Southside Property Management
Southside Property Management
- Rental Agency
- 20 Nicolson Street
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- EH8 9DH
- 01315 100051
| Price range: |
|---|
| £ |
19 April 2013
28 March 2013
I am a serving member of the Armed Forces who is currently deployed overseas so having someone I can trust to look after my property is very important. I have two properties that are currently let with Southside and they have been fantastic in assuring piece of mind that our properties are being well looked after. One property is in Edinburgh and the other in Falkirk and despite the geographical distance, Southside have ensure an equally high standard of service in both properties (even though Falkirk is not in their main area of operations!). I had tried other Letting Agencies in both Edinburgh and Falkirk and felt I was getting a poor deal both in the management charges I was paying and the service I was getting. With Southside my confidence in good property management has been restored! The first thing you notice when you initially meet representatives from Southside is that they ooze professionalism and know exactly what they are talking about, whether it be giving you a realistic value of your property or informing you what standard your property needs to be at to let. They are pragmatic and subsume a lot of the stress of letting a property to allow you to focus on other things. However they always let you have the final say in important issues like rent and lengths of contract etc. They have an army of maintenance people who can either prepare your property for letting or attend to any problems that crop up but more importantly they won't charge you the earth for the work done! For example, inventory old letting agent 250 pounds plus VAT with Southside 65 pounds plus VAT!! In fact we found out about Southside when we had the locks on our property changed after a bad letting experience! The locksmith did work for Southside and also let a flat through them and recommended them to us saying good employers/good agency!; early good testimony of their credentials! When it came to marketing our house in Falkirk, at a bad time of year (December!!), Southside did their utmost to ensure their tenancy search covered all bases. This included a fantastic photo montage showing the property's best attributes, optimum utility of web search/web sites, engagement with local businesses and writing to local hospitals and schools. A tenant was found a lot quicker than we had anticipated and they took care of ensuring the house was ready for the tenants to move in as quickly as possible. At the end of every month we get an electronic statement which is very user friendly when it comes to doing tax returns etc and the money is always transferred without any issues. If you do have any problems (which we haven't!) you are given a single point of contact who will work through any issues you may have. Southside is second to none! We trust them wholeheartedly with our properties and are confident that they are being managed by a very good company. After our past experiences with letting agents, that is a relief! I have already recommended them to both family and friends and the feedback is very similar. If you want a professional, value for money, customer-focused letting agency, then look no further than Southside.
25 August 2012
We rented a flat from SouthSide in January this year, we moved as my partner and I needed a larger and accessible flat in order to look after our mother who was suffering from a terminal disease and was already using a wheelchair by that point. We were upfront about our circumstances with the agency prior to signing a contract. The property was advertised with a ‘WOW’sign marked on its rent price.
A month before our initial 6 month contract was to end we received an email from the agency saying that the landlord decided to increase the rent by £250 (about a 30% increase to our rent) and we had also to sign a 12 month contract on this increase, otherwise our contract would be terminated. At this stage our mother’s condition had deteriorated rapidly and she was at the final stages for her life.
We could not afford this increase, we tried to negotiate and we even offered to pay an £150 increase on a 6month contract. When this was refused we asked to be given 4 more weeks added to our notice so we could at least have enough time to make any necessary arrangements for our mother to move again. When making this request we also pointed out the very fragile health condition our mother was at that time. To this request,we ended up accidentally receiving an internal email saying ‘ Just tell them that if they need more time they can sign the 12 month contract’!!!
We pointed out how unacceptable that was and the agency explained that the landlord basically wanted to use their property for them and their friends for the month of August and that was why they couldn’t give us a few more weeks. Basically the reason for the absurd increase and the insisting that we need to vacate the property by 30th July was because the flat was to be used by the landlord and their friends during the festival month. Our mother passed away in the begging of July so basically in the same month we had to arrange a move and funeral. There was no respect or dignity in the way we were treated and still writing this I can believe that is was possible to be treated so badly.
We left the property in a good condition despite all the above. In fact, the agency person that was doing the inspection gave us very good feedback on the perfect condition the property was delivered (she even put her hand behind the over fan to inspect cleanliness). However, we still had to fight to get our deposit back as the landlord who arrived at the property the same night was demanding for a cleaner to be send! This experience was extremely humiliating and stressful for us and we would recommend SouthSide to no one.
UPDATE: After writing this review I met with the owner of SouthSide. He investigated our case and apologised to me personally. He also refunded us for the amount of money they had originally withheld from our deposit for 'cleaning expenses'.
Results of Southside Property Management in Edinburgh
in association with
Report