I am a tenant currently renting at a property from Rochester Williams. Great services good Communication highly recommend 10/10.
There is a reason almost all the recent negative reviews are from tenants, and all the positive ones are from landlords. In my opinion, the director (who according to companies house took full ownership of the company in 2022) understands his place in the housing market; as a tool of wealthy investors, getting paid to enable them to leverage as much money as possible from the wallets of working class people and into the pockets of his REAL clients; the property owners who exploit and exacerbate the housing crisis in order to charge exorbitant rents. Once you realise this, the actions of Rochester Williams make significantly more sense, in my opinion. They aren't necessarily malicious, they just see tenants as an unfortunately necessary part of the system that allows them to benefit significantly from the hardships of working people, whilst enriching themselves and their real customers. Stay away, is my advice.
Renting a flat through Rochester Williams was quite possibly the worst 15 months of my life. Their signing and moving in process is completely antiquated and cumbersome and they refuse to let you sign any documents unless it’s in-person in their office, meaning you have to take time out of your day during the week to go there and complete processes which could easily be done digitally or scanned and emailed. They force you to have a guarantor for absolutely no good reason, further unnecessarily complicating things as the guarantor has to come with you to Leicester to sign the contracts. The director, Chris, had a blatant lack of respect for young people, treating myself and my girlfriend at the time (both 25) like children, and was noticeably more respectful towards my father who was the guarantor. Despite being promised the flat would have been professionally cleaned before moving in, it was very filthy and took around a full day of cleaning ourselves to make it acceptable. We didn’t complain, but took photos of the condition of the place which was far from perfect. Soon after moving in, Chris rang to say that the flat had been put up for sale and there would be occasional viewings, for which we were always very amenable, despite the disruption as I was working from home. Not too long after, we started to spot cockroaches, which were increasing in numbers at an alarming rate. I immediately informed Rochester Williams who then contacted the building management company, who took an absolute age to look into the matter. The cockroach infestation clearly wasn’t our fault and the management company discovered they had originated and were coming from an unoccupied flat from down the hall. Aside from the unpleasantness of living with cockroaches it is also a health hazard, yet Rochester Williams made absolutely no effort to offer any solution or assistance, claiming it was the building management company’s responsibility, who took over a month to sort any form of pest control, which was ineffective for the coming months anyway. The lack of care of understanding in communications with Rochester Williams was shocking and what’s worse they offered absolutely no compensation for the many months this dragged on for, using a loophole in the contract to refute responsibility. Not only was the situation distressing, but the cockroach treatment was incredibly disruptive and potentially harmful to tenants’ health. As I mentioned, the property was being sold and during this whole cockroach saga, viewings were still going ahead. As a fair and reasonable tenant, not wanting to make their job harder, I never mentioned anything about the ongoing issue to the potential buyers who asked me about the property and whether I was happy there. It’s a shame this level of courtesy was not reciprocated on their part. I even told them I was going on holiday and that if they needed to do viewings they could do so, just to let me know via email if this was happening. They didn’t let me know, however, and had gone right ahead in my absence without telling me. One time, they even showed up for a viewing that I had not been told about due to their mistake and I still was very amenable and allowed it to go ahead, despite the inconvenience and disruption to my work. In addition to the cockroach issue, I had 3 full days where the property was left with absolutely NO running water whatsoever, which meant no flushing toilet or shower. Not RW's fault, however, they were incredibly apathetic about the situation, insisting that the property was in 'habitable' condition. This was to avoid refunding me rent for those days where the property was uninhabitable. After much stress and research, I convinced them to change their stance on this. They got their revenge by trying to claim over half my deposit with incredibly unreasonable deductions and got very aggressive and rude when I challenged them, even trying to bully me into accepting them by threatening to block the entire deposit unless I accepted. Horrible experience, please avoid at all costs if renting!
We rented from Rochester Williams about a year ago. Unlike other agencies we found them very responsive, they always dealt promptly with any issues we ever had and upon leaving we were given our full deposit without any sneaky charges as we often see with other agencies. I would certainly recommend them.
Chris managed our property while we were abroad for 3 years. He managed the place very well, ensuring only the right tenants were selected to occupy the property in our absence. The great thing about Chris is he never left us waiting to respond to our email/call, always responded right away and dealt with any problems promptly. Highly recommend Rochester Williams!
Went to view an apartment last week and although we didn’t end up taking the property, the service was great and the gentleman that showed us around was amazing.
I am an investor. I have used Rochester Williams for several years and Rochester Williams have helped my business thrive. I have used many lettings agents over the years but Rochester Williams supersedes all the other agents that I have used. All staff are very courteous, professional and very friendly. I would recommend Rochester Williams to any investor. Chris is very easy to do business with and is very forward thinking when it comes to business. Chris always goes the extra mile. To conclude very efficient, professional and dedicated to my business as well.
Fantastic service, I highly recommend. Rented an apartment in Leicester from 2019 to 2020. Chris, from Rochester Williams was extremely professional and managed some tight deadlines due to my situation when I moved in. He also made the moving out process very accommodating for me which is a big plus, especially during the Covid-19 situation. My stay was great and whenever I had a problem I knew it would be taken care of quickly by Rochester Williams. Great company, I absolutely recommend over bigger firms. They're here for both the tenants as well as the landlords, and they really deserve to grow, so go and check them out if you need a place in Leicester.
Rochester Williams is located at 441 Welford Rd, Leicester LE2 6BL, UK
You can contact Rochester Williams at +44 116 298 5516
You can find directions to Rochester Williams by following this map link