not be a good experience and may impair your time at university.
1/5
GoogleFirst of all when we get to the flat, it was all dirty, rubbish bags were still there from the old tenants. Then we had several issues with the flat, such as light bulbs not working etc. You ring them up and they say they will come and sort it and they still haven't been out to sort it. I wouldn't recommend booking with Oak Student Letts, as they are clearly just after the money and don't care what you actually live in!
1/5
GoogleAbsolutely awful letting agency. Even after hearing bad reviews from other students we were swayed by a really nice flat to go with Oak. They are lazy, inefficient and really do play on the fact their clients are students that know no better. Over the space of a year we have been left locked out all day as Oak have lost the spare key to the door to let us back in. They have no emergency number so any problems out of office hours have to wait. Our flat has a series of problems that have taken Oak months and months to fix after chasing them up at least once a week. When our boiler wasn't working properly, it was eventually repaired after four months of waiting only to break a couple of weeks later. The plumber that fixed it told us they'd actually fitted it illegally with the ventilation out of the flat illegally and dangerous. It is easy to be swayed by the good properties they have in their portfolio however DO NOT rent a house with them, any issues you have they will be rude, uncaring and very unprofessional.
4/5
GoogleAs a landlord i have used Oak student lets for 7 years. In general, they do what is a pretty hard task wel as a piggy in the middle. Good things are when things really need doing they get done and they have got me some nice tenants. They occasionally need a little chasing, but having been under the 'care' of agents as a renter in Bristol, they are far from the worst offenders and have been improving year on year, I also have had feedback that responding to emails and requests is a little slow. Again, not ideal, and many are worse and it is feedback I have given. but for all that get frustrated about service that sometimes drifts from excellence, then thats normal in life and running businesses can be imperfect and things fall through the net. Pick up the phone and chase. They have been around for a long while and apparently have placed over 15000 people into homes, and my suggestion to those that have issues is to communicate - from the very beginning. Document in email so if you are aggrieved and you need to pursue and action you have back up. I am happy to recommend them to other landlords and students alike.
1/5
GoogleNeglectful. Didn't care about us at all. We started with a different landlord and no letting agency and everything was so easy. The landlord sorted out all of our problems swiftly. Unfortunately when he sold the house and we ended up with oak student letts it was a nightmare. They had scaffolding outside our house for months with no obvious work being done. The front door lock broke, which is an emergency but they took two weeks to even have a look at it. They took £180 per room for a few bluetak marks. Money grabbing and useless. Think they were just really harsh with the deposits because they messed up getting new tenants so much. Every problem we had took multiple requests. We had water leeking into the house at multiple points. The whole house was damp. Do not rent a house with them. I would suggest going straight through the landlord.
1/5
GoogleWhere to start... After living in a flat managed by Oak Student Letts for 2 academic years, and as this is coming to an end very soon, I feel as though I have had enough bad experiences to write this out. Whilst the staff at Oak have never been rude to me, and are always seemingly there to help, my experience with them has been nothing short of awful. Soon after moving in, the remote control which controls the blinds on skylights (as I have no windows) stopped being able to sync up to the skylight. Luckily my skylights were shut and had the blinds open, otherwise I would have been in perpetual darkness for about 2 sodding years. When I asked Oak what I could do, all I got back was 'read the manual on the internet, although it is in French'... Secondly, around mid October last year, our lock on our front door broke which meant that getting into our flat was an effort which involved kicking the door numerous times. It took Oak almost 4 and a half months to get this fixed. We constantly have the heating on in our flat because most of the radiators are broken and we cannot control the heat which they omit, nothing has been done about this. Some of the rooms suffer from terrible watermarks down the wall where there has been some sort of leak on the roof , allowing rain water to drip down. This consequently made my flatmates bathroom ceiling turn red from mold and rust, Oak's response has been 'we do not know where the leak is coming from' and to their credit they have had people up on the roof but each time, nothing has come from it. We currently have a broken oven, this has been the case for about 3 days now. We have emailed their maintenance team who have done nothing at all, and consequently it is now the weekend so they wont get back to us until Monday, which is still up in the air anyway. This is a list of just a few of the many problems we have had with Oak. The flat was filthy when we moved here in September of 2014, they take ages to get anything done, and I cannot stress enough to not be wooed by their nice properties they have. They are useless, and for the amount of rent they charge for some places, the service you get back is abysmal.
1/5
GoogleI didn't even live with this company, I stayed there often with my boyfriend in a 7 bed flat, all boys. They lost all their deposits and more due to 2 rooms having to be touched up with paint and the CREAM carpets needed cleaning which apparently costs 2 grand. This company are con artists I would never wish this upon any student as we are all so poor. If I could give them minus 1000 stars I would
1/5
GoogleI lived here for a year and they were EXTREMELY UNHELPFUL. The house had several problems from the day we moved in and most of our complaints went ignored. Our fridge was broken for several weeks before they addressed it. The customer service is poor and the workers are rude, sarcastic and clueless. Futhermore, they claimed that there were several issues which meant that they kept the majority of the £250 deposit. The claims they made were NOT ACCURATE and the prices they charged for their claims were EXTORTIONATE. It has also been several months since I moved out and they have failed to return the small amount of my deposit and are ignoring emails. This is an APPALLING company - I recommend that Nottingham students look elsewhere as there are several better companies with much nicer, and cheaper accommodation in the city.
1/5
GoogleWe first decided to use Oak Student Letts in the first term of our first year. At first glance the 'office' was cluttered and unprofessional; we should have taken this as a sign and left straight away. Unfortunately we decided to go in and talk to a member of the staff there. The company had no brochures and the lady didn't seem bothered by the fact that we could not write down names of the houses. The staff were not helpful and honestly they seemed like they had no clue what was going on. We then left and went somewhere else. After an unfortunate incident we were left with no other choice to go back to Oak Student Letts after looking everywhere else. We had picked what looked like a lovely house on Portland Road. We rang up to book a viewing, the staff were unfriendly then and seemed really rushed. We finally managed to get a booking, on a day that Oak Student Letts were closed, but yet they still arranged the viewing! We went to the house at the right time, in fact we were early. The house in question was falling apart, there was plaster coming off the sides of the house, there was noticeable damp on the inside of the windows and there were hanging wires coming out of the house and coming to a height where we could reach them without even trying to. The house also had an asbestos guttering, which is highly dangerous. This house thoroughly looked like it was in an unlivable condition. Judging by the state of this house it didn't look lived in, imagine a squatters house, that's exactly how it looked. However Oak Student Letts still advertised this on their website and neglected to put pictures of the front of the house on their website and they also neglected to include pictures of the smaller bedroom (very sneaky in my opinion!). The member of staff left us there for at least 30 minutes in the cold and rain however they still did not turn up. We rang the office at least 5 times before giving in and leaving. We then proceeded to walk to Oak Student Letts, where in the door it said it was closed however there were still people in there. We knocked and asked them politely about our house viewing. The woman there was very rude and proceeded to shut the door in our face. Oak Student Letts is still advertising properties that have already been agreed to let on their website, so don't get your hopes up! Another issue we had with the website was that the prices were wrong, the house we were looking at said the price was £77 inclusive, were as when we rang to inquire the lady said that is was £80. On a night out in Nottingham we ran into a member of staff, however we did not know this at the time. We talked to this very nice lady and that member of staff told us directly not to go with Oak Student Letts and that it had very poor service. I only wished we had listened to her! We haven't actually rented a property with Oak Student Letts however the poor experience that we have had with this company means that we definitely will not be in the future. If I could give this company no stars I would.
1/5
GoogleCowboys that give a bad name to letting agencies. They are willing to put places that are genuinely dangerous/hazardous on the market for a quick buck, and I can only echo the sentiment of the disgusting customer service that other reviewers have left. During one viewing I asked why one of their houses had thick black mould growing from the ceiling and the reply was - quote - "well students live like pigs anyway". Here are just some of the problems we encountered during our first and very last year renting with them: - We asked for a broken window to be fixed in early October. After dozens of telephone calls and emails we finally moved out in July with the window in exactly the same state. It was a ground floor flat on a road which had already seen two burglaries that year. - They did not give any of the 30+ students living in our block of flats the password to the communal car park, or instructions for any of the appliances/passwords within the building. All of us were left to find out how to operate and use everything through trial and error, or talking to previous tenants. They claimed they were in the right as it was "not their problem to deal with". - They did not provide a number of flats in our block with mailbox keys, so many of us dealt with weeks and weeks of mail being sent back undelivered. I had a number of expensive textbooks returned which I had to pay for AGAIN to get sent back. And of course, Oaks Student Letts refused to compensate this. If you literally have no other alternative and you MUST use them, check over your contract letter for letter as they use the assumption that students will not read what they sign to try and pull fast ones on you. As many other people have stated below, they over- and mis-charge for anything and everything; I lost nearly the entirety of my £250 and was only able to win my money back by taking the issue to an Obudsman. After two months of hard work on my part I got most of it back, although they were still able to keep £60 off a "late key return" due to some shady contract changes. (An unsigned piece of paper shoved under a door does not constitute a contract change in my opinion.) Oh, and that £60 charge? To get two keys re-cut. Not even the locks changed! There's a very well known key cutting service which provides re-cut keys at £5 a go in Nottingham town centre, so that's £50 of clear profit based off a contract change we only found out about if we didn't throw away the piece of paper as junk mail. So, three words to sum up Oak Student Letts? An absolute joke; disgusting, rude cowboys; appalling customer service; avoid, avoid, AVOID!
4/5
GoogleThe house that my friends and I rented was really great, everything was newly remodelled (kitchen and bathrooms) and the rooms were spacious. Any problems that we had during our stay were quickly resolved via a simple on- line form. We have accidentlly left a set of expensive headphones behind and the agency shipped them over to us with no additional fees. Our situation was different from the standard student situation as we needed accomodation only for 3 months and no other agency wanted to agree to those terms accept for Oak Letts and the price was really low for such a big, nice house.
1/5
GoogleRefused to return my girlfriend's deposit
1/5
YellHorrible agency with horrible manager
If I could give this agency a zero, I would. Happy to take your money months before you move in, but don't even do a cursory check of the house, keys didn't work, lounge and hall not ready for occupation, broken windows, then seemed surprised when it was pointed out. Accepting that they are acting on behalf of the landlord, surely they should just check the house before people move in. The worst part is the manager, Owen, a rude, ignorant man, even his own staff say bad things about him. He ignores you when you contact him, then gets really rude, just a bully, taking advantage of students renting a house for the first time. I'd be very interested in how many students rent a second house from them. Avoid at all costs!
Where the same review appears twice we show it once. We leave out reviews that name another agent or another of the brand's offices.
