Lawsons & Daughters

I have used Lawsons and daughters in the past and decided to use them again to find a new flat. Richard was really helpful and knew everything with regards to the current market situation in the area, and with the right guidance we found our dream flat. Service was smooth, would recommend.

Brian at Lawsons and daughters really helped us when we went view the property we had saw on their website, he was very knowledgeable and made us feel comfortable in the surroundings. We decided to put a offer on the property and we were successful in getting it, I would recommend them, cause the service we received was great!

Awesome estate agents. I recently sold my house via Lawsons and Daughters and the experience was very postive. Commuication was good, staff polite and it was hassele free. Thank you!

Excellent service, easy to understand statements. Good at keeping landlords updated. Used for past 3 years. Would recommend!

Lawson’s Customer service is great, and I was happy with the way in which my property was managed. They regularly take rang and emailed me if any problems occurred with tenant’s e.g overdue rents, their service I received is high quality and professional. I would recommend,

I had tremendoustime selling my property with Lawson’s. I requested for a price valuation, and a sales rep came out to assess my property. He gave me a really good quote, I accepted and put my house on the market. Within 2 month my house was sold after 4 viewings, which is surprising considering the Housing market is a bit violate at the moment. No complaints, great service Lawson’s.

I have been a landlord for 11 years and have experienced good and awful letting agents. I have managed numerous tenants via Lawson and Daughters. I have always found that all of the staff are professional polite and very keen to get the job done. Trust is very important to me in business and their staff they employ I have trust and confidence in them. The administration support is first class. Above all the business manages to find tenants promptly and vets them carefully.

If you're reading this then avoid this estate agent at all costs. They are unscrupulous, devoid of all morals and crooks. I am a professional mature male paying good money for rented accomadation and my treatment by this agent was shocking to say the least. My problem started with my bed falling through the floor after one of their contractors repaired it. After a host of other problems I have been given notice to quit because I complained to the councils health and safety department. I repeat AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Comments criteria ask me not to rant, so I'll try to, but... This agency is quite frankly unbelievable - same story as the other bloggers:
- dragged their feet for 4 MONTHS on recognizing that we had paid our bills and refunding our deposits
- they tried to charge us for supposed damages when none had been made. The manager had the cheek of providing a one line hand written scanned page listing the total cost of item 'repaired' when I asked him for a detailed breakdown. They eventually withdrew their demands when I informed them that we actually had flat photos that showed that no damage had been made and we were going to take them to a small claims court
- fire alarms did not work when we moved in. It took over two weeks for them to send someone. The repairman didn't show up 3 times (I had to take time off work everytime) and the guy tried to leave when the machine decided to beep every 30 seconds for no reasons (apparently it was normal for the machine to do that...). In the end I fixed it myself, complained to the agent, who then tried to laugh it off saying that I clearly didn't need a repairman if I eventually did it myself.
- When we signed papers, the contract was incorrect (it stated that we had to pay for water when we did not). When I pointed that out, I was told to sign the contract nevertheless as we could have a gentleman's agreement on this. We had to threaten of walking before the contract was amended.
- we had the misfortune of not cancelling the direct debit rent payment when we moved out. It took 5 trips to the estate agent, about the same number of phone calls, an 'admin' charge of 50 pounds, and a letter copied to the press and the local MP Andy Slaughter before the money was released (albeit in 4 different cheques, despite request from all tenants that the money be paid in one as some of us had moved abroad).

Sleep on a friend's bedroom floor, on a park's bench - hell, stay in the office 24/7 - before you start dealing with t

The real problems came when we had actually moved out. Despite the policy being that deposits are to be returned in no longer than 14 days we are STILL waiting for our cheque.
It seems I would have more luck sat in a tent outside St Pauls trying to bring down modern day capitalism than to try and get these estate agents to actually do their job properly.

Here are there excuses;

You haven’t given us the council tax statement – We had
You haven’t given us your gas statements – we had.
We can’t read the Gas statement – are you retarded?

After month upon month of going from one person to the next asking why they were withholding our cheque they finally told us what the PROBLEM actually was.
£3 underpayment on our water bill was the reason given. Now considering this bill was given to them on July 24th 2011 I do not see what possible reason they could have as to why they didn’t inform us until now.

The lesson here is = Never send an estate agent to do a monkeys job, they will inevitably make a mess and smear bananas and faeces all over your life.

Whether you think I am a ranting lunatic or not is up to you but heed my advice, Lawson’s and daughters are the worst. You would have more luck squatting.

After careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that this review is the only possible outlet for my rage that doesn't result in me battering the folks at Lawson’s and Daughters with a blunt spoon.

In August 2010, myself and three other friends made the momentous mistake of choosing the Hammersmith branch of Lawson’s and Daughters to be our estate agents, a decision that has left us over 3,000 out of pocket for nearly 4 months.

To stop an all out rant I will highlight the key issues;

1.We all paid an extra £1600 as a second deposit (as they wouldn’t let us move in without a guarantor form – which would take a few days, we needed to move in asap) They said they would refund us as soon as they received our forms. A few months later and still no £1600 even though those letters were in our tenant file ( I checked myself).

(Incidentally we still don’t have the money even though it has nothing to do the our real deposit on the flat)

2.The itinerary was written to make sure they could claim the maximum amount on our departure. E.g. ‘Net curtains in good condition’ - actually they were grey verging on black, as soon as we moved in we bought our own, only putting them when we moved out.

3.Despite emails and phone calls the fire was never fixed even though they brought it to our attention BEFORE we moved in.
4.The flat in general was shoddy. Broken beds, fire, open vents that made bedrooms have icicles and questionable mould in the bathroom.
5.Unprofessional and patronising staff that constantly fob you off on to others.
6.Inability to CALL BACK.
7.Blatant lack of respect for people’s money.

However, I can deal with all that. Its the lack of over £3,000 that graits my goat.

This is the by far THE worst estate agent I've ever used. I've been a tenant for almost a year now and they've pulled every trick in the book to shirk responsibility. My fridge broke down in September 2010 and it wasn't fully fixed until late December 2010. They claimed that the reason it took so long to fix my fridge was because "I didn't 'hound' them enough." I called, went in person at least five times and e-mailed constantly. I also missed work three or four different times waiting around for 'repair men' they hired but never showed up.

I think it's meaningful to mention that I've paid 6 months rent in advance twice by my own choice. I am a quiet tenant that always pays the bills on time with no complaints.

The dishwasher is now broken and has caused a leak in an adjacent building. The estate agent is now trying to pin their terrible maintenance of the property on me. They also refuse to fix my dishwasher until I 'pay a maintenance fee.'

They constantly let people into the apartment without prior notice. I've even had people walk into my apartment while I was sitting and working at home (once I was almost indecent--horrifying)!

I'm unsure whether or not I'll get my deposit back, but like the previous commentator, I'm guessing I'll have to get my lawyer involved.

Avoid at any cost.

Name: Sara
Location: West London

I would not rent any property that is being managed by this agency. As a mature student at a South West London University I also came across many other students that had similar unsatisfactory experiences. They are extremely rude on the phone - if you can get through to them in the first place, they call around to the house without any prior arrangement, they gave us less than 50% of the deposit back - after chasing them every week for over a YEAR when the apartment was in the same condition as when I moved in. I even had to redecorate and sterilize the bedroom myself as nothing was done before I moved in as promised.

I believe they take advantage of having many properties in which students live as when they move out, quite often they go back to their parents house and forget to chase the deposits because they make it so complicated and you can never talk to the same person twice. It is always being dealt with by somebody else and then the next person requires you to explain it all over again. Their telephone manner is some of the most disagreeable I have ever come across.

Please take my experience as a warning to anyone out there who may be looking at renting a property off them. If you do have to through them, make sure the Inventory is done and that it covers every single little detail. But if you have a choice, I would look elsewhere.