Urban and Rural Reviews 70

Exceptional Service from Urban & Rural – Leagrave Branch, Marsh Road, Luton.

I rarely write such glowing reviews, but the outstanding service I received from Urban & Rural’s Leagrave branch deserves every word of praise. From start to finish, the team demonstrated a level of professionalism, integrity, and genuine care that sets them far above any other estate agents I’ve encountered in Bedfordshire.

Daniel Jones, the director, leads by example. His fairness, honesty, and approachable nature immediately put me at ease. Daniel doesn’t just oversee operations—he actively engages with clients, offering thoughtful advice and doing his utmost to help in any way he can. It’s rare to find someone in his position who remains so grounded and client-focused.

Stuart, the branch manager, is equally impressive. Friendly, knowledgeable, and always willing to assist, Stuart brings a calm confidence to every interaction. His willingness to go the extra mile, whether answering questions or resolving concerns, made the entire process feel seamless.

Ryan, the sales executive, was brilliant throughout. His friendly demeanour and clear communication made every step—from viewings to negotiations—feel smooth and well-managed. Ryan’s professionalism and enthusiasm were truly appreciated.

And then there’s Caroline, the Sales Coordinator, who is simply phenomenal. Her communication skills are second to none. Caroline kept everything on track, liaising effortlessly between buyer and seller to ensure a swift and stress-free completion. She’s incredibly organised, proactive, and genuinely invested in making sure both parties are happy. Her warmth and efficiency made a real difference, and I cannot praise her highly enough.

Having dealt with other estate agents in the region, I can confidently say that Urban & Rural stands head and shoulders above the rest. Their team works with integrity, empathy, and precision—qualities that are all too rare in the property industry. Whether you’re buying, selling, or letting, I wholeheartedly recommend them.

Thank you to Daniel, Stuart, Ryan, Caroline, and the entire team for your exceptional service. You’ve made what could have been a stressful experience into something truly positive. Five stars all the way ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Specifically Amanda Ayers in the Dunstable branch. The whole team did a great job in supporting the sale of my property including the initial valuation and marketing during a slow period in the housing market (even securing an offer after I had officially removed the property from the market). Amanda was brilliant throughout, dealing with some very complex issues around my leasehold and time constraints due to the pre plus owners of my new property moving to Scotland where there are stricter time constraints on completion. Amanda worked tirelessly on my behalf with solicitors and estate agents across the chain. Thank you so much for your dedication and thanks to Urban&Rural for giving Amanda the time and space to concentrate on my case!!

Absolutely amazing guys🥳🥳
Went on marketplace sold within 2 days, has been a long process to completion, Zoe and Steve went way beyond the call of duty to make it happen and I can’t thank them enough.
Superb service and attention to detail.
Highly recommended thank you once again

This review is long overdue, nearly about a year ago, so not good on me, so sorry to Rural and General.
Rural and General – I found them online as we all do, long has the days gone where we used to go into an estate agents on the hight street; we now rely on or getting advice from online platforms (not mentioning any).
I wanted to sell my house; I did the normal Google search and got so many hits.
Rural and Urban came up as an option, and automatically you think ‘NO’, especially the size of my house.
I set up discussions with several estate agents, asking questions and they were all great.
What I found was other than Urban & Rural (as per my experience) the other estate agents just kept on showing me figures, an iPad and laptop with figures and graphs, and ‘negatively (slagging off) other estate agents. We are better and sold so many more houses etc… BUT not U&G.
I decided to go with Urban and Rural….
All estate agents have a 14 day cool off period, and during that 14 day period, I decided to change my mind, again for personal reasons.
I called U&R and spoke to Jonathan; he was so compassionate and understanding.
If I was to ever sell my house again, I would ONLY through U&G.

Even though the date of experience is last year; it is still Valid. Thank you Jonathan.

My son viewed a house on the market with U&R. We had some pf the usual estate agent upping the value of the home “we have a similar one on the market ‘up the road’for xyz” (So not in the same area then?:) thing.

However we ate aware of these games and have done our own research on property prices. So I was ok with this buts it what happened when we submitted an offer that I was not happy with.

We submitted an offer via email provide more than enough detail to get an intial discussion going with the seller.

The response we got was a clear violation for the 1979 Estate Agent act.

“… before submitting an offer we require (for those in the now yes it did say REQUIRE) our mortgage advisor to go through uou detail to ensure funds are in place..”

Just to repaet this was an initially offer.

For clarity let me explain what the Estate Agent act 1979 say about offers.

Estate Agents (Undesirable Practices) (No. 2) Order 1991.

Regard offer, whether written or verbal Agent are required to:
“forward offers promptly and in writing".
"give your client written details of all offers received from potential buyers".

The only exception is if the client (the seller) has given the agent written instructions not to be notified of certain types of offers, for example, those below a specified price.

So under the law not only is there is no requirement to “firm up” an offer the offer can in fact be a verbal one. In which case there would be now clarification.

Hence the “requirement” from was.

1. totally unnecessary (initial offer)
3. indicates a blatant disregard for the legislation
4. Reeks of of an estate agent who is looking to sell additional services first before actually doing the job they were engaged to do.

Why 2 stars rather than 1. the. Sales agent on site was friendly and informative .

Contacted via email through their contact form and even contacted the local branch multiple times with someone telling me no one is available and to leave a number and they will get someone to contact me. been a couple of weeks no response. Wouldn't hold your breath waiting for these lot. By the time and IF they ever get back to you the property your looking for will probably be sold! Poor experience and definitely wouldn't recommend

What a great estate agent Urban & Rural is and what a team at the Leagrave /Dunstable branch .I would like to shout out all the team I had conversations with but Caroline stood out with her knowledge and helpfulness .Dan you have a fantastic team.Well done !!!

Recently bought a house using the Toddington branch. Pete was extremely helpful and guided us through the whole purchase, chasing up paperwork and contacts to keep the process going!! Very friendly and knowledgeable. Thanks to the whole team.

Special mention for the URBAN & RURAL estate agent
team on Marsh road, they were attentive and informative and it was pleasure working with them to the conclusion of the sale our house.

Unprofessional attitude from Harvey Lawrence Ampthill branch.
Booked house viewing but mixed up a days, we assumed it is on Thursday but viewing was scheduled for Wednesday. That was an genuine mistake and all we could do is apologise. I know it is frustrating but it happened.
Harvey scheduled appointment for next day 3pm. He did not showed up, no call to cancel, we waited 25m, tried to call no answer. We missed our other appointment to change tires. Revengeful, I did not expect company employing children!

I would highly recommend the Urban & Rural Stopsley team!

Fantastic service start to finish. Neil and Cathy both very professional and knowledgable. I had valuations from a few local estate agents but Urban & Rural were by far the best, especially with communication, so we decided to go with them. We also purchased the property from U&R in 2021 so had a previous good experience.
A special thanks to Ann Clark the Sales Progressor whose service was second to none! I could not fault her. We had lots of problems with the other agents in the chain, but Ann remained professional throughout, keeping us updated at every point and liaising throughout the chain. I genuinely don’t think we would have got to completion without her!!
Thank you Urban & Rural!

The Leagrave team are truly amazing ,to many names to mention ,what a great team they are .A special shout out to Caroline who explained the process as we had a difficult buyer , she certainly knows her stuff !!

In the past it has sometimes been hard to differentiate estate agent services. My recent experience with urban and rural has been largely positive though and I would recommend the Bedford branch. I do ultimately think what sells a house is the price and the property itself. So regards to the initial sales experience I did feel like I was repeating myself with the sales team when they were constantly suggesting I drop the price. (In the end I sold for a price I was very happy with).
The team were resilient with buyers that didn’t stick and jumped straight back to interested parties though which was great! Thank you. So my only other constructive advice to them from a selling aspect would be when a sale falls through or there’s something negative to report from the buyer - cut to the chase don’t beat around the bush in communications.

The team overall are very likeable and to me the stand out is their efforts with regard to sales progression. In the past I feel other agents have felt this isn’t their bit particularly. Not here. With Millie involved I felt she kept me more informed than even the solicitors and I was so glad to have her supporting the sales progress, stand out effort!

Diabolical !. We accepted an offer and despite us insisting that the property remain online ( available to view etc ) until we exchange - Urban and Rural removed the listing. They put it back on when we complained. Lost that buyer. We told them that whatever happens in the future - the property must remain online and available for other prospective buyers until we get to exchange point. They can put " Under Offer" if they want . Got another buyer .. within 24 hours of accepting their offer, the chain fell through at the other end.... Urban and Rural had once more, already removed the listing. Had to complain to get them to reinstate the listing...Day after that fell through I rang ( pretending to be a prospective buyer ) , they told me " Sorry, the property is under offer and not available " ABSOLUTE LIE . We told the AGAIN, that the property must remain online - even if we accept an offer ..they agreed. I then rang yesterday and pretended to be a prospective buyer - was told " Sorry, that property is sold " I then told them that it was actually MY property - and it most definitely is not sold. Told by 'Adam' that I didn't understand the "protocols" etc.. that 'technically it was sold " etc .. absolute arrogance and Bull S**t. Gave our details to a different agent to do the new marketing. Urban and Rural now say that we must give 3 weeks notice in writing before we can leave them ( even though we are well out of the initial contract period ) - something that I need to check, as they are so unprofessional , they are probably telling lies again ! Avoid this bunch of jokers at all costs. They are unscrupulous and unprofessional ! .

Urban and Rural Milton Keynes
Steven and team have been nothing short of fantastic with our move. It was a difficult one with twists and turns but Steven very often knew more than anyone else. This is an excellent team who handled our move brilliantly. My husband and I would recommend them in a heartbeat.
Thanks for everything Urban and Rural Milton Keynes. Mark and Juliet Bartlett

All I can say is we were pleasantly surprised at the service provided by Millie Connolly at Urban and rural Bedford. From our offer being accepted to the completion Millie was informative, helpful and always ahead of us chasing by the updates she gave us. Thank you Millie your thoughtfulness has helped no end. 🙏

Recently sold my property with Urban & Rural. David, Sam and the team did a great job. Clearly explained processes, excellent communication and good practical advice. Managed well organised viewings, very respectful of my home at all times. Secured an offer within first two weeks on the market and recently completed. Great job! Thank you!

These are the worst estate agents I have ever used. They make little effort and their professionalism is awful. They put no effort in actually selling and instead constantly put pressure on you to lower the price. Do you self a favour an d use Taylors or connells who are way more professional. Wasted 6 months with these guys.

I used this company as I saw a few properties on Right Move I was interested in between September last year to Spring this year. The two estate agents in question is Iain and Katy Middlemas, they are both very unprofessional and punctuality is horrible to the point the owners had to show us around properties. One viewing arranged by Iain he forgot about it and when we telephoned him he had to rush over, and when he did turn up at the property he forgot all the paperwork and documents we asked for! They take weeks to get back to you on questions and take forever to get back to you after you have made an offer. I have also heard from my neighbours in the Milton Keynes area who tried to sell their house with Urban & Rural that they also had bad experiences with Iain and Katy Middlemas, they are both time wasters, poor with communication, lie and are very dishonest and never have your best interests in mind. I could go on about all the different situations I have experienced but I would be writing for days. Overall the worst estate agents I have ever come across but thankfully I have purchased with another estate agent. So do steer clear of this company if you are buying or selling!

I’ve just completed my house move with Urban and Rural and their service has been impeccable. I chose them as when I purchased the property it was their listing and the buying process was excellent.

Great comms throughout and an excellent post sale experience.

Most of all they are really nice people, big thanks to Gareth and the team!!