Hallamhills Avis 

Very disappointing experience

I was a previous tenant of a Hallam Hills property and unfortunately had a very poor experience throughout the tenancy.

One of the biggest issues was a bed bug infestation. We first reported the problem 18 days after moving in, and the infestation continued for much of the tenancy despite treatment being arranged. We followed the pest-control instructions carefully, but the problem persisted. We had to repeatedly email and call Hallam Hills about the issue, and on several occasions we received no response or were told that someone would get back to us but never did. Eventually, I had to contact Environmental Health for assistance.

The communication throughout this process was extremely frustrating. We have emails that went unanswered for extended periods, including correspondence relating to the infestation. We also had to take a handwritten note to their office because we were struggling to get a response through the usual channels.

The situation also had a significant impact on us personally and financially. We had to dispose of various belongings because of the infestation, and the ongoing problem caused considerable anxiety and disrupted our sleep. I felt that the seriousness of the situation was not treated with the level of urgency or understanding I would have expected from a letting agent.

The deposit process was another disappointment. We were initially sent an email listing proposed deductions without supporting evidence. After requesting the full inspection information, we noticed that one of the proposed deductions related to a mark that was already present when we moved in, which was shown in Hallam Hills’ own before-and-after photographs. This deduction was subsequently not taken.

We also disputed a deduction relating to a wardrobe that was already in poor condition when we moved into the property, including having been held together with cello tape. When we asked about disputing the deductions through the deposit protection scheme, we were told that getting assistance could take months. After the deposit process had already been ongoing for around two months, we eventually accepted the deductions because we wanted the matter resolved. We were then told the refund was being processed, but it took a further nine days for the money to reach us.

There were also problems when we initially moved into the property. One of the tenants experienced severe allergic reactions to cat hair that was present around the bedrooms, and our request for the property to be cleaned was not handled as we had hoped.

We did our best to leave the property clean and in good condition, including deep cleaning before leaving, but deductions were still proposed for things such as dust behind a sofa.

Overall, my experience was extremely disappointing. The biggest issue for me was not simply that problems occurred, but how difficult it was to get consistent communication and appropriate responses when problems were reported.

Based on my experience as a former tenant, I would not currently recommend Hallam Hills to someone looking for a letting agent. I would strongly advise prospective tenants to carefully document the condition of the property when moving in and keep records of all correspondence and photographs throughout the tenancy.

Everything started well with the tenancy, the staff were friendly and always looking to help, however when I started the tenancy, I wasn't aware that there were electrical issues with the property, such as turning on the oven and then all the lights would be gone! I had to maneuver between the hobs in the kitchen and, guessing which one would work and which one would turn off all the lights, I had to go and check the electrical box every time.

At the end of the tenancy, I was told that they would take £120 from my deposit for cleaning, I left the property under the same conditions as I received it and even cleaner compared to when I did moved, it didn't seem that they did contracted someone to cleaned it at all!

I was looking for a bigger property to move on to share it with a friend, but the other ones seemed under the same condition as the one I was renting, it needed a lot of repairs.

Unfortunately they took almost 2 months to give me the rest of the deposit back, thankfully I didn't rent with them again.

Do not trust this company. Many many red flags. Took an £800 holding deposit that was way more than a weeks rent (as per their own policy). Used it as the tenancy deposit (without telling us) without even sending us the contract first. Sent us the contract, it had multiple illegal clauses, mainly about extra charges and it seemed years and years out of date, like it was written in the 90's or something. Was not helpful and seem completely incompetent when we were questioning them about the contract and other things. Very calm about the whole situation like it wasn't a big deal. Simply refused to change to contract to a legally binding document. They did send the deposit back but I believe they purely did this to avoid it being taken further.
Current tenants had nothing good to say about them, I believe the 5* reviews are likely not legit just from experience of identifying fake reviews. I believe they are related to the landlord (Lak investments) (check companies house) and they are fully aware of what they are doing but acted very nonchalant about the whole situation.
Would avoid! We were lucky we weren't silly enough to sign the contract without checking it all first. I believe this is probably common practice for them, thinking they can pull the wool over our eyes cause we're students.
Don't be enticed by their cheap prices and check the contract before giving them any money or signing anything.

10!out of 10 , very help full staff

Got a recommendation from a friend to use these guys for my property and am glad i did because these guys go above and beyond to look after your valuable asset. They really do everything for you and just get on with their job. Great service guys keep it up. Thank you

The best renting experience I ever dealt with absolutely great people and the phone calls always answered ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Professional at heart and passionate from the start.Got recommended to use hallamhills and they were polite,helpful and put the effort in for me finding a good property to fit my needs.Would recommend ✅️

Good company, easy to get in touch. Great customer service, friendly staff always trying their best to find property suited to you. The process of renting is very smooth. I would highly recommend 😊

I rented few properties from Hallam Hills over the years and we always had good experiences with them which is why always recommended them to my mates and now quite few of them rent properties from them. They have a good team that always responds quickly to any concern that we may have and they are value for money and have are very professional and friendly and would definitely recommend them 🙂

Am a landlord and they loom after several of my properties always rented never any voids always at hand keep me informed and have maintened the properties I would recommend to any investor or landlord and would only trust hallamhills with my properties as they always answer my calls and never let me down

they do not even deserve a 1 star . DO NOT RENT ! I have lived in the HMO property as a student (4 students) since July. We were not informed prior to moving in or when we moved in that we did not have fire doors, which weren't installed till 6 months into the tenancy which is not only illegal but incredibly unsafe. It has also been about 9 months and we haven't had proper smoke/fire alarms installed or working ones in the legally required areas. We have had to involve the council with these issues as they were not taking our safety seriously in any way. There have been many issues where is has taken months to fix maintenance problems which have been important such as; the kitchen cupboard coming unattached from the wall, we didn't have a working boiler for more than a week and were told they couldn't fix it sooner because they didn't have a key and couldn't let anyone in. It may have been the Christmas holidays but we still we were left without hot water and heating for a week in the middle of winter. Some of these issues are very dangerous and it is incredibly irresponsible that they have let us live in these conditions. When having fire doors and smoke/fire alarms are a legal requirement for an HMO, and not having them makes this, a dangerous property. the property clearly had not been professionals cleaned prior to moving in as there was dirt everywhere(black mould ) and a bin full of rotting food in the bathroom including a bedroom with walls full of back mould .so many things have gone wrong and haven't been the way a rental house should be and I will never be renting from them again or be recommending them to anyone . We have also come to discover that out deposit was not secured with a deposit scheme until 1 year after it was paid ( it's supposed to be secured legally within 30 days of payment ) . I am not sure if it is cause we are all students but it feels like our safety and well-being are not taken seriously in any way so do not rent from Hallam hills if you want an agency that will look after your safety or take you seriously.

Do NOT use Hallam Hills. I booked and received confirmation for a viewing of a property that had been taken a week ago. Also when I have spoken to Hallam Hills previously the staff could not answer the basic questions about a property they were renting out, such as does this property have parking.

Always Looks after any issues we had about house they are easy to communicate and quick response..

Awful company, arranged a viewing for a flat and upon arrival no one had showed up. Gave them a ring and apparently the viewing was for tomorrow - although i had email proof of the viewing being booked for the day prior, they clearly hadn’t booked it in and panicked and booked it for the day after. Next day, the agent left us waiting for half an hour - when finally being shown the property he barely spoke to us and the flat was a tip! current tenants clearly hadn’t been told about the viewing, putting all this aside we decided to put a deposit down because we did love the flat. We were told it was £200 per person, once we had the confirmation email through it displayed the deposit to be £950 which they wanted upfront. Hallam Hills lied to us about how much a deposit was and were also charging us an illegal amount of holding deposit. Glad we kept our money away, do not recommend this agency.

Shocking company who have no fair policies in place when letting homes. Arrived on a last minute, group house viewing, which I wasn’t made aware it was a group viewing. Discussed the letting with the lettings agent who showed us around the property and expressed an interest in applying. Was informed that an application has to be done via email and because there was a lot of interest, all applicants would be reviewed and judged on taking a number of factors into account.
Was informed the next day that the property was now let and it was on a first come first serve bases which was not made clear by the letting agent.
I have wasted my time, energy and expenses rushing to view this property at such short notice to be lied too by their staff with no apology or acceptance that they have misinformed me and lied.

Wouldn’t trust this company at all. Staff clearly don’t know what their job is.

Problems with this company started at the beginning. We were not able to move in until 10 days late due to the previous household having Covid19. This was last June during peak Covid19 & whilst this is no fault of Hallam Hills (HH) they failed to get the house cleaned at all before we moved in. When I came to clean my room I found teddies, clothes, a passport, birth certificate, a pair of boxers, used tissues & a whole draw had gone mouldy due to a knife & fork being left in there for so long. My housemates found a vibrator! The house was utterly disgusting for us to move into & was completely unsafe when the previous tenants were testing positive. HH failed to help us with this. Since moving out I have attempted to get my deposit back for the house. After leaving 4 messages which were flagged as “urgent” the only response I have had is “contact the landlord” & received his contact details. During the whole tenancy all finance was sorted with HH& not the landlord so why now, when I am trying to get my deposit back have they stepped back from sorting this out? The landlord needs different information before I can get my deposit back which HH has! Maybe students are an easy target.

My daughter and I have left constant messages for the student letting department that are never returned. Still can't get our end of term deposit back even though my daughter moved out in June.Landlord wants proof of bills paid to give teh deposit back,can't speak to anyone from Hallam Hills to get proof sent to him.Either way all the financials have gone through HH but now when we are due money back we are expected to deal with the landlord direct.Lazy and utterly incompetent, and they obviously feel students are fair game.

If I could give a negative score I would.

ABSOLUTELY AVOID; DO NOT RENT FROM THIS LETTING AGENT

If your property needs repairs, they’ll ignore you for months on end. The only time they’re bothered with you or how the property looks is when there’s a viewing or the rent payment is a day late due to banking.

Horrendous; I regret ever having to deal with them or rent out a property from them

Hands down the worst letting agency in Sheffield. The first red flag should've been when nobody turned up to the viewing to show us around and so the tenants had to instead. This left us unable to ask the key questions we should've before we moved in. Terrible at replying to emails... leaves me wondering what they do in the office all day. Turns out they also neglected to protect our deposits so we will be claiming that back, so that they can't scam us out of it like they have seemed to do with other properties (based off the other reviews). If you are currently with Hallam Hills I recommend you CHECK IF YOUR DEPOSIT IS PROTECTED through the government website.

Booked an viewing and nobody turned up. Then once we rang up to ask what was going on they claimed we hadn’t “successfully made an appointment” despite having contact with an letting agent who gave us the time and date in which this viewing would take place.