Cedar Estates

I have used Cedar Estates for the Letting and Management of my properties and Trevor Davis is very helpful and thorough with ensuring everything is complied with my tenancies.

I needed to find a flat very quickly and did not want to risk visiting another person's space due to Covid. Trevor found a way for me to view the flat and to agree my offer within these parameters, and ensured everything was sorted before I was due to be away for a significant period of time. He made what could have been an extremely stressful time really smooth and for that I am extremely grateful!

Just wanted to say a big thank you to the team at Cedar Estates. They have found me great tennants and managed the whole process very professionally. They even went the extra mile when a tenant lost a key on moving day and got it sorted late on a Friday evening. I have found them to be responsive to my tennants and would highly recommend using them.

We have used Cedar Estates in West Hampstead three times in the last few years. The reason we keep coming back is that we met Trevor Davis at our first rental and he was superb. Since then our son has moved twice and each time Trevor has come up trumps. Nothing is to much trouble for this guy, he manages the seemingly impossible at times. Cheerful and helpful, he always returns calls or answers messages promptly. What ever problems crop up, Trevor gets them sorted out immediately. We will keep going back to Cedar Estates because the service is just so good. Estate agent of the year, every year!

Jade was lovely to talk to on the phone. She was kind, helpful, efficient and solved my maintenance issue immediately.

Alex has been a good fellow and very helpful in arranging/managing things for a tenant. You can have faith with Cedar estates, they will get you good properties within your budget.

Trevor has been very friendly, professional, open and honest from the moment he showed me a flat. He answered all my questions with immediately with good knowledge. I have been given good customer service through the preocess so far and everyone in the office seems very frienddly and caring. I would definitively recommend this estate agent. Best, Anne.

OMG, run if you still can. This is the worse service I've ever had in my life. The agents are rude and absolutely careless. I've been living in my flat for a year now. The first day I moved into my flat, there was dust everywhere, due to refurbishment works done before my arrival, dust on the floor you could see your footprints. Noticed also a bunch of things the previous tenant left in the flat, some brushes and tools that the workers left too and the decoration of the walls that weren't ready but for that I was advised in advance. So I contact the agency to tell them that the flat is not clean, because for me dust from work where you can see foot marks on the floor is not a clean flat. It is not my problem if they couldn't sort the work on the flat earlier or that dust particle stays in the air, the flat has to be clean when moving in, it's like going to a hotel room, they are not going to tell you sorry we did not have time to change the sheets so diy. Moving in is tiring, but moving in and cleaning the mess other people left before settling in is annoying. And then as you can see below, the previous tenants things left in the flat, they are telling me to go to a charity shops and get rid of it? Are they serious? I am moving into my new flat, do your job! For the walls it took 2 month for the decoration. And what does the inventory clerk do, normally check the flat, my windows were celled didn't notice that?!Dear X. Thank you for your email. I am not sure if my colleague explained to you what works will be carried out before you can move into the property. The property had to a have damp course carried out, and that involves taking the plaster off to a high of at least 1m, inject the walls and re-plaster. The plaster needs to dry out, and we can only paint this with 1 coat of paint (water proof emulsion) after 8 weeks. The works have been finished on Thursday evening, and the works involved load of dust, and rubble to be taken out. I have inspected the works- before the cleaners have attended on Friday around lunch time. However- even them cleaning everything over and over- due to the dust that is in the air- it will need a at least 1 weeks to settle properly. I have checked with the inventory clerk who has advised that the flat was clean. With regards to the items left behind- this all belongs to the previous tenant, non of this belongs to the Landlord, therefore should you not needs this- please feel free to dispose it, or give this to a charity shop. With regards to the window in the living room I shall arrange for a contractor to attend tomorrow to ensure you can open this and vent the flat accordingly. They will collect keys from our office in case you cannot be present. Any further enquires please do not hesitate to contact me. Regards.That is just a small starter. Where is the gas meter? Ok I got the info but the box is closed, do you have a key for it? Really?Answer : Dear X The white box can be open with a plastic key (gas key), any convenient store, or DIY store would have that, it would cost approximately £ 0.50.Another one :Hello. , I hope you are well. My boiler does not work. I got home tonight switched it on and above the flame icon the button was flickering red. I called Vaillant to see if there was anything I could do they said I had you check with the Landlord/Agency, and asked me if it smelled like gaz, thank god it doesn't. Could you send someone to have a look at it, as I have no heater and no hot water? Thanks in advance for your help. Best Regards.Answer : The boiler is on the bulk agreement with British Gas. When you have moved in- you were given a welcome pack, with a telephone number for BG, please call them and they will attend free of charge to the boiler to sort out the problem. So I did contact them but the next step I had to be home for them to fix the boiler, as the agency does not get involved at just opening the door the let the man in. So had to take a day of for that! There are plenty of agencies that do it for you send the person in and out, nop this one is all about DIY, I don't know what their job is actually as most of the time you are the one having to do things. Another one, and I think one of my favorite ones : Hello. , I hope you are good. I am contacting you concerning the borders between the wall and the floor of my flat. I cannot live like this anymore! This is a real problem! Every bug comes out, find them in my bed, get bitten, in my wardrobe, not healthy for me and my pet. I am not chasing after them (done already), I hate insects! And really it shouldn't be like this, feels like living in Africa! Something needs to be done urgently, either it is cleaned professionally to get rid off all the bugs and you ceil all the wholes and make real outskirts for this flat or you move me to another flat, with the same size, same charm, same price, doesn't need to have a patio and take care of the move because this one is faulty and not getting sick because of a badly maintained flats, just because its cheaper not to fix it. There are so many things to be done! I am not doing any of those things, I am here to pay rent, keep the flat in good condition and keep it clean, everything out of that sphere, someone will have to pay me for it, and I do not have the time for that. If the flat is against health and safety, it is a problem. I love living here, love the flat, but cannot do this anymore, I need to sleep not dreading that something might bite me or crawl on to me, or just multiply, it's gross! I am not waiting for you do to the 6 month visit, I can't stand this anymore. The storage in the patio is dodgy and was always dodgy, should be fixed too, my wall is bursting next to the bed and in the bathroom again. There is no rotten spots as I am being very careful with the condensation problem. In the flat there are some places where the air extraction is not stuck to the wall a bit detached, helping them to come in. Thank you in advance for your help. Kind Regards - ------------------ Dear X, What sort of bugs are you referring to? - ------------------Hi. , I dont know, what they are. They are crawling little bugs that move fast, and hide in the holes. And spiders, found one in my bed yesterday morning. I have bites on my legs of whatever bug was hungry. Gross. I am constantly cleaning the flat and tiding up (because I am like that). But there is no secret there are gaps everywhere in the flat, remember even had a mouse! Worse part you switch the light on they disappear, great! - ----------- Hi X. I would pop in there tomorrow to check the state of the skirting’s as this was just replaced. Please understand that if you have bed bugs- that is different to anything I can do with, if you are being bitten by something that you do not know what it might be- I suggest to see a doctor- just to confirm it is bed bugs, or else. You might have some sort of allergy as well, so it is good to clarify this. Re : spider I also live in a garden property and regularly have spiders in my property, but there is not much you can do with them, you can kill them, or take it outside. It is summer and more likely that they come in. - ----------------Hello X, Ok, that is nice thank you. If they were I do not see where, there are gaps everywhere in the flat. So maybe this must be a language issue and we are actually not speaking about the same thing, it is between the wall and the floor, a protective border ceiling both of them with no gaps, there must be a reason for it. Ok. These are not bed bugs, I wash my bed and do not eat in bed. Bed bugs will show up especially if you eat in bed as there is food there for them, I even vaccum clean my bed, so it is not bed bugs for sure. And I really think that your answer is a bit rich implying that I have hygiene issues, tho I know you are trying to help me. I really do think that health and safety and trying to save money are the main problem. Concerning the spiders I know that it is a bit of garden flat and I will have a few, but now with everything at the same time its a bit much, spiders, bugs (that I have been complaining for a while now) mice, it is almost a farm. Thanks for you help, I really appreciate it. - ---------------- Dear X, Let me first clarify something- that in no way of form I have even implied that you have any hygiene issues. Bed bugs travel on suitcase, you can even have them from peoples cloths, or even visiting someone’s house who has them, etc- again I am not implying that you did that! With bed bugs you have small red dots on your legs, or arm most of the time- not sure what kind if bites you have experienced. But again- you can have some sort of bite marks also from a new cloths conditioner, or even washing powder, shower gel, but this would more likely to be a larger pink-red staining on the skin. Mice you can have in any property and as soon as you reported it- was not attended to, I understand it is frustrating but I will pop in tomorrow and will come back to you- what we can do and hopefully we can sort it out. Regards - ------------- Hi X, Ok, thanks for the clarification. Could of been mosquitos too. Anyway I haven't seen anything and keep checking my bed before I go to sleep, paranoid with the last spider acting like a boyfriend on the other of the bed. Thanks a lot Victoria for your help and understanding, it is a bit frustrating even more that the flat is lovely and I feel like home there. Kind Regards - --------------- Dear X, I have popped into the flat and I cannot see any bugs or anything around the bed or the floors. As I stated- if you have occasional spiders in the flat- that is normal, we all do. With regards to seeing a mouse- have you seen any more since the sonic repellent have been installed?May I just say something- again not to offend you in any way, but it is my job to highlight issues on behalf of the Landlord – there is a strong odour from the cat litter box, especially in the bathroom and hallway in flat, not sure how often this needs to be emptied as I do not have a cat, but please ensure that this is changed regularly. What I have noticed- that the skirting has not been placed back around the radiator- that I will arrange for to be done on Friday. Regards - ------------ Hi X, THanks you for your email. As mentioned in a previous email, when I switch the light on they disappear, it is not every night but they hide in the holes. In the wardrobe, the borders are not done, they didn't even bother closing the floor just added a piece of wood like if the border was done, I can see the concrete! Bugs hide in there, I am tired of fighting for something that should be normal basic of a flat. Not in Africa or Brazil, where they have excuses of not finishing a flat, money or no products for it. The skirting and not done in most of the flat. It's like telling me that the flat was immaculate when I moved in, and it was dusty everywhere because of the work done, not my problem you pay for a hotel room, they wont tell you by the way we changed the light bulb but don't mind the foot steps on the bed it is clean. I did not see any mice since, which sounds good. Spiders well I know some will visit. The cat litter is changed everyday. I know it is not the most appealing smell, but unfortunately I work, and therefore am unable to be there the whole day to change it every time she goes to relieve herself. I would also like to have the name and contact details of your superior, I don't appreciate, as a client of yours, having to fight like this every time I need something done. I don't really care for the tone of your last last email, and would like to address this issue before you cause me any further stress. Thanks for your help. Best Regards - ------------ Dear. , Thank you for your email. Please note I am the property manager and all the repairs are dealt and authorized by myself as soon as the authorization has been received from the Landlord. I am slightly surprised you stated that you have to fight for every repair as I believe every time you have contacted me- I have dealt with this accordingly and I have all the emails to back this up. I am not here to cause any stress to any of our tenants, that is not my intention in any way, and I believe I have been polite to you in all my emails, therefore not sure what you implying to. The only missing skirting I have seen is the wall along the radiator. There is no way you can seal the skirting to the flooring so tight that you would not have a smallest gap there, however if you advised there is a gap inside the fitted wardrobe- I will request them to also have a look there as well. Maybe the best thing would be to do everything- when you are there, so you can also point out that you believe they are coming from. Please advise what day you can be dome and the time, they work between Monday to Friday 08.30-17.00pm, and I am happy to re-book this from this Friday for a day that suits you. I have copied my colleague Alex Croft into this email- should you wish to speak to him about this, please feel free. Regards - -------- Hello X, My apologies for my late reply. I had a bit of a frantic week in the office, meetings, did not leave me a minute. Concerning my previous email, I believe that many times we have to discuss issues and it goes on and on. There was a few exceptions tho where I thought you were really good, and I did not forget to mention it in my emails to you. I will be the first person to congratulate good service, because I think it is important to be recognized for hard work, but when a topic goes in to something huge, it's annoying, like the bed bug story etc. I mean I have been complaining about it, not to annoy you guys, just because I needed some help and the fact that in a way you do not believe me is a bit annoying, shouldn't involve a whole morning of email exchanges. I confirm that I would like someone to check those, would I have to be there? Thank you Victoria for your help. Best Regards - ---------- Dear. , Thank you for your email. Please understand it is not the case of not believing you – as I do not have a reason not to trust you, but when you could not really advise what it is- that is when I ask further questions, and from bed bugs- to maybe it is mosquito bites- please also see my point here that I cannot just send a contractor who would charge for each visit £ 45.00+vat = £54.00 call out charge unless I can specify what the problems is. The Landlord has no issues sending a contractor where the problem has arisen and needs to be fixed. However- to move on from this subject, and hopefully resolve this for good - you do not have to be there- I can arrange for them to pop in on Monday now and to fill all the holes in the walk in wardrobe, and to place the new skirting along the radiator wall in the living/bedroom section. If there are any other holes that you might think it needs filling- let me know and I shall add this to the list. Thank you Regards - -------- Hello X, I Hope You are well. I wanted to thank you for the job done in the flat, late answer sorry about that soo busy. Looks great and since, did not get any bugs from this side, which make me really happy and also in the wardrobe what a huge difference! I still have a few visitors, less for sure! I discovered that they come out of the border of the wall and tiles of the kitchen and used to come out in the wardrobe (now they cant anymore as the wardrobe is perfect). Is there a way to close those ones too? Thanks a lot for your help, that was amazing, efficient! Kind Regards - -------- HI X I will arrange for the contractor to pop in tomorrow, (apologies- I was away until today, that is why the late response) Thank you Regards - -------- As you can see this is a full time job, next to your 8-10 hours a day one. This is the amount of emails to get things done, simple ones. Basic ones. More? Sure!In December, someone broke into my flat, scary experience, I will explain this one, because there will be to many emails to cover this. I was scared, came back from work on day my someone broke my door in, stole my computer, and my backup, lucky me! So I contact the police etc and the agency. I was told to just secure the door for the night. Then I asked the agent to find me another flat same price etc etc. As I have a flat with 2 entrance door patio and front door. The answer was : no flats available, and it would be in the landlords interests if you could stay! Really? How about my interest? Then the conversation was turned around into : if you want to leave the flat the notice is. I never said I wanted to leave it I said I want you to find me another one in exchange. I later discovered that the front door does not shut properly, so someone could easily come in, so I asked for compensation, and nothing happened as they never see what the problem is. So here we are in April, various emails went out for this door situation and nothing was done so far, 5 months! Where everybody could come in the building. This agent said I would put a note inside the building so that people would close it, instead of fixing the spring of the door. And for desert :The latest madness. There has been building works next to my building so I sent an email to ask how long is this going for, the agent wasn't aware of it (I am not surprised). So for 5 month no sleep on saturdays and sundays, fair enough maybe he is not in charge of the building but whatever happens he should know and inform the tenants around. The other day, I come back home and notice that my entrance has scaffoldings everywhere okkkkkkkk. Then decide to go and relax on my patio area, and notice bars erm ok. So someone came down the ladder of my patio without asking for permission, set these scaffoldings bars and leave their tools in my patio. Nothing from the agency saying that there would be work going on or just a head up in advance. When I look up, boards and scaffoldings all over my head. So I contact the agency, and was told that they did not know about it, and that it would last until next monday. I was and am really upset, someone came into my personal space without advising me, so meaning now if they want to get into the flat or whatever its fine. When did things like that become normal? Then there excuse is that you can still go on your patio it is safe, yeah with boards over your head and little stones falling down sure, why don't you sit there and have a tea?The point is invasion of private space without announcing this is appalling and a total lack of respect. I asked for compensation for there lack of professionalism, their answer : the landlord is using his budget on the building. Enjoy!Diana, 30th April 2014Yes I renewed because, as I was told in december 2013, there was no other flat available and not the best time to get one that will free up because, it was close to Christmas and since no propositions… So what are my options? Move out and have no flat and take the first one I see? So that is the approach if you are not happy with our services, instead of improving, you can just leave? Interesting way of seeing things. I like my flat what I don't like is the bad service and careless manners the agency uses. What is written is not an invention, it is emails sent, why I am posting this? Because all the blurb I have to go through to get something of basic nature done. 5 months for a door really? 5 months and 24 hours for me are not the same. We live in a democracy, I have the right to express the conditions in which i am living, maybe some other people are experiencing the same and don't know what to do, surely they are with the mass of bad reviews on this site, so you can call me and discuss as much as you want it won't change anything if the service is bad it won't change my mind. If I have to post this on 200 websites for things to change, well I will do, maybe I will be wasting my time, but I will surely be letting the frustration out and maybe helping other people.I asked about the works on the building next door, fair enough they do not manage the building, but maybe should know what is going around. Anyhow the main concern, which is clearly pushed away from the point (as usual) is : someone came down the ladder of my patio without asking for permission, set these scaffoldings bars and leave their tools in my patio. Nothing from the agency saying that there would be work going on or just a head up in advance. When I look up, boards and scaffoldings all over my head. So I contact the agency, and was told that they did not know about it, and that it would last until next monday. I was and am really upset, someone came into my personal space without advising me, so meaning now if they want to get into the flat or whatever its fine. When did things like that become normal? Then there excuse is that you can still go on your patio it is safe, yeah with boards over your head and little stones falling down sure, why don't you sit there and have a tea?The point is invasion of private space without announcing this is appalling and a total lack of respect. I asked for compensation for there lack of professionalism, their answer : the landlord is using his budget on the building. ---------------Clearly to internal communication as the person who came back from maternity leave did not even know what I was talking about.Ah Yes there are always more urgent matter.Answer :Dear X, Thank you for your email. I have just returned from the maternity leave and taken back the management. I shall arrange for the door to be looked at and fixed if the door is not secured enough. With regards to the compensation – I am afraid the Landlord will not be providing any compensation as urgent repairs are needed to be carried out to the building, and this is a urgent matter.--------------Hello following my misadventure from my previous post, things did get a tiny bit better, but not long for the true colors to resurface…So post my review I got a phone call from the Agency, from Darren person responsible of Cedars Estates. He wasn’t really happy and at first as a first introduction it was kind of muscular, he threatened me with lawyers saying that what I wrote in my posts weren’t true, I told him those were our email exchanges I was just copying and pasting our emails so I don’t know where lies could come from.Then he insisted on the fact that I signed for another year, so I had to explain again that in December when they first broke into my flat I asked the agency for help to help me find another flat, they did not, to be fair it was December and not the easiest time, but also defending the landlord because they needed someone in the flat so I had to think about the landlords interest according to them… Anyhow how to find a flat from December to March knowing it is Christmas and that in January I had a business trip abroad? That was my answer to him so as anybody with common sense you need a place and don’t want to rely on other people, the sensible thing to do is to have a home so sign for another year.Anyhow, then he calmed down and said we could find an arrangement and if we could meet, we did he showed up with Victoria and a contractor and said what needs fixing, well I told him all the things that needed fixing, plus changing and fixing the front door.The contractor said it was because envelopes got stuck in the door and that is the reason the door wasn’t closing properly, I was a bit skeptical about his explanation but ok…Victoria was fantastic, she made sure to keep me updated on the status of the work in the flat, thumbs up!So what a wonderful world, everybody is happy, finally some peace and finally things getting sorted in the flat… That week workers had to come and fix the ceiling of my bathroom. After work when I came back to my flat I was so happy, as the ceiling of the bathroom was fixed, it was a condensation problem making the ceiling and walls crack as there is not extraction fan in the bathroom (not really legal, a friend of mine spotted that out) but did not complain about it as I was really happy with the work done. Until I find out a product missing in my bathroom.I contacted Victoria to ask her about it, she said the workers dropped it and threw it away. Ok. In my opinion when something like that happens you leave a note or the agency sends you an email, otherwise looks kind of suspicious, looks like stealing, but I would never imply something like that, that is the reason I asked Victoria.Good thing was that I got apologies and compensated for that, so that was really good from Victoria again.The same week the workers had to show up again to finish the work done in the bathroom.This time, on a Friday, I get home late, I put the key in the door and the key does a 360 in the lock, the cylinder of the door was broken, had to call a locksmith. It was around 5am which does not make it easy + it was raining… I tried calling the Cedars Estates emergency number and left a message, yeah nobody answered… So locksmith it is. Finally in the flat after some bad drilling, to find that I was broken in a second time.I directly contact Victoria and give her the price of the Locksmiths work £250! Yes that is the price you will pay for the time of day… This is where things start to get interesting….I did not imply the workers did that but they were the last ones in the flat, she told me wasn’t possible as they work with that company in years and they are genuine. Then she said you did not double lock your flat, fair enough, but I did lock the flat anyway, if you pull your door your flat is locked otherwise why break a lock to come in? They would of broken the door again… Anyhow you can imagine the exchanges of emails going back and forth for a lock…. Ridiculous, as they wanted me to pay the £250… Why should I pay the £250? Because I am the tenant and responsible for the flat? Yes fair enough but the front door of the building is still not secure, the locksmith said that the front door is not secure and that my door wasn’t too… So no way I was paying for irresponsible and putting people in danger behavior.Just a reminder it is the second time in 6 month, and psychologically speaking it is horrible, but who cares right?This went back and forth, I was not seeing the end of it, until Victoria says :-------------------------------------------------------Dear Diana,Thank you for your emails. Although I understand your points the Landlord does not accept the fact or to give you the right to a “blank cheque”.The Landlord is only prepared to contribute 50 % of the costs as they believe this is the maximum amount that should have been paid for this emergency call out. However- in order to settle this issue my director has informed me that he will pay the other 50% in order to show a good will gesture on our side, which means the full bill will be paid today.Please let me have your bank details where you would like the funds to be paid.The Landlord is fully aware that you will be looking for alternative accommodation and have already informed me that they believe the relationship between yourself and the Landlord has broken down and should you not vacate before the six months break clause they wish us to serve notice for the 22nd of September 2014 which we will do in due course. We feel it is only fair to give you as much notice as possible to find a alternative accommodation as the Landlord will not continue the tenancy beyond the 6 months. Should you wish to vacate earlier please let myself or Darren know as this date would need to be agreed. I do hope that you can differentiate between the Landlord and the Agent as we are only the “middle man” between Landlord and Tenant. Regards Viktoria HerknerCharming! So if I get this straight, I help the agency to do their job, help the landlord figure out that some things in the building and flat is really basic safety faulty and I get an email like that? Seriously? Exactly, when you have someone in the middle of 2 people this is unfortunately how things can end.Anyhow to continue because you can imagine this doesn’t stop, next stage is when to vacate and how… and you can also pay attention to the date here and see how magic operates during emails….I will just past the communications I had with them… :Ok here goes :From: Diana Sent: 21 May 2014 15:15To: Victoria HerknerSubject: FW: Refund! Dear Victoria,Thank you for your email. There is not much to accept, it is common sense, I never asked for a blank cheque just my money back for a lock that was initially securing my door before someone decided to break it. The time of the day making everything more expensive and a faulty front door, if he doesn't accept this, well what can I say, we do not have the same perception on safety. It's like trying to carry water in a plastic bag with holes, see the fact? Ok, thank you. Yes, I started looking as previously discussed. I never had any direct contact with the Landlord to break any relationship, I do understand the difference between the middle man and the landlord and how it can affect a relationship between both parties or make it good. 22nd of September 2014 sounds fair, and if I need to leave earlier what will be the conditions? Thank you Diana--------------------Dear DianaShould you wish to vacate earlier- you would need to give the Landlord reasonable notice. Let me know if you have found somewhere- and we can take it further from there. Regards Viktoria Herkner------------Dear Victoria, Thank you for your email. Could you please define "reasonable notice" ? In your previous email you wrote : We feel it is only fair to give you as much notice as possible to find a alternative accommodation as the Landlord will not continue the tenancy beyond the 6 months. Should you wish to vacate earlier please let myself or Darren know as this date would need to be agreed. So I agreed with those conditions and now you are changing them?If i was to find another flat I need to know how quickly i could move in. Please be clear of the conditions before anything happens. Thank you Diana----------Victoria :The Landlord would need reasonable notice- you cannot just give a weeks notice, as I do not believe that is fair for the Landlord to also find a tenant. As per the email - the Landlord has given you plenty of time to find something, but it is only fair also to give him a reasonable notice in order to be released. Regards Viktoria Herkner-----------------Dear Victoria, Thanks for your email. I believe you have still not said what you or the landlord consider "reasonable notice"? I am tired of playing games. We are finally all getting what we want slowly, but for that things need to be clear and it is not. First you are being reasonable and flexible in your first email, now you are being unreasonable and 'shifty'. Please define what you are expecting so that we can finally agree on something. I am still going to write a review about the work done, as discussed with Darren last time if the work was satisfying, which was, but also an overview of the situation, I will be fair and honest. Thank you Regards Diana----------Dear Anne, Dear Alex,I hope you are well. As Victoria is out of the office, could you please transfer this email to Darren? Thank you Best Regards Diana ----------Hi Diana,I have sent this on to Darren. Reasonable notice would be enough time for us to re-let the property. Ideally, how much notice would you like to give? Regards, Alex Croft--------------Hi Alex, I hope you are ok, thank you for your email. I gave it some thought, and I am not the one wanting to terminate the tenancy, according to the middle man, the landlords relationship has been broken and does not want to go further with this contract.I agreed with the latest date to get out of the flat so I guess you will agree with a more than flexible departure date depending on my visits and search until I find the right flat. When the right flat is found, I will announce the departure date, meaning it could go from 1 week to a month. You are terminating a contract based on "relationship broken with the landlord" in the meantime I have been a model tenant, paying the bills and making you aware of problems in the building, so there is no real reason for a breach of contract here, just that the middle man or landlord does not like the color of my hair? I hope you understand and will agree with my conditions. Regards Diana------------ Dear Victoria, Thank you for your email. I understood from the first email you wrote, and agreed, that the latest date to vacate the flat was the 22 September. It is kind of you to tell me in advance and i do not have a problem with that. I will leave when I find a flat, not a question of if i don't want to leave earlier, just that i have not found a home yet. I think something got lost in translation here, I was referring to the notice you are asking for, and still after the 4th email you appear to be being a little evasive which is a problem. I asked in my previous email if you agreed with my conditions that were : as there is no real/valid reason for the breach of contract just that "the landlord" doesn't agree with someone looking out for their own interests (because it is a legal right, by the way ), the notice should be at least flexible, that is how you left it in your first email, and now it seems not clear. I proposed in my previous email that if i find something that I can leave by giving you from 1week to a months notice, no clear answer from you once more, this is all I am asking for. Could you please be kind enough to confirm so i can start looking in earnest for a new home? Thank you Regards Diana------------Ping pong game? ------------ Over to you!? Or a bag or potatoes? Oh speaking about a tenant, Ohhhhh!From: Victoria Herkner Sent: 30 May 2014 17:09To: Alex CroftSubject: FW: B 313 Finchley roadOver to you Regards - Viktoria Herkner------------------Hi Diana, Hope all is well with you. The landlord is happy for you to give 1 month written notice (email is ok) to end the agreement. Regards, Alex Croft------------Flexibility------- Thanks Alex Hi Alex,Thank you for your email. I am good thank you how about you?Good thank you Best Regard Diana-------------------Hi Diana,All is well thanks.Let me know if you find a new property and wish to give your 1 month notice. Thanks very much. Regards, Alex Croft----------------- Opsy ----Flexibility gone? And abracadabra : the date has changed------ Waaaaahhhh!Dear Diana,I hope you are well.The landlord has instructed us to serve 2 months notice on you to therefore end the tenancy on 24/09/2014. Notice was hand delivered today and I’ve booked a check out to take place on 24/09/2014. We will need to secure a new tenants for the Landlord and we will inform you as to when viewings will take place.Have any of the locks to the flat door been changed ? Regards,Alex Croft.--------------------------Dear Alex,I am good, thank you how about yourself?I understand. My question is, if I get a flat before that what happens? Meaning, for example that on the 10th of August I find something and cannot give you a month notice. What would happen? I am assuming this will be fine because trying to find a flat for occupation exactly on the 24th September would be problematic in the extreme.Ok. After the breaking in and calling the locksmith, I sent you guys an email saying that the locks had to be changed to secured ones according to the locksmith. Never got an answer back.Regards Diana---------------- ZZZzzzzzzz-------------Hi Diana,Thanks for coming back to me.All is ok thank you! If you find a flat sooner than 24 September, the Landlord would only be prepared to release you from the agreement subject to us having new tenant to take occupation of the property – subject to contract and references with the new potential tenant(s). The notice that the landlord has given will supersede any notice that you were able to give.Please could you supply us with a replacement key. We’ll need this to facilitate viewings. Regards, Alex Croft--------------- Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz----------------zzzzzzzzzzz-----Ohhhh -----zzzzzzDear Alex,Thank you very much for your email. Something is wrong here.If I read back our old communications, this was never what we discussed. I asked several times to Victoria to be clear on what it meant in past conversations and she passed the case over to you. We were clear, now it seems to be shifty, and honestly I don’t have the time or the energy for mind games, done enough with your company. I am posting this tonight online with the rest that happened since… Seems the only way we can find an agreement. I am not threating you, I am just advising you as last time Darren wanted me to advise before posting. Thank you Best Regards Diana--------------------------Hi Diana,You are welcome to post anything online, the notice is from the landlord and has nothing to with Cedar Estates, we aren’t trying to play games. The Landlord has given notice as per the Tennacy Agreement, they haven’t done anything wrong.Please let me know when I can collect a key for the new lock. Thanks. Regards, Alex Croft-----------------------------Thank you Alex for your answer.I wasn’t asking for permission, I know I am welcome to do it. It has to do with Cedar Estates in that when the communication between the Landlord (the middle man) and the tenant is not clear and facts get altered, I can't help but feel I should be in contact directly with the Landlord and not having to speak to you. This in my opinion would be way easier, honest and less ambiguous. It is the Landlords decision, but as it is a contract both parties need to be in agreement, you seem unable to translate his decisions and wishes which says a lot. I would like to point out that I am not happy with this, so we need to find some common ground in order to resolve the situation. An agreement is an agreement, if it is a verbal or written one it is considered as a contract, neither you nor the Landlord can change the conditions without speaking to me beforehand. I do not agree with your last email as we came to a written agreement about the situation, as per our communications by email. Regards Diana-------------------Updated… If you read this, If you did not die of boredom, this is what you will be going through when something goes wrong! Don’t get me wrong I am sure they are all nice people, but work wise, it’s a second job as mentioned in my previous post.Diana.Moreexpand_more

Renting with Cedar Estates was possibly the worst decision we have ever made. Our experiences with renting in the past have always been pleasant but only because we went through private landlords; we thought we'd give these agents a chance, what's the worst that could happen? Ahem, where do I start? ! Firstly, this is NOT a 'malicious review' written by another agent. I see that Cedar are commenting on the bad reviews suggesting this just to cover themselves. It's NOT fake and is written by a tenant who was renting with them for one miserable year. As you can probably tell, there are several FAKE reviews for this agency. It's so obvious by the way the estate agents names are dropped and come on, nobody sits there for 5 paragraphs complementing the agent and basically kissing up. Ugh! Sickening. When we first went to view the flat, I was a bit put off by the fact that the communal front door was in an alleyway but as it was on a main road with lots of light and people, I somewhat felt at ease. On entering, I was a bit taken aback by the smell of must and damp and that the communal hallway looked as though it hadn't been decorated since the 70's. The 1870's that is. This building was extremely old. The front door to the actual flat was a bit battered too. Going in, I really admired how much space there was and the period features. The rooms were huge and the ceilings were high. As for the condition, well, the carpets were filthy with large stains and ripped in places, the walls were patchy with filth, dust and had turned black from when the storage heaters were on. I believe the walls were once a cheap shade of magnolia. Woodchip as well, can you imagine? The huge windows were thick with black scum and possibly had never been cleaned. The poor excuse for a bathroom had mould around the bath and the thing that they called a shower was a rubber pipe with a mouldy shower head 'secured' on to the taps with 2 rusty bits of metal. The kitchen was spacious but looked dirty due to the filthy wallpaper. Notice how I use the word 'filthy' a lot? We were told by the agent that the place was going to be redecorated, professionally cleaned and that there was going to be a new power shower fitted. As we had no experience with estate agents before, we had no idea that he was LYING through his highly polished teeth (We know where the money for that came from!). The property was above an empty shop which used to be a salon. We asked what was happening with it as we weren't sure about living above a shop and we were told nothing was going to become of it for a long time. As we were just looking for a temporary place to live so we could get used to the area, we decided to put an offer on the flat. It was accepted the same day. Thinking about it now, I feel so much hate for Cedar and that agent who showed us the flat in particular. When we moved in, the place HADN'T been professionally cleaned, the walls HADN'T been redecorated and that horrible looking shower hose pipe thing was still hanging miserably in the mouldy bathroom with a shower curtain that I think used to be white. It was a not so lovely shade of grey, brown and black from, you guessed it, mould. There was a tatty old bed left in the bedroom and we had our own so we contacted them about it and to question why nothing had been done maintenance wise. I was in disbelief by the response we got. "You saw the state the flat was in before you made an offer. The landlord refuses to maintain or replace anything that isn't in need of it. If you want to bring your own bed in, you will have to pay to replace the one we'll remove when you move out or leave yours." Erm, what? This was when I knew we had been conned. The emails were so aggressive, blunt and poorly written. How deteriorated does something have to be before it's replaced?!We were constantly threatened to pay for stuff that were not our responsibility. Over time, the mould problem in the bathroom had gotten considerably worse. I still have the photos, it was horrendous. Black mould growing all over the ceiling, down the walls and even inside the medicine cabinet is definitely not my idea of luxury. Health hazard alert! The woman we had to contact for maintenance issues, Viktoria, was always so disgustingly rude to us. She told us they would sort it out this time but if it came back it would be at our expense. Painting over the mould with a bucket of B&Q Value Matte paint is NOT going to solve the problem. Especially when there is no window, the bathroom is the size of a matchbox and the extractor fan is faulty. They knew it would come back eventually, they just love to charge the poor tenants excruciating amounts of money for their rubbish properties. I hated those maintenance guys too. They would always just let themselves in to the building and would have the key in the front door before I had a chance to open it!Our neighbour upstairs had lived there for 40 odd years and she told me about all the mould, damp and even rat problems that the building has had. Viktoria made out to us that nothing has ever gone wrong with their properties. Yeah, okay. Two of the flats in the building couldn't even be let out because of the damp and mould problem. Another neighbour was told to keep the heating on to get rid of the damp. Who would pay the bill for this exactly? The Heating Fairy? Ridiculous. The experience was just terrible. There was so much wrong with that flat. Oh, as for the shop that would never become anything, it became a fried chicken shop. Cedar knew long before we had moved in that is was going to become one. They full on lied to our faces. The walls, floor and ceilings were so thin in that place because it was so old, we had to go through months of construction work underneath us as well as builders singing very badly and when the shop opened we had to put up with loud voices, rubbish music and a hell of a lot of fights. What is it with fights in chicken shops? I'm sure there's enough poor quality chicken to go round. I just couldn't believe the floor was so thin we could hear voices! Full blown conversations and all! The council were called out numerous times about how noisy they were but nothing was ever done. It's not their fault our flat was made of cardboard. (Quite literally actually, the wall surrounding the toilet was actually bits of cardboard painted white. I found this out before we left. There was even a sell-by date on it. From 7 years ago. ) Cedar, why do you rent out such rubbish flats? With such rubbish furniture? Our coffee table was 2 bits of wood, possibly found at the dump, that looked like a dog had constructed it. The seating was sofa shaped rocks covered with brown fake leather. Urgh! Glad we had our own furniture. I've seen the other flats you let out and surprisingly, mine wasn't one of the worst. You are the worst agents ever. You're the only agents we've ever dealt with but you're still the worst. I've read the reviews. We informed you that we received a £500 electric bill because one of your storage heaters was faulty and you replied 'Okay, thanks'. Are you even going to sort it out or just let the new tenants deal with the massive bill they'll receive?Sitting here in my gorgeous new clean, mould-free house now, recalling our experience and it was honestly a living nightmare. Words can't described how horrendous our year renting with you had been. Thanks for charging us £100 to reseal around the bath that was mouldy. It was mouldy when we moved in but I'm sure you can treat yourselves to a bottle of champagne now. After all, it costs £2.50 to buy a tube of sealant. As for the £100 you charged for the cleaning of the communal hallway, I suggest you use some of that to redecorate it. A bit of hoovering and a sprinkle of Shake 'n' Vak really doesn't disguise the fact that it's mankier than a 2 week old egg sandwich in the bottom of my gym bag. A prison cell has more appeal than that. Filth. Mould. Rude agents who lost our important paperwork. Strange maintenance guys. Cardboard walls. Faulty appliances. Hidden charges. Threats. Chicken shops. Poor spelling and grammar in emails. A shower that's not fit for a rat (thanks for replacing it with a crappier metal version by the way). Foul odours. Drunk men peeing in the alleyway when you come out the front door. Arghhh, the list goes on! I feel so sorry for the new tenants. You hated it when we were in when they came to view it didn't you? Afraid of the answers we might give to their questions? You can't possibly say it's quiet living on a busy main road full of bars and take-aways can you? Why did you tell the new tenants that it was? (Bit of a silly question to ask though, it's a main road, of course it's noisy!) People, if you have any sense, look up the reviews of agents before going with them. A bad mistake I made! If you scroll through all the fake ones, you'll find the real stuff and believe me, they're far from delightful. Cedar Estates. Renting Out Rats Nests Near You Since 1988. P. S A posh suit, shiny shoes of rubbishness and a slick haircut slathered in grease does not make you a respectful businessman by the way.Moreexpand_more

I recently rented a property through Cedar Estates West Hampstead. Every one knows it is very time consuming the first month. So far I've had a good response regarding my queries as well when urgent (especially Gregory Patalacci).

STRONGLY advise people not to rent with cedar estates, not worth your hard earned cash and the stress. the 'office manager' is a passive aggressive nightmare! Please please stay clear i urge you!

AVOID CEDAR ESTATES. Simple requests will be ignored, the employees are unprofessional in their conduct and your move will be painful.

We recently rented a property through Cedar Estates. It has been a very painless process and every single query/point of issue subsequently has been addressed extremely quickly, with an exceptional amount of professionalism and all of the individuals that I have dealt with at Cedar estates have gone that extra mile to ensure that we are receiving the best service possible (especially Viktoria).

Have used Cedar Estates for about 15 years now and have always found them efficiant and good service particually Alex.

Alex has let my flats for many years and has always been very efficient, helpful and thorough. The tenants he has found me have always been reliable with good references. I would highly recommend both Alex and Cedar Estates.

Rented a property from them recently. Very happy with the level of service, been in the area a few years and used a few agents, these are by far the best. Alex was helpful and accommodating.

Alex was instrumental in finding me the property I wanted. I rented through Cedar, customer service & attention to detail was great, will do again 100%!

When looking for a flat in West Hampstead to rent i went to all the local agents, but Cedar Estates were by far the best. I was told about flats as soon as they came on the market, and was given same day viewings. They even stayed late for me one night when i got stuck at the office. We ended up taking a flat in another area that Cedar's didn't offer, but i was so impressed with their service, and would highly recommend them. Claudia.

I have used cedar estate for the last 3 years and prior many local agent in my experience they are the best and most efficient helpful of all and i would recommend all land lord to try at least once and then compare they are fair to land lord and tenant.

This is second time I've rented through Alex at Cedar Estates. The team are professional, approachable and polite. Thanks again! James.