Finders Keepers Avis 

We enjoyed our wine tasting experience at Waddesdon Manor. It was informative and educational. Beforehand, we spent time exploring the house which was amazing.
Thank you very much,
Jane and Chris Whelan

Had a lot of fun and learnt a lot at our Waddesdon wine tasting. Well organised and talk given by a very knowledgeable guy

Well organised and very professionally done. A great experience.

We were tenants continously for 8 years. Always paid rent on time, had the house professionally cleaned by FK's recommended cleaners. They are refusing to return our deposit. Trying to charge us £12 for a missing light bulb, £60 for a vacuum cleaner and a microwave left in the garage (which must belong to previous tenants). Gave them a new light bulb (costed £2) and collected the items to take to the skip. The garden was landscaped to have pebbles. Over the years the plastic sheet under the pebbles deteriorated and weed grew all over the pebbles. It became impossible to maintain the garden, which we have been saying to FK for the last few years. So last year we asked, if the landlord would arrange a new landscaping. This is not a tenant's responsibility. FK said landlord didn't want to do anything. Then I told them last year (twice via email) that we will stop maintaining the garden and would object to our deposit being held for this. FK did not comment or respond. Now they are holding our deposit. I contacted the branch manager and she says our property manager is on holiday. She will respond when she comes back! If you are a tenant avoid this agent, if you can! If you are a landlord beware, you will be charged for unnecessary visits and repairs!

Very disappointed so have to share to ensure others don't make the same mistake of choosing FK to support accommodation needs. Currently in a discussion about termination of tenancy. My son spoke to the Team in person, was advised to put termination in writing which he did. He asked for confirmation of his understanding of requirements, payments and the potential of filling his place in the agreement. Received no answer. He then phoned 3 times in the days after, no call answered and no calls returned. 2 months later, we received a message stating the termination correspondence was not good enough and that the termination would only start from the day of their response.. WRONG ANSWER. Notice to terminate need not be acknowledged by the Landlord or in this case FK. If they were unclear, they had plenty of opportunity to respond to the correspondence and/or to return calls. I'm now seeking legal advice, which is a shame given we honoured 2 month's notice and rental payments. All this even though my son never actually moved in. I would warn against others using their service, not recommended. Trying to pull a fast one at the risk of bad review and legal action.

I would be very cautious and on the ball when you get your tenancy with FK. I really feel disappointed and they tried to pull a fast one with cleaning. So my advice is: Check your inventory inperson and raise anything even the most minor things, or as soon as you become aware, don’t feel you’re being too picky!. Check there is a professional clean invoice prior to your tenancy, check what you see substantiates a professional clean and check the receipt for cost. When it comes to checkout, do this in person and make sure they are not trying to claim higher expectations than what you experienced moving in. Recheck your inventory and evidence you have, make sure all images are time stamped and show like for like or differences. From experience they will try and pick on the most petty things, things that were in the same condition on moving in or in places you wouldn’t expect and trivial. Ask them at least a week or two before checking out for a checklist of what they go through with transparent criteria. Be aware of your rights and what constitutes claims that are disproportionate and extortionate cleaning prices Be aware of what would count as going beyond apportionment and into betterment and make sure they share professional cleaning invoices. Very disappointing end of tenancy experience.

Well I have scored 1 star, but in reality I would score no stars.

They make promises which they fail to keep. They try to deflect questions, and fail to respond to queries.

As a landlord will never use them again.

The first time I was with FK Witney five years ago it was fine. Communication was great, I had no issues. This time its been a nightmare, avoid renting with them if you can.
I received emails that accused me of behaviour I was not doing, and was told that this was the general email that was sent out in that situation. Receiving these emails confused and worried me, leading to a severe increase in my anxiety and depression. What should have been done, was that the agent should have spoken to me over the phone to discuss the matter. Instead they exacerbated the situation. But to be honest, I'm not surprised at the actions taken by my property manager Jazmine (good luck if you get her!) as she is clearly inept at the job. She consistently missed appointments without informing me that she was unable to make it. The lack of communication from her and the office in general was appalling, she was often off sick and when she was, it was obvious there was no system of delegation in the office, as no one knew when I called what work she was supposed to have been doing, what appointments she was supposed to have, or had her emails redirected in case of urgency. I ended up cc-ing in any other email address from the agency I knew whenever I sent her an email, because it took her forever to respond and in some cases, she never did. Her ineptitude at the role of property manager has exacerbated problems which didn't need to be that big, dealing her with her is like pulling teeth, she should absolutely not be in that role as she is incapable. I asked her twice for the preferred end of tenancy cleaners and she refused to respond.
I was also sent an email telling me that the landlord wanted to reclaim the flat, only to find it listed on the website for rent one month before the end of my tenancy. I have discovered from reading reviews that someone else has also experienced this deceit from this company. the stress of having to deal with these people and the mess they made of various communications with me (or lack thereof) has contributed to my mental health issues.
About three months from the end of my tenancy the boiler started to make concerning clicking noises which I reported to the agency. About six months into my tenancy I reported that the vinyl in the kitchen had come unstuck. On one occasion when I had reported this, two months from the end of my tenancy, the agent had the audacity to tell me to log it through the portal, which I did not have access to throughout my tenancy until that point two months from the end. It took them until three weeks before the end of my tenancy to fix this, and even then the boiler man did not fix the boiler. He told me the clicking was from the radiator, even though i had sent a video of the noises coming from the boiler, and I had told him the dial was not working properly, he did absolutely nothing.

It’s been three years since I rented with Finders keepers and it has taken that long to recover from my experience of renting with them. My husband had died of cancer and neighbours moved in next door, who were house flippers. For the year that the neighbours owned the property next door it was non-stop banging and drilling and noise. Finders keepers were incredibly unsympathetic and clearly didn’t care. They made it clear that it was nothing to do with them. Although legally this is the case it was shocking how uncaring they were, especially in lieu of the fact that my husband had died. We ended up leaving the property and Finders keepers, despite the fact that I spent a lot of money getting a cleaning firm in, wanted to not only take my deposit of about a grand and a half but also additional money on top. I had to get an on money involved who ended up ruling in my favour, so that I didn’t end up losing all the money they wanted to take from me. I have rented over for many decades with many agencies and always had a positive experience until this agency, who are the worst agency I have ever rented with. I should have known, because when I walked into the office for the very first time, somebody was there with a complaint and they were dealing with it very poorly.

My name is indeed an alias, in response to your reply, as most people nowadays do not leave their real name online. I did everything I could at the time to reach out to finders keepers. But staff remained uncaring and unsympathetic.. I would advise anybody vacating a property with your agency to use the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, to ensure they get their deposit back, as many people who have rented with you have had their deposit kept without good reason.

This review is based on the return of the deposit/end of tenancy situation at the Banbury Road/Summertown office which is of critical importance for all prospective tenants to read.

The agent Ella at this office had to be chased constantly to complete a checkout of the property we rented, we were charged an incorrect and vastly inflated price for a house cleaning mainly due to her ineptitude at not being able to secure a cleaner who would do the job at an appropriate time. (we were told we could not do the cleaning ourselves and were advised we had to use one of their cleaning companies which charge well above the market rate, the cleaner then refused to clean the property )

She then tried to add an additional, exorbitant cost for landscaping a garden that was in fine condition, the owners saw sense and did not agree with Finders Keeper's assessment.

We finally got our deposit back but when I tried to speak to a manager at the branch, I was met with obfuscation and excuses.

I had to threaten to lodge a complaint with the property ombudsman for a manager to speak with me and when I did speak to the branch manager Alec, he made empty promises about looking into this and showed complete indifference to every valid point made and the stress that we were put though in this whole process.

Extremely rude and unprofessional service from Denise at this letting agency’s Abingdon office. Her attitude was condescending and completely unacceptable. I really regret not reading the reviews about this agency before using their services.

I enquired about a rental property, completed all the required paperwork, and paid a holding fee of £380.77. A few days later , my circumstances changed unexpectedly, so I contacted Denise to cancel my application. Instead of handling the situation professionally, she was dismissive, rude, and made irrelevant, inappropriate comments such as, “you are of good English speaking.”

No processing work had begun on my application, as she advised their system was down etc yet I was met with hostility when I simply asked whether my payment could be refunded or moved to a different property as I tried to raise the full deposit amount . The entire interaction was disrespectful and showed a complete lack of basic customer service.
The experience was disrespectful, unhelpful, and left me with zero confidence in this agency. Avoid.

I rented my first property through Finders Keepers, and have used them again for my second property search. They knew exactly what I was looking for, and I am very happy in the property that they found for me. I have no reservations in recommending Finders Keepers. Thank you Holly, Heather and team!

16:47 Mon
Health and safety.

Light fitting from porch fell, causing severe cut to hand. No apology, 12 months to repair. This was despite paying the gardener £20 to chop the vine down which used to be carried out annually. No apology despite me needing several stitches. Informed F K. And estate, no apology given.

Sash windows failed. One was only opening window from guest bedroom, response was "get some bricks to prop it open", from Gareth, Office Manager F K.

Smoke detector not tested for 18 months past due date on leaving. Despite fire insurance inspection.

General repairs.

Guttering not repaired despite several attempts by landlord to rectify, causing a deluge and spoiling plants.

Kitchen cupboards delaminating, not replaced after 3 years despite being mentioned on annual inspections.
Carpet not replaced after 14 years. Other flats had moth/fly infestation and carpets have had to be replaced in three other properties, on leaving they are now in this flat.
Light fittings, shower rack and shaver sockets replaced at own cost.
Bathroom and kitchen sealant replaced at own cost.
Plants from garden trough taken without my consent, only to be told after 14 years, they were never intended to have plants /flowers from residents. No apology or recompense offered. We had a glib apology from FK with very little concern from the estate.
Dishwasherrepaired.
No decoration in 14 years, apart from when a leak from above flat caused water damage.
Oven hob repaired once.

Concerns over water bill paid via FK to landlord, when questioned over a 30% increase in cubic meter and 50% in standing charge, and possibly a breach of the ofwat regulations that state a landlord cannot profiteer from reselling water. When this was queried the £ cm3 dropped to what Anglian water was charging a regular customer. What a coincidence! Wont discuss further as is now with my solicitor. Who will be asking for refund for overcharging for 14 years at B.O.England base rate + 2.5% as per Ofwat legislation.

Noted that new tenancies now include water and sewage included in monthly rent…What a coincidence!

After complaining, we were the served 3
Months notice, after 14 years tenancy!!! The reason being the Family wanted it back and it wouldn’t be back on the market to rent….Suprise, it’s back on FK website, with a £200 increase on monthly rent and Water bills now inclusive….

Noise from sons of estate, welding, axle grinding vintage cars. Petrol smells, inconvenience to other residents to open garage doors. Including Sundays.

Mould on sitting room and guest bathroom never rectified, very unsightly. Despite numerous complaints to FK and estate management.

Bin store has access to all electrical meters, for anyone, this resulted in our electric supply being turned off (accidentally!) not great when we were away for 6 weeks. Estate said they were looking for a resolution, guess what, there wasn't an apology or rectification.

Bin store used by Landlords, which is fine but didn’t break down their boxes, just left on top of bins for someone else to do.

Hence, we bought knives to enable all residents to break down boxes so that the bins could be taken. Not just left for a few others to do.

No BBQs or fire pits allowed, no change of contract to reflect this.

Selection of clientele has varied, hence high turnover of residents, music blaring out until 3a.m.

Parking of commercial vehicles by residents around estate despite there being a clause not permitting this.

Lack of maintenance around the estate, gravel not swept, weeds unkempt.

Discussion from owner about my monthly payment with a contractor, to be told we a getting a “ very discounted rate”, because we “are the show-home of the estate”.

Charges on exit:-

£185 cleaning bill
£72 trying to be charged for uplighter. Despite purchasing light fitting that was accidentally cracked.
£5 for a light bulb.
Double charged £65.00 for water, (laughable, due to our concern about the water bill). Now reimbursed!

I could go on, but if this helps you reconsider your options…………..

Rebecca Woods F K has been the only person to be helpful, but has lied to us about the intentions of the estate.

Be warned! I hope you enjoy your tenancy. I for one am delighted to be away. Just waiting for an update from my solicitor regarding the ongoing potential water overcharging.
I will of course update this matter.

Update 02/09/2025 light fitting fitted for £40, so I don’t know or understand where £72 came from, who is making the profit here.

No mention of the Health and Safety concerns.

No mention of taking plants without consent.

Just underlines the points set out above.

Finders Keepers have not sent me the information requested regarding the water bills, that I requested, so it is now being handled by my solicitor.

Good luck

Firstly I would give them a 0 if I could! I have never come across a letting agent who is so unprofessional before. I enquired about a property with the Bicester office her name was Holly. I found her to be incredibly rude, unprofessional and deceitful about the whole process with an enquiry on renting a property. She was very abrupt with myself and a colleague, didn’t return calls or emails and IGNORED my calls as she would answer to another mobile other than mine. I asked to view the property several times and was told it wasn’t possible even though it was empty and still being advertised as on the market! The property now says let agreed and she still hasn’t informed me, I would have been totally fine if she had told me from the start that the process was already going through rather than lying about the whole “I’m waiting on the landlord to get back to me”. I feel she was saving the property for someone else. So disgusted.

I have submitted a formal complaint about this company which is 11 pages long, but the key points I'll share with others are:
- I requested an early end to the tenancy due to personal circumstances with my mother being ill with stage 4 cancer and wanting to be local. Finders Keepers were not supportive and it took a really long time (7 months after first request) AND a cash incentive of a month's free rent to the tenant to get any kind of traction and hope of having my property back. The lack of basic compassion and kindness made a difficult time so, so much harder.
- An early end to the tenancy was agreed, but then Finders Keepers tried to charge me £1500 in management fees for the length of the original tenancy - so for six months in which the property would be vacant and absolutely NO management service would be required. Deborah Blanchard hounded me for this fee, during an already deeply challenging and stressful time. I put up some resistance and got it reduced. I was so deeply overwhelmed that I agreed to £450. In fact, I should not have to pay a penny to this company, who have caused me as much stress as possible, and sought to financially exploit me as much as possible, during one of the most stressful times of my life.
- When the tenancy FINALLY ended, the company took it upon themselves to cancel my Selective License with Oxford City Council, attempting to void my investment of £564 which I paid for for the license, and attempting to limit my ability to further rent out my property. At no point had this been discussed with me and at no point had I ever given Finders Keepers authority to do this. They misinformed the Council that my property was sold when it had not. This is a legal matter which I am taking forward through the Property Ombudsman and likely, the courts.
- Evie Boyles attempted to release my tenant's deposit without awaiting confirmation or consent from me, which is yet a gross violation of tenancy law.

All in all, this company has caused me a staggering amount of stress, and has reminded me just how heartless some people can be, no matter what you are going through. Finders Keepers cares only about profit. They think the right way to run a business is to manipulate and pressure clients in order to gain the maximum funds they can. They do not realise the right way to run a business is to provide a fair, decent service, leading to recommendations and respect. They now face Ombudsman action and legal action.

I let out another property via Darlows (SpicerHaart) and the experience is impeccable. Kind, decent, honest and fair. It could not be further from the exploitative, cruel, and deeply callous treatment from Finders Keepers. I wish I'd never had dealings with this company.

Also, when I collected keys, a member of staff attempted to bully me at the office. At this point, I was beyond weary. I hope she grows up soon.

In conclusion, avoid this company. They don't deserve your business.

Evie, my Property Manager at Finders Keepers (Summertown branch in Oxford) has been amazing - she has been very helpful, efficient and professional. She has been very communicative over the phone and email, and responded to my questions promptly and ensured that any issues I have had were resolved quickly and efficiently - I am incredibly grateful and I will definitely recommend Finders Keepers in future.

Unprofessional and the service is suck. I have a tenancy starts on 28th and ends on 1st. Yeah that's fine , few days to pay extra. Before 3 months to the end, they need renew or vacate notice.I signed the agreement to renew 1 month which should be ended on 1st again. They changed it to 2nd without notice me just because 1st June is a Sunday. And I have to pay 1 day(30 quid) extra which is not my problem. This agent is just so unprofessional and wouldn't give any notice.
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Reply to Victoria,

I'm also a bit surprise that the manager said so. All you guys saying was I signed the agreement, but why don't you mention there was a 1st agreement I made myself clear that it's a 1 month renewal which you and I both signed we well. After this 1st agreement, you send this second agreement with a 1 month plus 1 day renewal without letting me know. I was too blind to believe in the 1st agreement and trusted you.

Surprise~

Luchao(08/05/2025)

So bad … I wish I had read these reviews prior to renting through this company. The house we rented was really expensive over 2k. It was terrible the roof leaked, mouldy windows, stunk of cigarettes, dangerous oven which was a fire risk, found a razer and metal tools all over the mud pit garden, unusable conservatory due to leak, toilets were disgusting, central heating oil tank leaking !!!! … so we moved in I cleaned it up and complained about the issues above all of which were ignored except the oven after I paid an electrician to make an assessment and the oil tank as it was an environmental hazard !!! Now after all that we have moved out and they are keeping our deposit !!! This company takes advantage of people and should be made accountable… do not use

A crime! as the company name suggests. I just can not get how a company in a country so regulated like the UK can get on with this way to make business. I felt like trapped by a mafia style way of exploiting tenants and taking advantage of their vulnerabilities. Very traumatising experience renting a flat with this company.

We have been very happy with Finders Keepers in our house search.
Our previous landlord decided to sell the house we rented for 10 years.
Collette at Finders Keepers in Witney found us a great house in Longhanborough. Danielle in the Witney branch met us at the moving day and was very nice showing us around and checking to make sure everything was in order. We would recommend this company to local renters. Arie