Portico Property Reviews 

Extremely Disappointing Experience – Avoid This Company!

I had an extremely disappointing and stressful experience with Portico.
I attended a property viewing, submitted an offer, and was informed that my offer had been accepted. I provided all the requested documents and was reassured that everything was fine.
I followed up with the company every week to ensure everything was progressing smoothly. However, just six days before my scheduled moving date, they suddenly informed me that I had failed their checks, despite previously assuring me that everything was in order.
To make matters worse, they initially refused to refund my holding deposit, leaving me in an incredibly difficult position with almost no time to find another property.
This experience has caused unnecessary stress, financial difficulties, and a complete disruption to my moving plans.
Absolutely unprofessional, unreliable, and unacceptable customer service. I feel completely misled by the way this situation was handled.
I would strongly advise anyone considering renting through Portico to be extremely cautious. Based on my experience, I would never trust this company again.

Very disappointing. I would not recommend them to anyone.

Buying a new house is always stressful but Paul Cwiek and Caroline Watkins at Portico helped make it a smooth process. They were very responsive and helpful. Great communication at all times.

Our purchase process that took longer than expected. Paul and Caroline at Portico were a huge source of support throughout this process and went above and beyond to try and speed things up. They facilitated extra viewings, spoke to the freeholder directly and chased solicitors when needed. I found Caroline and Paul easy to contact, they always responded quickly and provided accurate and detailed information where needed. We won’t be moving for a long time, but I would recommend Caroline, Paul and the entire Askew Road branch of Portico to anyone needing to buy or sell in the area.

Big thank you to Caroline and Paul for getting our purchase over the line!

I have just sold my apartment in Bloomsbury with the help of Shyamal Bhatt of Portico, Highbury.

It is a very difficult market with prices sliding month by month. I also had a rather tricky buyer who delayed and demanded lower prices. But it is a buyer’s market.

Throughout the prolonged stressful period of selling my flat Shyamal was always supportive, sympathetic and gave me good advice and guidance. He was a good communicator, always replied promptly, and I much appreciated that. He was also good at communicating with the buyer. In the end he shepherded the sale through. I was relieved to sell as I am of an age where I needed to offload my property and its attendant cares and I am grateful to Shyamal for facilitating that.

I should also say that in retrospect Filiberto putting my flat on at a million pounds plus was way too optimistic. This was in late 2025. The price falls in central London had already started. In retrospect if my property had been priced lower at the start I might have sold it earlier and for a higher price.

Although I like Melissa Mireilles I have to say she was not a prompt communicator, many of my emails were simply ignored. And she told me OVO had told her I had nothing to pay, but I did, and as a result I was harassed mercilessly by OVO and a debt collector which was very stressful.

I would recommend Shyamal Bhatt to anyone thinking of putting their property on the market.

In sum:

- Consistently poor service and incompetent management.

- Repeatedly left without essential services for days, weeks or months.

- £2,000+ deposit unlawfully withheld for over a month, despite no deductions being disputed.

- Initially attempted to pressure us into paying for unnecessary professional cleaning.

- Their poor service was a key reason we left the property.

**We would not recommend Portico.**

In full:

Portico have no qualms in repeatedly acting both incompetently and (in my understanding) unlawfully in equal measure.

Portico’s service has been consistently poor in the last c.3 years of our interactions.

Their property manager has been particularly inept.

Whilst we rented a property, Portico (as managing agents) were consistent slow to respond to any issues, leaving us often without key essentials, like hot water or working appliances for days, weeks, and sometimes months at a time. They required constant chasing just to do their job to the absolute minimum standard.

On returning our deposit, it has been a whole month and we still have not had it returned. This is despite the landlord agreeing to no deductions and us calling/emailing Portico almost daily. Not only is this inconvenient, but seemingly entirely unlawful (deposits should be returned within 10 days). There is nothing in dispute. There is literally no reason, save for Portico’s ineptitude, to unlawfully withhold a >£2000 deposit.

Portico also initially attempted to unlawful pressure us into paying for a professional cleaner, despite one not being required. (In fairness, they later recanted and accepted this was not lawful, only after significant opposition from us).

One of the key motivations for eventually leaving the property was to stop having to deal with Portico in future.

Unfortunately, we cannot recommend Portico to anyone.

AWFUL experience. If I could give Portico 0 starts I would, I truly could not recommend them less. The lack of communication was the first and most prevalent issue throughout our Tennancy (which was cut short due to a hazardous mould issue which was flagged many times before and during the Tennancy). My flatmate and I spent hours and hours of our time trying to draw attention to and rectify the multiple issues with the property, some more serious than others, on many occasions we were ignored and on some occasions the portico employees were actually very rude. I will not name names but a lady in the Highbury office in particular. The ordeal with portico cost us a great deal financially but also in terms of stress, not to mention the health implications of living in a damp flat for 5+ months during the height of winter, in an uninsulated room, where the radiator fell off the wall and the heating did not work initially. I don’t ever leave bad reviews but I seriously believe people should avoid this service. Would not wish it upon others, particularly when you are overpaying for a property and working hard to do so!
The issues were never ending , and I was constantly in awe of the audacity of Portico to try and charge us for various things that we flagged as issues many times to
them and were not our fault. If you have the misfortune of using Portico, I reccomend you keep a record of your engagement with them.
Other problems included a gas leak for the first four months of the tenancy, the flat not being cleaned before our arrival, marks all over the place, broken kitchen appliances and shelves, the list goes on.
I hope portico work to improve their service and treatment of their clients.
This experience was in 2024-2025 but I’m only now able to talk about it without feeling extremely angry and sad.

Just a great group of people, really helpful throughout the process, really recommend them for buying or selling your property especially Gurtegh he is a legend!

Let's go Portico

Myself and my partner moved to the Clapham area through Portico Battersea. We were managed by Matthew, who was very efficient and communicative throughout the process. We felt well supported by the Portico team and are looking forward to our time in our new property.

Paul Cwiek and Caroline Watkiss have been very helpful and supportive through this very stressful process, I am very grateful for their empathy and responsiveness.

I would thoroughly recommend Portico. Caroline Watkins and her team, including Paul and Claire went above and beyond what is normally expected of an estate agent when helping me with the sale of my flat. They were all polite, helpful and diligent throughout what proved to be a protracted sale. First rate

Jodie and Matt were great the past few weeks helping us get into our flat. The process was not easy but their efforts didn’t go unnoticed by us - Defo recommend!

We had a great experience looking for and then renting a flat with Matt and Jodie. Both were brilliant and really helped us to get set up in a lovely flat.

Unprofessional is an understatement. Contacted the Leyton team 2 weeks ago about a property, Jack Wackett got my details and told me that they were waiting to hear from the current tenants to arrange viewings and that they would let me know. Kept trying to contact them for a week with noboy answering my emails or my calls. Finally got through today and was informed that viewings took place and an offer was put forward. These guy are showing how they don't care about their tenants even before they sign their contract.

I was a tenant with Portico from mid 2023, having originally started my tenancy under a previous managing agent.

During the later part of my tenancy, a number of repair issues remained unresolved despite being raised.

An inspection visit by a contractor appointed by Portico was particularly distressing because of behaviour I experienced as aggressive inside my home. I later reported the incident to the police and submitted supporting evidence.

Following a separate inspection in January 2026, Wandsworth Council served a Section 29 Hazard Awareness Notice on the property owner, care of Portico. The Council identified Category 2 hazards at the property, including damp and mould related defects, and recommended remedial works.

Additionally, The Property Ombudsman has accepted my complaint for consideration, and its decision is currently pending.

Overall, this was a very negative experience, and I was disappointed with the standard of service provided.

Jodie and Portico have been absolutely wonderful and extremely professional throughout the tenancy process.

We really appreciate the support and hard work gone into everything. Especially from Jodie!!

My experience with Portico Clapham was exceptionally poor from start to finish. Communication was consistently slow, unclear and unreliable, and I repeatedly had to chase for basic updates. Promised callbacks and follow-ups frequently failed to materialise, while straightforward matters were allowed to drag on unnecessarily.

There appeared to be very little ownership of the tenancy or accountability when problems arose. I was passed between different members of staff, received inconsistent information and often felt that nobody had a clear grasp of what was happening with my property. Rather than reducing the burden of being a landlord, their service created additional work, stress and delay.

The management of the tenancy fell far below the standard I would expect from a professional letting agency. Once their fees had been secured, the level of attention and urgency seemed to decline dramatically. I did not feel that either my property or my interests as a landlord were being managed with adequate care.

Based on my experience, I would not instruct Portico Clapham again and cannot recommend them to other landlords. Anyone considering using them should insist that everything is confirmed in writing, scrutinise the management agreement carefully and be prepared to chase persistently for even basic action.

Thanks to the great team at Portico Shepherds Bush my flat in W12 was sold swiftly and efficiently. Caroline, Paul and Claire were knowledgeable and reassuring throughout the process. They have huge experience of the market and their advice was spot on. They were unfailingly supportive and always available on email or by phone to help with queries or concerns. I knew from the start that I was in very good hands.

My experience with Portico was great, I wouldn’t go with any other real estate agent. Paul helped me through all the process of buying my first property and from the first viewing to any other detail he has been very professional and helpful, Caroline and Gareth as well supported a lot with my questions and any other requirements. All the team is without a doubt something you would like to have to back you up when getting through the process of buying a flat.

Very poor experience with our property manager
Patrycja. Did not check on our flat before we moved in, arrived to find the previous tenants had not moved out and place was not cleaned. This meant we could not move in as planned.

Dealing with getting this resolved was painful and she was reluctant to help. Eventually did arrange for cleaners but did not arrange the keys with them.

Asking for basic things like check in report we get no answers.

Very poor experience.