The Letting Game - Letting Agents Bristol Avis 

I rented a property from this agency for a year, and my experience at the end of the tenancy was extremely disappointing.

At the end of our tenancy, we were unsure whether to hand over the keys to the landlord or the agency. We called the agency to confirm, and they told us to return them to the agency office—which was extremely far from the city. After travelling all that way, we were told that we should have left the keys at the property when moving out. When we explained that we had called for instructions and were misinformed, they showed no empathy and simply said we “should have known,” which was incredibly unfair given the distance we had to travel unnecessarily.

It has now been over a month since our tenancy ended, and we still have not received our deposit back. For the first month, both the landlord and agency were completely unresponsive. They repeatedly claimed they had sent us an invoice by email—which they had not. When we finally received it, more than a month after moving out, we were shocked to see they were charging us £1,321 out of our £1,730.76 deposit, and even asking us to make a further payment before they would return the remainder.

The charges were outrageous. They included £250 for a bed that broke within 24 hours of our tenancy starting—something that happened the moment I sat on it. When we explained that this was not our fault, they still insisted on charging us with zero empathy. They also charged us £25 for a “lockout,” which I have never heard of a reputable agency charging tenants for.

From my experience, they are unprofessional, unresponsive, and seem to look for any opportunity to overcharge tenants. Based on our discussions, we are still owed at least £599.10 from our deposit, but they only paid us 408 pounds and took my entire individual deposit of 865.38 pounds.

I would strongly recommend avoiding this agency entirely. If there was a rating of zero, that's what I would give them. In my opinion, they operate in a way that feels more like professional extortion than fair property management.

Was a tenant at one of their properties for six years and had no support from the letting game with the landlord always complaining about them. They had to issues internally with managing keys and keys were giving out to contractors when asked not to. Property was given back in a good state and I was overcharged on the deposit returns. They also never answer the phone lines for the tenants and only answer the phone lines for the landlords.

We have just begun the letting process and so this isn't a complete review.

Zoe was a great letting agent and was knowledgable about the property and general area. She was happy to answer as many questions as she could and did not pressure us at all. She kept the whole process professional and was consistently honest.

However, The Letting Game can be difficult to contact. When I was originally trying to get in contact with an agent for our property, it was difficult to say the least. I understand that there is a lot of competition and applications; however, it would be great if there was an easier route to contacting an agent.

As a Landlord it gives me great confidence to know I've got a knowledgable and professional Letting Agent to rely upon for advice and support. I've been working with them for over a decade and can highly recommend.

Super communicative and lovely service and properties. Zoe was so helpful and friendly

The service was great! Very uncomplicated and communication was very clear and quick which is scarce when it comes to these kinds of things. Zoe was a pleasure! Very polite :)

The agent we had (Zoe) was extremely helpful and made the process feel easy.

Friendly and helpful staff both when we visited the office to speak to Amy and when I viewed the property with Zoe. Zoe was honest in answering questions and helpful in guiding us through the process

Absolutely awful company to deal with!

If I could give 0 stars, I would. It seems they've started a new Trustpilot page just to bury the mountain of negative reviews. My experience is a long one, but to summarize: they don’t even know the contents of their own rental agreements, we had to explain it to them ourselves.

The staff are shockingly incompetent, rude, and painfully slow to respond. I honestly feel sorry for them, as they seem undertrained and completely unsupported. We would have been better off managing the property ourselves.

They lost important letters, failed to respond to both us and the tenants, and were condescending throughout the process. They put in a lot of effort to get us onboard and then completely abandoned us. A truly awful experience from start to finish.

Zoe was really helpful!

terrible to deal with, delays in maintanence, told us the decorators were due to come after we moved in and they never did, the house was damp and mouldy, which we never noticed until we moved in. bathroom had been leaking and had caused most the damp, the repairs were cheap and cheerful cover up jobs, we fought to leave tennancy after 6 months and when we moved out they kept our deposit,blaming the decorating as the reason why, worse letting agent i’ve dealt with

Zoe was super helpful and friendly throughout the process of finding our new place!

If you’re a landlord please read this!

I had my property on the market with The Letting Game for 7 WEEKS, and as soon as I changed agency it was let with a secured deposit within 5 working days!

The poor communication and slow response time from the agents at the letting game cost me thousands and thousands of pounds in lost income!

Enquiries were often being left unanswered for up to 3 working days; talking to other agencies and with my experience with the new agency enquiries are answered from a few hours up to 24hrs later. The fact they were slow to reply to enquiries meant we definitely missed out on potential candidates!

I had to constantly chase for updates, it was very rare I was given updates on how viewings went. I found this extremely frustrating as I was trusting them to market the flat and update me but I was spending hours chasing to hear the latest information.

I raised these issues with the management at The Letting Game and both times I was told that the market was slow, and they are doing all they can. This response is pretty funny looking back on; now we have our tenants moved in after marketing with a different agency, and the whole process (start to finish) was 7 times quicker! AND we didn’t just have one serious offer through that new agency we had THREE (within ONE week!) who were ready to pay the deposit!

I genuinely believe that The Letting Game is understaffed and so they cannot keep up with the demand causing mistakes to be made and responses to be slow.

My partner picked up on this much earlier than I did and suggested we changed, but I was being stubborn and wanted to give The Letting Game a chance. I wish I listened to her and maybe we would be a few thousand better off!

As a landlord they have been a very steady pair of hands for me for the past 4 years, managing my two HMO's. Always on it with compliance and legislation updates and always let the properties quickly. A reliable independant who know Bristol lettings very well.

I was taken around a couple of flats by Amy and she’s so lovely. Very helpful even when I bombarded her with questions, and the whole process of looking at then securing my flat has been easy.

Avoid at All Costs – A Truly Awful Experience with The Letting Game

Our tenancy with The Letting Game started on a positive note thanks to Amy, who handled our viewing. Unfortunately, that early professionalism turned out to be nothing more than false hope. From the moment we signed the agreement, everything went downhill fast.

The staff are rude, condescending, and clearly have no understanding of what good customer service is. Communication is a joke – you’ll be spammed with emails when they want something from you, but when you need support or action, you’re left waiting for days or completely ignored.

We had direct communication with our landlord, who was happy to agree to certain requests – only for The Letting Game to falsely claim she had refused. Either they were outright lying or just completely incompetent. Either way, it created unnecessary stress and confusion throughout our tenancy.

When it came to the end of our lease, their true colours really showed. They seemed more concerned with squeezing every penny out of us than being fair or reasonable. It was clear they were going out of their way to keep our full deposit, regardless of the facts. Profit over people, every time.

Despite submitting two formal complaints and receiving empty reassurances from their managing director Samantha that staff would be trained and service would improve, nothing ever changed. The same issues persisted for the entire 12 months we were with them.

If you’re looking for a letting agent that prioritises their bottom line over your wellbeing, ignores your concerns, and treats tenants with absolute disregard, then by all means – The Letting Game is for you. Otherwise, steer well clear

As the title says 1 star isn’t low enough for The Letting Game, what an absolutely treacherous company they really are and they know every dirty trick in the book. I am the guarantor for my daughter who went into a property that they manage a year ago. I thought things weren’t the best when they done the pre move in inventory without my daughter or me being present which isn’t normal. The flat itself was disgusting and wasn’t even cleaned before she moved in with switches hanging off the walls, cracked glass, broken lock on the front door and paint missing everywhere. The heating didn’t work but my daughter insisted on taking it as she desperately needed somewhere close to her work. Anyway before Christmas last year my daughter had a mental breakdown and was really ill, she was off work and had to move back in with me to be taken care of. I contacted the Letting game and a girl called Ffion who was apparently dealing with my daughter as I thought they might show a little empathy and maybe have some support system in place for this type of thing but, oh no that was not an option with These rogues. They seen this as the perfect opportunity to make a bit of money out of a vulnerable young girl. I was happy to pay a fixed amount and hand the keys back so my daughter could concentrate on getting better and to try to get her life back together.
They wanted £723 just to hand the keys back (which I was happy to pay) but was told that this was for them just to re advertise the flat. They made it clear that my daughter was liable for the property until the day someone new moves in. This was obviously not possible as my daughter was off work sick.
For the next six months I have been paying the rent on behalf of my daughter and she has been living was us and thank God is getting better. The letting Game knew they had me by the short and curlys as I was the guarantor.
Move out date was last week and we dropped the keys to the Letting Game personally so there would be no confusion. We thought this was the end of our “letting Game” nightmare but oh no, We have now had an email from the deposit holding company who tells us that this lovely company have emailed them and told them my daughter has extended her lease so her (my deposit) isnt to be released.
I honestly can not warn people enough about this company! They bend and break all of the laws of the rental industry and I know as I am a landlord myself. PLEASE IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON DOING ANY BUSINESS WITH THE LETTING GAME I WOULD HONESTLY THINK TWICE. ALL OF THESE 1 STAR REVIEWS ARE THERE FOR A REASON. I WISH I HAD READ THEM FIRST

I HAVE JUST TRIED TO CONTACT FFION AT THE LETTING GAME BUT SURPRISE, SURPRISE SHES UNABLE TO TALK TO ME. ILL KEEP THIS REVIEW UPDATED REGARDING OUR DEPOSIT!!
SO NEARLY 2 WEEKS NOW SINCE MY DAUGHTER MOVED OUT AND STILL DEPOSIT HAS NOT BEEN RETURNED. JUST TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY WE HAVE HAD AN EMAIL FROM THE LOVELY FfION WHO TELLS US THAT THEY HAVE NOTICED A COUPLE OF AREAS WHICH WERE SLIGHTLY DIRTY AND NEED A BIT OF A CLEAN SO THEY ARE HOLDING THE £1,000 DEPOSIT WHILE THEY FIND A CLEANING COMPANY TO GIVE THEM A PRICE. VERY STRANGE AS NOBODY HAS LIVED THERE FOR OVER 6 MONTHS. ALSO IF THIS IS TRUE THIS IS WEAR AND TEAR!
FROM READING THE OTHER REVIEWS ON HERE I HAVE NOTICED THAT THEY OFTEN USE THE OLD CLEANING TRICK IN ORDER TO HELP THEMSELVES TO YOUR DEPOSIT!
HONESTLY HOW THIS COWBOY COMPANY STAYS IN BUSINESS IS BEYOND ME! THEY SHOULD BE CLOSED DOWN. I SHALL BE REPORTING THEM TO THE THE PROPERTY OMBUDSMAN (TPO)
AS I FINAL KICK IN THE TEETH WE HAVE NOW HAD £100 DEDICATED FROM OUR DEPOSIT FOR “CLEANING” EVEN THOUGH NOBODY HAS LIVED THERE FOR HALF THE TENANCY! WE’RE GETTING CHARGED TO CLEAN ANY DIRT THAT WAS THERE WHEN MY DAUGHTER ORIGINALLY MOVED IN! HONESTLY YOU COULDNT WRITE IT! AT LEAST THEY ARE NOW OUT OF OUR HAIR BUT I WOULD’NT BANK ON IT.
LETTING GAME AND FiON YOU GET THE AWARD FOR BEING THE WORST COMPANY IVE EVER COME ACROSS SO CONGRATULATIONS FOR THAT 🏆

Zoe was polite and friendly who kept us in the loop with good communication, only issue was an incorrect price listed for the holding deposit which took a while to resolve.

The communication was fairly easy and the agent Zoe was very helpful, she was polite and understanding which helped minimise any stress as a first time renter . Only issue was a mix up with prices for holding deposit which took a while to resolve.

We had our viewing with Zoe. She was absolutely incredible, answered all my difficult questions and sold me on the property. 10/10