Northwood GB Reviews 

SHOCKING!!! I would give 0 stars if I could.
Absolute cowboys that should have their license revoked.

I rented a 1-bedroom flat and was made a number of empty promises by an extremely pushy agent named Lisa Ellis, who told me that several repairs were required however would be completed by the time I moved in. She pushed me to move the start date forward insisting all jobs would be complete within the week.

When I moved in, the jobs were far from finished and the place was FILTHY.
I found old, dingy, stained, lampshades that had inches of dust and cobwebs on them. Filthy curtains with more stains. Black marks in the toilet. A used, mouldy shower curtain. Dirt, grease and grime everywhere. Defaced surfaces and holes in the walls behind doors.
I had to start from scratch and clean everything myself despite having the house full of boxes. I have been unable to unpack for a week.

To add insult to injury, none of the appliances had been serviced. The water tank made a deafening noise that had the neighbours repeatedly bang on the wall and made me unable to use the hot water for a week, while said Lisa had gone on holiday with my commission and no person to replace her. No other agent at the agency bothered to help, nor even answer.

The dishwasher was broken. The washing machine was broken; I had my clothes swimming in the drum full of water for another entire week. The fence was completely down for several weeks.

The flat is a corner house on the ground floor, totally exposed to the street. Despite Lisa promising in front of my partner that security blinds would be installed throughout by the time I moved in, this never happened. She took it all back denying she ever promised that.
I had neighbours telling me they could see everything inside and I felt extremely unsafe. The place is in Reading.

To top it all, Northwood broke into my property without my consent twice, despite me paying rent. They left the gate open on both occasions once again endangering my safety, and leaving an absolute mess in the garden on the way out. Trash on the floor and my tools haphazardly scattered on the ground.

My deposit was never registered until I chased and finally got an instant reply by the third-party scheme TDS 9 weeks in. I should have received this within 30 days as prescribed by law.

But the best part of it all is when I found PESTS!! in the carpet and reported them. I was so horrified I couldn’t sleep for days.
Northwood’s answer to that was to simply ‘gently repose them outside the window’ and refused to send over for an infestation. I had to take time off work, personally purchase toxic poison and treat the bedroom myself!!

My mental health has been seriously affected over this tenancy. I have been going through all this while trying to hold down a full-time on-site job of great responsibility at our busiest time.
I got in trouble at work due to the stress and exhaustion, and the several enforced absences, which cost me a disciplinary and a final warning.

Once referred to the senior manager Paula Elizabeth, she has been passive-aggressively ignoring every single one of my complaints and trying to shift blame and gaslight me. We had several exchanges.

Northwood themselves, and that is Ms Elizabeth, offered to rescind the contract due to their numerous failures, so I moved out ahead of the break clause.
They are now retracting on everything and claim that I should still pay rent for the entire duration of the contract because I am allegedly the one in breach.

They are shady, twisted, plain incompetent and assumed 0 accountability.
They are now withholding my full deposit claiming I caused damages (a BLATANT lie!), as in fact I am the one that has thoroughly cleaned and repaired the property, rid of pests and brought the house to a liveable standard. I even retouched the walls with white paint before I moved out to restore the occasional accidental mark.
I am in possession of all photographic evidence.

The landlord had an outstanding electricity bill and they are now trying to attribute it to me despite it being for a period way before I moved in.
I am now pursuing this matter legally and I am taking Northwood Estate Agents to Court.

STAY WELL CLEAR if you want to spare yourself of a nervous breakdown and live through a nightmare!!

Possibly the worst letting agency I’ve ever dealt with, and that’s saying something after seven years of private renting. Avoid them, particularly the West Derby branch.

From the very start of my tenancy through to months after it ended, it was one issue after another. Communication was consistently poor, and when replies did come through, they were often unprofessional and poorly written. When I did manage to contact them by phone, the attitude was consistently rude and unprofessional.

Maintenance issues I reported were left unresolved for weeks. On more than one occasion, people turned up at my flat for inspections that were never scheduled or communicated to me. Even after I had moved out, a contractor contacted me a month later to fix an issue I had reported a week before leaving (which says a lot about how badly things were managed).

My deposit was and still is unfairly withheld, and overall the experience was extremely frustrating and stressful.

The only positive moment was being let back into the flat when I locked myself out once, and that felt like it was down to one helpful individual rather than the company as a whole.

Gor tricked into a contract extension by these crooks. Stay away.

Total lack of communication, constantly given wrong and misleading information.
Avoid at all costs .
The Aberdeen office is a shambles

very disappointed with the lack of communication out of Ipswich . Have emailed the office and said the same as above and no response no call nothing. Its just not good enough.

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to the whole team at Northwood for helping us sell our home in Alwoodley. From start to finish, you were incredibly supportive, proactive, and genuinely invested in making the sale go as smoothly as possible.

Your guidance and advice throughout the process were invaluable, and I really appreciate how you kept everything moving—especially when our solicitor was a little slow to respond. You stepped in whenever needed, kept us fully updated, and made sure no detail was ever left hanging.

A very special thank you to Charlotte Ford, our Sales Progressor. Charlotte, you were absolutely fantastic. You made the whole journey feel achievable even during the more stressful moments, and your communication, patience, and determination made all the difference.

Northwood did an amazing job, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend your team to anyone in North Leeds who’s thinking about selling their home. Thank you again for everything—you’ve been brilliant.

Customer service was exemplary the BEST I have experienced with car garages. They were communicating on a daily basis so I was fully aware of the works and expected time of repair.
I recommend them and will be using them again!! The repair made my car look like brand new!! Thank you for an excellent service 😻

Arjan has been very helpful. Recommend.

Avoid at all costs! An awful experience in St Albans: 6 days to prep a single contract, missed the timelines I requested 10 days in advance and didn't communicate that, didn't arrange an appointment for me to collect keys to enter the flat - only for the clerk. In the end cancelled my deposit on the ground of their own incapabilities.

Such a poor service. Rude staff. Unreliable. Used them to rent out a property, they didn’t carry out proper checks, ended up with over a year of unpaid rent. Property damaged. They would not support me so had to do the whole eviction myself. They just provided a terrible service then abandoned me. Wouldn’t help me with even basic help. Then contacted me after the tenant was forcibly evicted to ask if they could have their deposit back. £13000 rent arrears and court costs and they asked me if I wanted to release the tenants deposit. Speechless. Avoid if you can

My experience with this agency has been very disappointing and similar to what others have mentioned in negative reviews. If I could give zero stars, I would.

If you come across their property listings on Zoopla or anywhere else, I strongly advise avoiding them. They collect your personal information, waste your time, and provide no positive outcome.

Their customer service is among the worst I’ve ever experienced — unresponsive and unhelpful. I wouldn’t recommend dealing with them to anyone.

AVOID BOLTON NORTHWOOD AT ALL COSTS!! As a landlord I would NEVER EVER recommend Northwood. They are the biggest conartists going. You accept a feeble rent every month that doesn't even cover the mortgage, to have a guaranteed rent agreement and when THEIR tenants move OUT and leave the property in a poor state, they say the property isn't in a good enough state to re rent and you don't get your rent!! I can imagine they kept the deposit from the tenants through and I get diddly squat!!

They have failed on every level. Their communication is non existent, no one ever passes any info on to colleagues, their contractors work is unbelievably poor and not fit for purpose (however, I've heard that they often don't pay them so you can imagine why they do such a poor service but this hurts the landlord not Northwood unfortunately), they try and scam you with ramdom bills that aren't for you, honestly the list goes on....

Their guaranteed rent agreement is not fit for purpose, you loose out on hundreds of pounds per month yet don't get the rent when the property is empty. They are out and out thieves!! Becky the manager of Bolton hasn't got a clue what's going on in her business and doesn't care, all they think about is money!!

I viewed two properties advertised by Northwood recently and the agent, Emma Reid was absolutely amazing in booking the viewing, reminding the appointment & showing me around the property. She is extremely friendly, professional & passionate about getting the best suitable accommodation to the clients. Thank you so much Emma!

We recently viewed a property and absolutely loved it, but what truly made the experience exceptional was the outstanding service provided by Courtney Burden. From the moment we arrived, Courtney was welcoming, professional, and incredibly knowledgeable. She took the time to answer all our questions, provided detailed information about the property, and made the entire process smooth and enjoyable. Her genuine enthusiasm and care for her clients really stood out, and we left feeling confident and excited about our next steps. We can’t thank her enough for such a positive experience and would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a property! Many thanks to Courtney Burden for making this a viewing to remember.

I gave a set of keys to this estate agent a while ago to market the property, through no fault of their own this was blocked over and over again. When I went to collect the key they could not locate then, then said I had already collected them (but could not provide evidence I had signed them out, eventually saying they had no evidence of ever receiving them)!

WORST EXPERIENCE I HAD EVER. I TRIED TO VIEW A PROPERTY FOR SALE THROUGH THIS AGENCY STAFF ANDRIYA. SHE IS VERY RUDE & CRUEL. SHE IS THINKING THAT SHE IS DONATING & DOING A CHARITY TO THE HOUSE BUYERS.
PLEASE DONT WASTE YOUR TIME, ENERGY & MONEY. BETTER TO AVOID THIS ESTATE AGENT. THESE PEOPLE ARE SCAMS.

I would give Northwood one star if I could, they are absolutely diabolical, steer well clear.

Me and my partner rented an apartment with Northwood Bolton for 6 months (February-August 2025). Living there was fantastic but dealing with this company was a nightmare.

When we moved into the property all was well aside from the cupboards, drawers and cabinets being dirty but I didn’t mind as much as I was going to give it a deep clean anyway. There were things in the kitchen belonging to old tenants and we even found some items of clothing in the bedroom drawers, so had not been cleaned prior to our moving in (this will be important later).

A lightbulb in one of the bathrooms wasn’t working and we were told on the day we moved in that they had arranged for someone to come and change it for us within the next week as the ceilings are high, this did not come to fruition, no one ever came to fix it.

Around 4 months into our tenancy we received a notice that there would be an inspection. We got this in less than 24 hours notice. I had asked to reschedule as I work from home and needed more notice, but was told they couldn’t reschedule. I said that’s fine. The day came and went and the inspection didn’t go ahead, no one showed up. I emailed Northwood to ask about this and never received a response.

We had an inspection a few weeks later and all was well, no faults whatsoever and they thanked me for keeping the property in such good condition.

Coming towards the end of the tenancy is when things began to go even more south. I sent in my notice that I was leaving at the end of the 6 months and didn’t get a response once again, I asked them for advice on what to do next but got nothing back, had to call twice before someone spoke to me and apparently the person who deals with the emails was on annual leave? So they have no one covering this in their absence.

Upon leaving I deep cleaned the property from top to bottom. It was left in much better condition than it was when I arrived (this was the case throughout my entire tenancy if I’m honest). Disposed of the things that were left by previous tenants of my own accord as again this hadn’t been done prior to my moving in.

I failed to mention at the beginning of my review that a couple of the skirting boards and cupboard door handles were broken when I moved in, we fixed these so these were fixed when we left.

Dropped the keys off and sent them an email to let them know it was vacant. I then asked them to please let me know when they were going to be conducting the check out inspection so that one of us could be present. They agreed (took them two days to get back to me) and said they would.

They never told us when it was being conducted and it went ahead without our knowledge. The next correspondence I received from them was my check out report and an email to tell me that they were looking into quotes and then I’d hear back about my deposit.

On the report they blatantly lied about the condition of the property. They stated that the plug sockets, skirting boards, surfaces and light switches “could’ve done with a wipe down” - literal quote from them on the report. They stated that there was damage to the property and worst of all they actually blamed us for the bathroom lightbulb which was broken when we arrived, and that they actually pointed out to us. This was both laughable and infuriating.

I emailed back to voice my disagreement with them and they said they would look into it and get back to me. This took two weeks and countless emails and phone calls. Ultimately they have deducted around £350 from our deposit and listed it as a cleaning fee, conveniently leaving out the supposed damage and broken items as they didn’t have a leg to stand on. If it wasn’t so painstakingly difficult to speak to these morons I would dispute this further but I’ve just accepted this now as thankfully it doesn’t affect us too much but I can imagine there are people who really can’t afford to lose out on this much money especially for something they have not done.

I wish I’d have read the reviews before renting with them and definitely will in future. Please please please avoid this company at all costs. I have no idea how they are still able to operate when they have done this to so many people. Please read reviews before going ahead, this goes for renters and landlords!! They are awful.

Customer service experience, 0. I have been applying for a house they did not even give me back the answer yet. Lol.Months passed and I already rented another flat somewhere else luckily.

Northwood UK (Benton) inc Bowes Mitchell
Working with Northwood UK inc Bowes Mitchell, particularly Clare and her Benton team, has been a breath of fresh air in what can usually be a nerve-wracking process. From valuation to viewings, everything was handled with skill, speed, and a reassuring sense of professionalism.

Communication
Their communication is first class — quick responses, clear updates, and excellent follow-up. At no point was there a sense of being left in the dark, which in estate agency terms is about as rare as finding a unicorn with a clipboard.

Valuation
The valuation provided was fair and realistic, reflecting not only the property’s true value but also its potential. There were no inflated promises, just sound advice backed by genuine local knowledge.

Marketing & Viewings
Marketing and viewings were managed superbly. Professional photography and online advertising gave the property the showcase it deserved, while Clare’s team took complete responsibility for scheduling and managing viewings, removing stress from the process.

Value for Money
The service more than justified the fees. The combination of professional delivery, local insight, and buyer understanding provided excellent value for money.

Client Care
Clare and the Benton team demonstrated deep knowledge of their area, which was evident in every interaction. Nothing was ever too much trouble, and clients were made to feel valued rather than just another listing.

Conclusion
Northwood UK inc Bowes Mitchell sets a high standard for estate agency services. With professionalism, transparency, and genuine care at the heart of their approach, they make the moving process smoother and more enjoyable. Highly recommended.

I had a tenant who did not leave after Northwood had served them with a section 21 notice to leave. Nothwood in Worcester were really helpful to resolve this potentially difficult situation. In particular Anthony Arnold the Worcester branch manager who was proactive and always available.