Laskerland 

So I rented a room from them (well a shoe box). After 1.5 years there (with several maintenance issues) I was informed that the council had forced them to reduce the number of bedrooms in the house from 5 to 4. They will be merging my room with the one next to it, and so I needed to move out. I offered to take the new larger room because I like the location. They agreed to that. They had other properties and asked if I could stay in a vacant room for the couple of weeks for renovation. They said no, so I decided to move away completely. Then they started playing games with my deposit.

When I moved in, everything in the room was rated as being almost new, carpet, wall, mattress etc (I later found a giant blood stain on the other side of the mattress and to be fair they replaced it). When I moved out, they rated the walls and carpet as being damaged beyond repair because there were some tiny stains on both there were there when I moved in. This despite the fact that I was moving out because they will be demolishing the room anyway. They said they had pictures of the damages but won't share them with me (when I was moving out, the agent used a camera to zoom in on every single minor spot on walls and carpets). I took the matter into dispute resolution to get my deposit back, after they'd played hard ball. They did not fight my dispute but let it drag on for the maximum period before an automatic judgement was given in my favour. I've since lost all confidence in agents, and I genuinely hope they are just a bad, bad case and not the norm.

Previously known as Clubeasy London. Previously Previously known as NiceRoom.co.uk - both have awful reviews if you search.

Rented from these guys and had nothing but issue after issue. Agent staff entering privately rented room without reason and notice, refused to acknowledge until i asked why something that was in my locked room was left on the landing whilst I was out.

Constant maintenance issues, broken down equipment. Took 3 weeks to send an engineer out to fix the washing machine. Waste coming out of the shower in one room.

Gas boiler kept breaking down every day. Their own maintenance staff refused to acknowledge there was an issue with it until we called the local council. Turns out the flu wasn't connected, it was a completely unsafe installation and could have gassed us all to death.

Still, they wouldn't acknowledge an issue.

Avoid!

Not that this will surprise you with a letting agency: they are entirely out for themselves and pay absolutely no consideration to their tenants (== customers!)

They are more or less unresponsive to any requests other than those that concern safety (i.e. expensive lawsuit). We wanted to extend our contract with a different person on the lease. Sounds simple. No. We were forced to move out (including all our possessions) for a week, only to move back in a week later. This includes paying for holding deposit, receiving old deposit and laying down a new deposit. The reason given was "maintenance".

The company was completely inflexible, inhuman (refusing to acknowledge the inconvenience) and would merely hide behind their contractual obligations. In summary: AVOID if at all possible. We continued to let with them solely because it was just about the lesser of two evils when compared with finding an entirely new place.

On 2 May 2012, I agreed to take a studio flat in Mornington Crescent, London, through the agency Lasker Land. I then paid a holding deposit of £400, and an administration fee of £156. After my providing them with all the documentation they requested, they refused to offer me the studio flat (8 May 2012). They refused to give me a reason why and would not speak to me face to face to discuss the matter. My contact at Lasker Land said he would return my holding deposit, but stated that he would not return my administration fee of £156.

According to subsequent advice that I received, if you pay an administration fee and/or a holding deposit and the landlord chooses not to go ahead with the tenancy, you should receive a refund of ALL pre-payments. As such, I claimed a refund of the £156 administration fee.

However, Lasker Land refused to refund the £156, even in the face of clear guidelines stating that they must. As such, I had no option but to take the company to a small claims court. Even in this scenario, the company dragged its heels and stated it would submit a defence which never materialised. The company was judged against and was ordered to pay me my £156 plus court expenses (which I have now received). The company have NOT admitted they were wrong, or offered me an apology or tried to make amends in any way.

Given this experience, I would STRONGLY urge potential new tenants of Lasker Land Limited to think twice about using this company. At a whim they could refuse to offer you the flat AFTER you have paid them deposits and administration fees and WITHOUT providing you with a reason. This is obviously outrageous and illegal, as evidenced by the law and result of the case.