Simplelifehomes Avis 

Both James and Tom have been incredibly helpful and knowledgable in supporting my application for housing. They’ve been at the end of the phone, for every step of the way and I couldn’t be happier with the support I’ve received in what could be an anxious process.

The service has been top notch especially from Megan.

Subject: Feedback on House Inspection for Simplelife Homes(four corners)

Dear Mattew

I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to share my feedback regarding the recent inspection of my house.

Firstly, I want to express my appreciation for your thoroughness and attention to detail. You took the time to explain the findings clearly, which helped me understand the condition of the property better. Your professionalism and knowledge were evident throughout the process, and it made the experience much more comfortable for me.

I was particularly impressed by how you addressed my questions and concerns. Your willingness to provide insightful answers demonstrated your commitment to customer service and ensured that I felt valued as a client.

One area where I think you excelled was in your communication. You kept me informed at every stage, which I found very reassuring. It’s clear that you take pride in your work, and it certainly showed during the inspection.

Thank you once again for your excellent service. I would highly recommend you to others who need a reliable and skilled inspector.

Best regards,

Neide Santos

Effortless tenancy onboarding and wide range on rental accommodation available. Their staff Amor , Sanah and Megan helped me with smooth viewing, tenancy arrangements onboarding ❤️

Scam, doesn’t share full information, just takes deposits and then disappears

I feel that the entire moving-in process, from the initial viewing to the day I moved in, has been a great experience. Every time I’ve called with an enquiry, everyone I’ve spoken to has been polite, helpful, and reassuring, which really helped ease any initial stress I had.

The apartment I’ve moved into was immaculate, and I was also given a goody bag with some essential items when I moved in, which was a lovely touch and made the experience feel even more welcoming. It was also really helpful that the router had already been installed in the apartment, making it one less thing to worry about when moving in.

Overall, I’ve been very impressed with the service and support throughout the entire process.

Property was nice enough and spacious but the costs involved and lack of urgency of fixing maintenance issues, I cannot recommend.

We thought we would have a better experience renting from a larger firm than independent landlords but it was far from the truth. It was quite unprofessional at the start - before we reserved our property the estate agent was late, didn't show up to the correct property and then told us the property was let already when we arrived and they only had a more expensive property (on the same estate) available that we were unable to view in advance.

When we moved in the property was filthy, the walls were heavily soiled (despite it being a 'new build' with minimal previous tenants, which was not resolved when we moved in. The oven was filthy (as noted on our inventory) and was advised it would be cleaned when we moved in, it wasn't. The grass in the garden was over a foot high in places. The seal in the bath was full of dirt which we had to replace ourselves. As we were unable to view the property before we moved in, we did not know of these issues until we had the keys. It then took several months of chasing for all every wall in the house to be repainted, so we couldn't properly 'move in' until this was finished. What was worse is when we moved out recently after 5 years, it was noted on the tenancy that the quality of the paintwork was 'poor' and the tenants reasonability to fix. Fortunately, we were not charged for this, but found it quite cheeky they were trying to insinuate we were responsible for the paint work, when it was filthy when we moved in, and it was their contractors work!

A similar theme is it took weeks to months of chasing to get any issue fixed. It took at least 3 weeks of us having no washing machine after we reported it broken, as it was 'not urgent', and were not offered to be reimbursed for our costs of having to use a laundrette. The whole estate on Prince's Gardens has had issues with rats (you can see on the Facebook group) due to other tenants not dealing with rubbish or their gardens. We didn't use our garden and kept the grass trimmed, but found rats had dug a nest under our shed and we often saw rats running in front of our living room patio doors, and as there was no step down from the house to the outside, we were unable to open our patio doors despite the scorching heat due to fear of rats. We raised this with Simple Life, they took nearly 3months to respond and just closed the repair down stating 'they can't do anything to prevent rats outside'. So we were unable to use our garden or doors for the last 2 years of our tenancy.

Additionally, the rent increases are extortionate. I know they will give a generic reply stating the rent is in line with 'market rate', it's not, they raise the rent by 10% every year without fail, which is much more than your standard pay rise! Our rent went up from £925 up to £1365 over the 5 years we lived there, despite how long it took to fix maintenance issues (if at all). Our rent was going up more than the same houses on the estate, but if we enquired about this we were told there was nothing they could do. I have since moved out and gotten a mortgage on a house more expensive than the one we rented for over £300 less per month. It's disgusting. We have since seen that our old property is now up on rightmove for less than the £1365 we were increased to in August, so there is absolutely no benefit for long time good tenants, or even being aligned to market rate rent prices. The amount of empty houses on Right move on Prince of Wales says it all that everyone is sick to death of their rent being increased by at least £100 p/m, +£1200 p/year every year.

The real sour note was the end of our tenancy. We had had enough of the rent increases so have since bought our own house, which we were not in a rush to do until we got our latest rent increase. There was a lack of communication on move out. We asked if we could have the pre move out check done, they ignored any dates we had available (we had already moved out), which when I said it wasn't suitable they just cancelled the appointment and never spoke to us again. We returned our keys on the 6th of September and got our checkout report on the 14th, and were told we would hear from the tenancy deposit scheme within 3-5 working days. We had radio silence despite multiple emails and us manually raising a request for our deposit back. Our multiple emails went ignored, and we only received confirmation that we would get our deposit back late on the 29th of September after we phoned up and got transferred 4 times to the correct department. There is absolutely no reason it should take so long to get our deposit back after we came to an agreement on the amount to be returned.

Overall a really poor experience, money grabbing and a lack of communication.

Had high hopes when first started renting with Simple Life. When it came to handing our notice in we wanted to check on the date this was due as we started our tenancy on the 15th of the month but rent day is 1st of the month so we wanted to check which date we should do this by. We had a reply from SL to advise it should be 15th of the month so this is what we did. We then got an email after handing notice in for this day to say it is infact the 1st of the month so we gave 2 and half months notice after being advised incorrectly, this has now cost us not SL an extra £1k due to being advised wrong due to their staff not providing correct information. After renting for most of my life and always receiving 100% of my deposit back when my tenancies have ended i am very much not looking forward to what this company will deduct as it seems to be a trend for them. Very disappointed.

Not a great experience, but resolved in the end.

Issues with getting a holding deposit back.

Edit: I finally got this resolved, and Simple Life refunded me the deposit, so I've updated this.

Good experience

Excellent services and very nice staff get treated very well

I genuinely cannot believe how badly Simple Life have handled the end of our tenancy.

After being tenants for several years, we moved out expecting a straightforward deposit return. Instead, we were presented with over £1,200 of proposed deductions from our deposit!

And some of the charges are absolutely ridiculous.

We have disputed the deductions through the Tenancy Deposit Scheme and provided evidence, including photographs and the original inventory, showing that some of the things Simple Life are attempting to charge us for were already there when we moved in.

So what have Simple Life done?

Nothing.

We have now been waiting weeks for them to respond through TDS. TDS have told us they are chasing them, yet we’re still waiting for Simple Life to actually bother responding.

The whole situation is beyond frustrating. We have moved out, handed the property back and provided evidence. Yet we’re left chasing and waiting for a company to respond about our own money.

What makes it even more infuriating is that we have photographs and documentation to support our position. We aren’t disputing these charges without evidence.

After YEARS of paying rent and being tenants, this is the experience we’re left with at the end.

The complete lack of urgency and communication is frankly unacceptable. A company should not be able to drag out something as important as a tenant’s deposit while the tenant is left waiting indefinitely for a response.

If you rent through Simple Life, photograph EVERYTHING. Photograph the property when you move in. Photograph it when you leave. Keep your inventory. Keep every email. Keep every piece of evidence. Do not assume that because something was already there when you moved in, you won’t later be asked to pay for it.

We are now having to jump through additional hoops simply because Simple Life have failed to respond.

This has been an exhausting, stressful and incredibly disappointing way to end what was already a long tenancy.

Would I rent through Simple Life again? Absolutely not.

Sort it out.

I don't know what the good reviews on here is all about but if you want your sanity and mental health. Avoid this company like a plague.

Good team and professionals the company gives effective communication such a well smooth experience for me

I contacted Simple Life Homes as I needed a document to prove my tenancy Georgina was the lady who took this task up and she was kind and polite on the phone and helped me - we had to go backwards and forwards through no fault of Georgina’s but through the people I needed to give the specific document too and Georgina was patient tolerant kind and professional until we got the document exactly how they needed it in the required timeframe all whilst being so kind - everyone needs a Georgina

I GENUINELY would NOT recommend renting with Simple Life based on our experience so far.

Our problems started before we even moved in. Less than two weeks before our agreed move in date, we were told that the property we were supposed to move into would no longer be ready due to maintenance issues. By then, we had already made arrangements and spent money based on that move.

We were essentially left with the choice of finding somewhere completely new at extremely short notice or accepting another Simple Life property at a higher rent. We asked whether any goodwill gesture could be offered given that the situation was entirely outside our control, and this was refused. We ultimately accepted the more expensive property because we did not have enough time to restart our property search and risk having nowhere to live.

To make matters worse, the deposit for the original property was not properly refunded when the property change happened. We have only received a PARTIAL refund and are still waiting for the remainder of a deposit relating to a property that we do not even rent and never moved into.

Unfortunately, things only got worse on move in day. We had repeatedly been told that our keys would be handed over at the property. We arrived there only to find out we needed to go elsewhere to collect them. When we got to the office, staff didn’t even seem to be expecting us and we had to wait while the keys were prepared, despite our move in having been arranged in advance.

When we finally entered the flat, it was obvious that it had not been properly cleaned or checked. Both bathrooms were dirty, there were stains on the furniture, bird droppings covering the balcony, dirt around the hob, dust throughout the property, marks on the flooring, damaged items and multiple maintenance issues.

Some initial issues have since been dealt with the property was cleaned and the shower and toilet seat were replaced but almost a month later, other problems are STILL unresolved.

Our washing machine has not worked, meaning we have repeatedly had to spend our own money at laundrettes despite paying rent for a property supplied with a washing machine.

What has made the situation completely unacceptable is the communication.

We have repeatedly emailed the Maintenance team. No response.

We have repeatedly contacted Resident Services. No response.

We raised a FORMAL COMPLAINT weeks ago and have repeatedly chased the Complaints team. No response.

We eventually contacted the washing machine contractor OURSELVES, only to discover that they had already contacted Simple Life and were waiting for Simple Life to respond before they could progress the repair.

So not only can we not get Simple Life to respond to us , apparently their own contractors can’t either.

We simply expected the property we were paying for to be ready, clean and functional, for our money relating to the cancelled property to be returned correctly, and for reported problems to be dealt with within a reasonable timeframe. Instead, almost every stage from the original property change, to the deposit, to move in, maintenance, communication and now even the formal complaints process has required us to repeatedly chase for basic answers.

We have had a house inspection 2 years in a row with a lovely lady called Shannon, from the Wolverhampton office, I think, as we have a Stonefield Edge property. She is so mindful and considerate in the way she moves around our home and makes us feel comfortable. Although we do not own our property, we take great care of our home and it is so personal to us. Shannon is always so lovely, respectful and professional as she inspects our home while taking care not to be invasive. Thank you Shannon for the wonderful and consistent service.

The general customer enquiry helpline was quite warm and helpful when I rang regarding issues before moving in. The overall experience has been however less than ok for me. 1. Before my tenancy started, Simplelifehomes refused to sign the contract on their end until the actual start date when they allow us to move in, with the reason that the start date "is not certain" despite the advertised start date on their website, which I thought was the consensus during the whole time of application. No one mentioned about the start date could be uncertain. It was too late to re-apply for another apartment as we have already paid the deposite, and canceled the other apartments viewing, and the pre-tenancy screening has completed. 3 weeks before the advertised start date, they informed us that they had to delay the start date as "the contractors were on sick leave". This ruined our plan of moving - we had to leave our previous apartment right after the original start date. We have tried calling them for alternatives or any compensation but was only told that there was nothing they could do to help reducing the delay or compensate. They also did not sound sorry or apologize for the inconvinience. At the end, we had to look for and pay for the extra 1 week temporary living ourselves, plus temporary storage for all our stuff (incl. furnitures) for 1 week. It was a nightmare especially before we were moving cross city. I've never met any tenancy who refused to sign the contract until the tenancy start. It was unexpected and I wasn't sure if it was legal for them to do so. 2. We need to report the meter reading to our energy provider monthly, because the smart meters do not work. However, only Simplelifehome has access to the meter room and it was virtually impossible to get meter readings in time. Whenever I requested meter readings (30 days in advance as they require in the app), they most often got ignored. The chat function in the app also equlas to non-existence - I've never got any reply. For quite a few times I had to just email them through the "hello" mailbox to get their attention to this issue, which worked but then added another week to my waiting time. As you can imagine, despite all the efforts trying to get those 2 reading numbers, I was only able to submit my meter reading every 40-60 days which had caused my energy bill to be inaccurate. And who's gonna pay for that? 3. I reported a maintenance issue in early June. And today (going into mid September) we still haven't got the maintenance appointment. I've followed up 3 times in the maintenance portal with an agent named Matt. If I hadn't, it looked like it would've been forgotten and dusted forever. 4. The gate constantly broke and always took a long time to be fixed.

I'm giving 2 star instead of 1, because the apartment location is quite nice, and I like the green environment nearby. Also the agent named Will at the general service line was kind and helpful.

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Edited: Simplelifehomes has asked me via Trustpilot to provide my full name, email, and phone number. I would rather stay anonymous because I'm worried about retaliation. If they genuinely want to understand my experience and improve they should at least reply to my review, instead of simply asking me to prove that I was a customer when I had already provided my experience in details.
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Edited: Thanks for you reply and reassurance. I have shared by details over. Happy to discuss over emails if you'd like.

This was our second property with Simple Life. Our first was a good experience, which is why we trusted them enough to rent from them again. We really shouldn't have.

The second property had problems from the day we moved in — mould, an overgrown garden, damaged/dirty skirting boards, and carpets that were extremely worn and smelled awful. We reported these issues, but many were dismissed as “cosmetic” and we were left paying to improve the property ourselves.

We later discovered the property had previously been used as a pet-sitting service, which explained a lot about the smell and condition of the carpets. The business listing was still visible on Google on the day we left. Despite this, Simple Life refused to replace or properly clean the carpets.

Eventually, Simple Life offered us the option to end the tenancy early because of the issues. We accepted, particularly with a baby in the house, I wasn't prepared to have her crawling and walking around on those carpets.

After we left, Simple Life attempted to deduct £967.08 from our £1,370 deposit, including £168 for a “full lock change, despite us returning the keys.

They also attempted to charge us for cleaning, garden work and repainting the entire property despite the fact that we had already reported problems with the property.

We challenged the deductions and ultimately got our money back. Do NOT let them take your deposit. They attempted to do this with our first property and failed. Take them to the tribunal and give evidence as they will try and take everything they can.

Document absolutely everything. Photos, emails, maintenance tickets, key returns. Keep it all.

We went from being happy customers of our first Simple Life property to having an experience we wouldn't wish to repeat.

The marketing looks great. Unfortunately, our experience of the actual service was very different.

Olivia has been very supportive throughout the process. Top notch customer service. Well done.