Northwood Wigan reviews

Hi Karen, we are very happy to have provided you with such a positive experience! We're glad to hear we delivered such a great experience. If there's anything further we can do for you, we are happy to help!

Dear Mr Birchall Thank you for bringing this to our attention. However, we do not recognise this tenancy and believe there may be some confusion with another Northwood office. Our team is committed to providing a professional and transparent service, including full communication with both landlords (where required) and tenants regarding any changes to rental terms. We take all feedback seriously, so if there’s any way we can help clarify or assist further, please feel free to reach out directly to our office. We are here to help and are committed to ensuring a smooth experience for all of our clients. If we do not receive a response, we will assume this review has been left in error and would appreciate it being removed. Best regards,

Lore, I am sorry that you have been frustrated with us in being able to follow up your interest. We have not been able to be as direct with you as we would like because there has been an issue relating to coronavirus which we did not want to communicate. There has been a backlog of viewings for this property and we already have more viewings booked than rooms available. Therefore you are on our reserve list in case there is a room available after the completion of the latest viewings. I do accept that my team could have been more open with you and I am very sorry for any inconvenience caused. Steve Adams, Director, Northwood (Wigan) Limited.

Daryll, thank you for your feedback and we will act where we need to but I do feel that not all of your comments are justified. I accept that much of this is long after the fact and it is your recollection and we would have appreciated the chance to discuss with you at the time to clear up any misunderstanding. To address what you have raised: Asking price - we did not know about Purple Bricks or what they had suggested. As you are fully aware, the price we suggested got an agreed sale at the full price but disappointingly the sale fell through last September time and then the market went quiet following further COVID restrictions locally and then nationally which was when the price was reduced as agreed with you. Photos - we do not understand this feedback at all as we produced a brochure with the photos and you signed off on all of them. When we suggested to update some of the photos there was no delay we can see for any of the days earlier than we came to take some new photos. But this is also going back over 6 months ago so I am not sure where the misunderstanding has arisen. Buyers - both buyers had their position fully qualified and the one that completed had no issues with completion in terms of anything to do with monies so we do not understand your comment. Solicitor engagement - it absolutely is our job to ensure that solicitors are progressing the sale process. The buyer's solicitor contacted us as they had not received a response during 4 weeks to enquiries and despite their contacting your solicitor directly and chasing they had heard nothing back. We have a duty to ensure progression and therefore it was right and proper that we informed you and contacted your solicitor to request an update on where the responses to the enquiries were up to, how long they would take and if there were any issues so that we could then inform the buyer's solicitor given that your solicitor was saying nothing. Both you and your solicitor took offence to our seeking to resolve this matter and I do not agree that the tone was inappropriate - because we were asking questions that your solicitor did not want us to ask (because it was not clear what they had been doing for 4 weeks) the questions were taken as demanding / overbearing. Being frank, the questions need to be asked about where things were up to and what was causing the delay otherwise the buyer's solicitor could have lost confidence and could have resulted in this loss of confidence being communicated to the buyer and putting the sale at risk. Completion day - you rang for advice as you knew you were late in leaving the property, the property had formally completed and you no longer owned the property but you were still moving out and the person you spoke to had a duty of care to explain the legal ramifications of your not having left the property when you should have done. If the situation had not been explained and subsequent action had been taken against you or an issue affecting the new owner's insurance etc. then you would have had a justified complaint against us. So I recognise that what we told you did not make for pleasant listening but we had to tell you the truth. However, we spoke to the buyer to explain the situation and got their permission for you to contact them so we gave you their details and you were able to reach an agreement with them - we would not legally be able to act for you for this specific issue but we facilitated your being able to achieve resolution. I accept you did not like at all what my staff member had to say because they were telling you things that you did not really want to hear but they had to give you clear information on the potential ramifications. We recognise that the house selling/buying experience is very stressful and I can only apologise if it came across that we were not sensitive to this - other people's feedback is very positive about us but I accept you were left dissatisfied. Steve Adams, Director

Emily, I was sorry to read your comments and we always aim to provide the best possible service and are disappointed if we fall short. However, there are a number of inaccuracies and inconsistencies that need to be addressed with your comments as well as explanation needed which we have previously tried to clarify with you. Firstly, you are not aware of the reasons for the landlord change of agent but it is not connected with you or your claims so I would have preferred you did not comment on something that you do not have any knowledge regarding. You moved in many months ago now so it is difficult to comment on your issues getting in contact with us - this is not feedback we normally receive, in fact we are usually complimented on our responsiveness as you can see in other reviews here so I can only apologise if that was not your experience. We do not have an apprentice so I do not understand your comment on this. Regarding your check-in, the landlord is very hands on and insists on doing all check-ins. Again it was so long ago that you moved in and we are not involved that I cannot comment on your experience. Also, the landlord insists on providing his own check-in pack so you would need to pick up with him regarding spelling mistakes and lack of information. We provide the legally required documentation (AST, Deposit Prescribed Information) much of which is in a prescribed form and certainly does not have spelling mistakes. Regarding your complaints about fellow tenants, it is not fair to say nothing was done, not least as you were copied in to the communications we sent to all tenants reminding of them courteous behaviour etc. in seeking to resolve the issues you raised with us. And we spoke to you about the issues to understand them fully so I would dispute your claim of no contact from us. I understand your frustration with their behaviour but the only way to completely eradicate it lies in a legal process that takes time to achieve an end result of the tenant being forced to leave the property. So you know it is untrue to say there was no contact from us and nothing was done about it given that we had contact with you and you saw the communications we sent out. Of course I am sorry that you remain frustrated that the issues continued despite our efforts and actions but we did everything within legal means to try to resolve the matters you raised with us and more time was needed to seek a forced resolution. Steve Adams, Director, Northwood (Wigan) Limited.

Jane, I am delighted we were able to help you and meet your expectations. Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback. Steve Adams, Director, Northwood (Wigan) Limited.

Miki, thank you for the feedback, much appreciated. Best regards, Steve Adams, Director, Northwood (Wigan) Limited.

Sean, thank you for your comments although I am disappointed that you are not happy with the check-out experience. I will respond to the points you have made as not all are consistent with the facts. I also feel very strongly about your comments that we were looking to steal money from you, not least because the process is covered by an independent checking process but also we act for the landlord so any monies deducted from a tenant's deposit belong to the landlord and not to us. We were certainly not looking to steal money and I resent this claim by you. Firstly, I would like to point out that you did leave the property in a poor condition and it was just that the independent adjudicator disagreed with how much was being proposed for deduction based on quotes because of acclaimed fair wear and tear. To your allegation that we we "had used older photos", we actually had never managed this property before your tenancy so we did not have any older photos, all of the photos we used were ones taken from just before you moved in. You say you cleaned and cleared the house throughout but the adjudicator commented "The photographs from the start and end of the tenancy show a visible deterioration to the cleanliness of the oven" so it was clear that the oven was not clean at the end of the tenancy despite your claims of cleaning and a professional oven cleaning kit. We were awarded deposit monies to get the oven cleaned after the way you had left it. There were also empty beverage cans in a bathroom cupboard and many items left in the kitchen cupboards which we were awarded deposit to clear. And yet you claimed you cleaned and cleared the house. I would not say you were a model tenant as we have many tenants who leave the property completely clean and clear at the end of their tenancy with no damage and no requirement to claim to use monies from their deposit to rectify issues - the vast majority of our tenants get 100% of their deposit back. Also, you should have got permission to keep a cat and you did not (which a model tenant would do) - there is then a pet addendum you would have signed committing to certain actions at the end of the tenancy. Your cat scratched 3 walls with anaglypta wallpaper which is not easy to repair just with paint. This was the biggest disagreement with the adjudicator as they also argued the walls could just be painted. However you had also caused 36 holes in the back bedroom wall due to fittings you affixed and we got a quote from a company to make repairs to the decor given the type of wall covering. We were obviously sorry about your illness. However, we have to act impartially but on behalf of the landlord to assess how you leave the property at the end of the tenancy compared to the start. We were awarded relatively significant monies because of the poor condition you left the property in despite your review implying that you had left it in very good condition. We used contractor quotes to put a value to the poor condition you left the property in but the adjudicator chose to apply different values in some cases. As a final point, you signed all of the photos at the start of the tenancy and you have the opportunity to check them at check-in before you sign them. If you had requested it, we would have sent you a copy of the photos report, it is not a problem. We take fresh photos each time a new tenant moves in and, as I mentioned earlier, we had not managed the property previously so it would not have been possible for us to use "older photos" as we did not have any prior photos. I obviously hope you have settled well into your new home and that you are well. Steve Adams, Director, Northwood (Wigan) Limited

Jessica, I am pleased that you enjoy the simplicity of our guaranteed rent scheme and we look forward to continuing to meet your expectations of us over the coming months and years for as long as you want to rent out your property. Best regards, Steve Adams, Director, Northwood (Wigan) Limited.

Adam, thank you very much for your feedback, it is much appreciated. I understand your comments about signing the documentation and that is a legal requirement which forces the tenancy agreement to be only signed on the day that you move in as it becomes legally binding with the handover of the keys to you. Moving home is always very stressful and we work hard to ensure we try to reduce as much of the stress as possible. Stephen Adams, Director, Northwood (Wigan) Limited.

Ian, thank for your feedback, it is much appreciated. Steve Adams, Director, Northwood (Wigan) Limited.

Ken, thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback for the team in appreciating our efforts for you to sell your property. We of course would be delighted to help you in the future should you need it. Best regards, Steve Adams, Director, Northwood (Wigan) Limited.