Nottingham lettings agency apologises to NTU student over delayed deposit return

A Nottingham lettings agency has come under fire from several NTU students after delays in the return of their housing deposits.

Uni2 Rent customers claim the agency failed to return their deposits in the allocated time frame despite them leaving their flats on time.

NTU third year journalism student Eve Watson, 21, from Birmingham, struggled to get her deposit back from the company despite vacating her rented property in July.

She said: “Me and my other 5 flatmates paid a £250 deposit to move in in September 2018.”

“We should receive our deposit within 14 days of the last tenant moving out, which was mid July.”

“My flatmate, who is the lead tenant, has been chasing them since.”

Her attempts at contacting the company through email and over the phone did not result in the return of her deposit.

“I emailed them two weeks ago and received an unsatisfactory response saying they were in the process of sending out reports and I’d get it in the next couple of weeks,” Eve added.

But, after these two weeks passed, Eve and her flatmates had still not been refunded.

“My flatmate then rang and asked to speak to someone higher up but they wouldn’t give him any contact details.”

“I can understand a few days here and there dragging their feet but two months is ridiculous”.

With a new academic year just around the corner, Eve is more confused than anything.

“The next tenants’ contract has begun now and we still don’t have our money back.”

Once Eve took her complaint to social media, the lettings agency were quick to respond and refund her deposit.

We are sorry for any delay in your deposit return. Our priority is to ensure our students have the best possible service but you will receive your check out report tomorrow

— Uni2 Rent (@Uni2Rent) September 5, 2019

Eve finally got her money back on September 6, 7 weeks after she moved out.

Other students have had similar problems.

Zak Georgiou, 20, third year NTU Psychology student from West Sussex, had a tenancy with Uni2Rent that ended in the middle of August, but he also experienced a delay in the return of his money.

“I moved out on the 3rd of August, our tenancy ended officially on the 16th so we figured it wouldn’t be long after that we got our deposits back.” he told us.

“My housemate called them on the 22nd and they said we’d have emails by the 30th of August, we’ve had no contact with them since”.

Zak admits that this problem is worsened as he is having to pay a deposit for this year’s accommodation.

“I’ve had to pay £280 recently for two weeks rent upfront, so this deposit money is really important for us,” Zak added.

Despite leaving the rented property at the start of August, Zak is yet to receive his deposit back due to disagreements in his tenancy report which could result in further charges for him.

Uni2 Rent director Edward Henderson admitted there had been problems with a handful of customers and the firm were reviewing their procedures.

Mr Henderson told Platform: “Most of our tenants have a hassle free experience however, as is always the case in life, we accept that we don’t always get it right.”

“We take seriously any grievances and we are keen to ensure that these things don’t happen again,” he added.

“We are reviewing our maintenance turnaround procedures and looking into these individual landlords to ensure that they continue to meet the high standards that we expect for all of our students.”

By Faith Pring