Leeds student letting agents rebranding to ‘run away from bad reviews’
Student letting agencies are rebranding and changing company names to make it more difficult to find reviews from previous tenants, according to some students.
While the practice is not illegal, it has been suggested agents use this method to intentionally escape negative reputations and reviews.
Letting agency Let It Bee (managed by RNL) located on Headingley Lane, has recently received a wealth of one-star Google reviews suggesting they are agency Red Door Lets under a new name.
One review details: “Let It Bee is just a recently rebranded Red Door Lets, probably because RDL has a horrible reputation among its former tenants”, another stating: ‘they switched name to escape their toxic PR. No evidence that the business practices have changed as yet’.
Red Door Lets (managed by RNL) performed poorly on the service Rateyourlandlord.com, with a rating of 2.4/5 and was named ‘Worst Letting Agent of the Year’ in 2021 by union ACORN Leeds.
Let It Bee’s website states ‘We are a brand new letting agency but our team has over 25 years of experience renting properties to Leeds students and professionals’.
However, Let it Bee operates from the address previously used by Red Door Lets, with many of the same staff, making it difficult to escape the conclusion they are the same company.
One student who recently signed for a house with Let it Bee, for a tenancy beginning July 2024: ‘I would never have signed with them if I’d known who they really were’.
The Gryphon could not find Let it Bee as a registered company on the government directory. We contacted Let it Bee for comment but they replied saying they do not assist on “university projects”.
Issues around reputation also appear for the sister company of Red Door Lets, RNL property management.
Director of RNL, Rodric Aitkens, was previously the subject of media scrutiny in 2007 after being taken to court by hundreds of Leeds students and forced to return thousands of pounds in unpaid deposits under the company name Leeds Student Homes. Following these events Leeds Student Home quickly became YourStudentHome.com, showing the historic use of the practice.
Yet, the practice is not specific to Red Door Lets. In 2020 Lets Leeds rebranded to HOP (House of Property) and more recently Hancock and Bentley to Cobourg Living, among many others.
Some are more transparent about the change, as the government page for Cobourg Living states the name change in 2023.
Matthew Boulton, director of Get My Deposit Back, offers free advice to student tenants for issues with tenancies and unfair deposit deductions.
He encourages students to use a range of channels to locate feedback and experiences of previous tenants such as Unipol’s Rate Your Landlord and Marks Out of Tenancy, checking letting agent redress schemes, searching the name of the agency owner and using Facebook groups such as Leeds Student Group.
However, signing with a seemingly reputable and fair letting agency does not always eliminate the risk of issues arising.
Most importantly, Matthew emphasises students should ‘know their rights’ to counteract the ‘power imbalance’ in the relationship between students and letting agents and landlords:”If every student went into the rental market knowing their rights it would make a huge difference’.
He also encourages students to take as many pictures as possible at the beginning and end of their tenancy and reach out for help early if issues arise.
In one case Get My Deposit Back were able to help a 7-bed student house in Leeds get their total £2,000 deposit back after an agent tried to withhold the deposit, despite the house being in a ‘horrendous state’ when they moved in. By rejecting the deductions and being ready to escalate the issue to the deposit protection scheme the tenants were able to receive their entire deposit back.
For advice and information about renting and renters rights, both Unipol and Get My Deposit Back can provide support.
