Clever Student Lets Reviews 

I highly recommend Victoria and the whole Clever student lets for anyone looking for a reliable and efficient service in the property market.

Despite the name this agency is not clever at all and I truly do not understand how they are still up and running to this day.

I have heard several negative cases (double booking people, failing to request documents then cancelling on people, overcharging,blatant rudeness and disrespect, the list goes on!!!!) in regards to clever but decided to give them a go, let me tell you do I regret it!!!!!

They cancelled my booking (At fault of their own) several months before I was due to move in then demanded I pay them a rebooking fee.First their reasoning was that my documents weren’t complete, then the second that my guarantor could not meet their criteria (surely this should of been decided before they requested a deposit?)

The whole application process is excessive, rigid and redundant and will cause you and your guarantor an extreme amount of stress. With this in mind I would like to highlight just how discriminative and inaccessible “Clever’s” student properties are. If you are from a low income background it is virtually impossible for you the meet their guarantor criteria.

The performance of staff at this establishment is extremely poor, particularly with Sofia, the office manager. Not once have I experienced professionalism nor effective customer service, including the basic principle of communication! Any Information that you attempt to convey is repeatedly not fully received nor processed by any of these people. They do not wish to assist you or make your life any easier.There appears to be no communication between colleagues meaning you are constantly being fed misinformation, leading to further difficulties

I would like to expand that there is no opportunity to discuss these challenges as “Clever” do not have any type of complaints procedure (Which I’m pretty sure is illegal under the Management regulation handling rules 2015)

But please do use clever if you wish for constant harassment via phone and email, which is even more distressing when clever attempt to justify the emails as automated. It’s very clear that receiving personalised emails containing your information is not indicative of an automated system.

PLEASE AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Sofia at Clever Lets was very helpful in expediting the guarantor process so that my family member could secure the accommodation that she wanted.

!!!AVOID!!!
I haven't come across such a sneaky, manipulative person in quite some time. Thelma Baldry, considering you are management your communication and people skills are absolutely atrocious. Underhanded and just rude! Time to retire I think hun.

If I could give a 0 to Clever Lets, I would!!!!

Had the most awful experience with them with my student accommodation, DO NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY please, wish I did more research on them. Terrible terrible service

Had been locked out and they let us in with in the hour, Thanks Jacob

If I could rate clever a 0 I would. Waiting on a new sofa we as a flat put on property file in September, we can’t sit on it anymore because it’s that broken and they still haven’t fixed it, they make so many empty promises to fix things that it’s now a miracle if they do, they keep saying it in rent arrears even tho I’m always on time for rent and to top all of this off indefinitely. THEY BLOCKED MY MOBILE NUMBER AND ANOTHER PERSONS NUMBER IN MY FLAT. Very incompetent company, with no respect for tenants.

Clever Lets never disappoint on chaos. I'm not a student just a regular working tenant. It's 27/12/23 and I've received a letter from CL telling me I'm in rent arrears for...JANUARY 2024!!!! It's still December 2023! Rent is not even due yet and all my due rent has been paid. I'm not in arrears at all. So is rent supposed to be paid twice in December? On the 1st of the month then again on Xmas Day or Boxing Day? Nope! Not at all! Not according to my tenancy or the Tenancy Act. Rent is only legally required to be paid on the 1st of the month if you pay monthly in advance. Alot of regular (non student) tenants do so. I have no idea about students.

However CL are months ahead of the rest of us and are already chasing up rent arrears for January 2024. For them it's already January 2024. So they're chasing up rent arrears for the future! Wow!!! How very unprofessional not to mention bizzare! No matter how many times you tell CL that rent is due on the 1st of every month, it doesn't matter what time of day it's paid, rent just has to be paid on the 1st, Clever Lets still don't get this.

They'll still chase you up for rent arrears at any time or day of the month, no matter how many times you challenge them on this. It'll keep happening. Even if you're not in rent arrears they'll still bother you. And you'll have to take time out of your day to send complaint emails which they'll not take on board in order to rectify the problem, or they won't answer their phones when you want to speak to someone there. If you're a decent well behaved tenant, who will pay your rent when it's due with no problem, stay away from Clever Lets. They'll hound you for rent arrears that you don't even owe. Also this is very suspicious. You show them proof of rent payment, they'll go away for abit then tell you weeks later that you're in rent arrears. So do they want extra rent payments per month? Please avoid these people at all costs.

Treat their tenants like scum. Trying to chase me and my whole house for bills that aren’t ours.
Originally back in July my housemate sorted overuse of bills, they sent us bills form previous tenants and tried to make us pay for bills from when we didn’t even live there. Now in December, 5 months after we moved out they are sending us threatening emails saying they will take us to court. I have asked multiple times to see the bills again but they just say they are looking into then sent more threatening emails.
I currently apparently owe them £900 but other housemates owe £1000, £500 and £200. All different!! Like they have pulled numbers out of the air!

When we moved into the house it was like a rubbish dump in the front and back gardens, which they said wasn’t their problem. Mouldy house and the heating broke constantly! So the heating bills can’t have been anything because half the time it didn’t work!!

Don't even deserve 1 star.

Completely incompetent company who don't uphold their own contracts. They full believe that they can bully their tenants into paying charges with zero evidence by threatening 'further action'. I moved out over a year ago and am still being contacted about arrears on my account which have already been paid or removed because they couldn't provide the evidence I asked for.

They have no duty of care for their tenants. I lived at my property for two years and made multiple complaints about the landlord letting himself into the property with no notice (violation of contract and the law), her even let himself into a locked bedroom where my female housemate was sleeping. They did nothing to help us with this and sided with the landlord stating that are issues with him were 'our opinion'.

There is zero communication with them regarding arrears and charges unless you seek it out. They mistakenly called me (expecting my guarantor) about an arrears charge that they hadn't made me aware of or even tried to contact me about.

Bottom line is, they are bullies who have no idea what they're actually doing. Avoid them at all costs unless you want to be constantly harassed about paying money that you don't even owe them.

I'll be perfectly honest, I fell for the property when I had the tour and had the amenities discussed etc. Bar a few things, the BUILDING is amazing; the staff on the other hand?

Awful doesn't cut it. Incredibly rude over the phone 9/10 times and when they aren't they're overly patronising. They couldn't care less if you say about 20 times that you're a vulnerable person with mental health issues, they assure you they put something in place and then never do, there have been several lies thrown about in my entire time trying to get this property and so much more.

Quite frankly a waste of money that could be better spent. £195/week is ridiculous even for what they offer and need I remind you, this is STUDENT accommodation. If you don't have a job at all, good luck trying to afford this on your maintenance grant alone; I've got the max loan and pretty high paying part time job and I'm STILL struggling to get my funds together.

When getting my tenancy sorted, it was a 4 month war with the company to even get it going due to mainly how much the rent is and how much is subsequently required of the guarantor.

I was told during my interview and when signing my tenancy agreement that I'd be able to cancel if I couldn't get a guarantor sorted as well as get a refund on the money that I already paid; turns out that's a fat lie because I had already signed the tenancy agreement.

When I finally moved in, there were dead moths in multiple locations, water that had been left in the bathroom sink which is a health risk, a pre-clogged shower drain, the freezer wasn't closed properly and was left on so the entire freezer space was solid ice which had to be defrosted over the course of a week and finally a bunch of other small annoyances.

I had been told multiple times what the rent was termly and had still been lied to because I just took people's word on it, it was a couple hundred pound more than what I was expecting. I paid 2-months rent in the month that 3 months rent was due despite not really having the funds and they STILL threaten me with legal action about a month before Christmas despite the fact that the next rent instalment is due in January; I had arranged this payment plan with multiple agents in the customer service role who all told me 'everything should be fine because we can still see you're paying us the required amount before January' only to be told that they've 'given me enough chances'.

I expressed my concerns about the legal threat and that it felt like a scare tactic especially considering all of the above statements about my situation only to be belittled over the phone and told it wasn't a scare tactic without letting get a word in to defend myself.

TL;DR, don't go here unless you're one of the richest students alive, don't voice your concerns because they won't even listen, don't even THINK about them having any compassion for you because they will not care. Money-hungry leeches that expect everyone to be perfect, high earners. Do NOT sign with this company.

I've already written a review for clever student. I didn't think I'd need to write another one, especially since it's been almost 2 years since my contract ended.

I received what appears to be a mass email, with the heading "DEPOSITS- Applicable to 22/23 tenants only". I don't understand why Clever Student did not simply create a mailing list for 22/23 students themselves instead of sending irrelevant emails to hundreds (if not thousands) of people.

The email asks me to log in to the deposit protection scheme and "authorise action taken" against my deposit. My deposit issues were resolved 18 months ago.

It is not necessary or lawful to keep my details for longer than needed and my contract ended almost 2 years ago. I have emailed and asked for my details to be removed although given my experiences with Clever Student I doubt this will happen.

I would not recommend using clever student.

Absolute shambles. Avoid at all costs. I was with clever last year - worst mistake I’ve made whilst being at uni, I have not received back my £115 deposit. They never responded to any maintenance issues, and if they did…the issues would never be fixed. They are impossible to get ahold of and just generally couldn’t care less.
Go with any other letting agent unless you want to be ripped off and have mice running around you all year.

One of the most stressful experiences. My son suffers with mental health and the way he was treated to end up on the day of moving to be took the accommodation was no longer available. Absolutely disgusting

I truly could not think of a worse letting agency. After moving out in August 2022, we were then hounded 6 months after for an 'over usage of bills', after sending us 'reminder' emails that were simply reminders that they monitored the bills for us.

This, however, was the start of our issues. Dodging calls, passing us around the team, refusing to speak to us, charging us different amounts and changing the amounts when questioned then ensued. We went from £300 each, to £60 each, to adding on waste removal, to one being charged £100 less than the other. The rude and disrespectful staff made the process even more infuriating.

This was before the threats of court came into play!

I would honestly recommend living at home and commuting in instead of letting from this agency. I suggest instead of giving back the deposit and then trying to grab whatever money they can 6 months later, they start operating like an actual business instead of trying to rinse students for all they have.

Terrible Awful Customer Service. Very Rude over the phone, can’t complete simple tasks, The lettings Manager Thelma Baldrige (or whatever her name is, is terrible, awful customer service skills, accused me of lying hahaha). Ellie never responds to emails and someone else’s always says “She will get back to you”. Now seeing other reviews I see why……. Customer service skills and manners cost nothing, but they have lost potential tenant. Beware, You have been warned.

USELESS LETTING AGENCY

Replied to maybe two of my MANY emails to them regarding a massive issue with another tenant. The issue was never sorted for the entire year of living with them.

Charged the flat money almost a year after our tenancy ended, refused to explain why and threatened us with legal action.

DO NOT USE THIS LETTING AGENCY

I would use this letting agency if you want to be ignored for 6 months about any damages to the property you rent. Awful awful service and allowed us to live without hot water and gas for 2 weeks because they refused / forgot to fill up the gas meter.

Did not fix a single thing the whole of our tenancy when we provided evidence - and then has the audacity to threaten us with adding money onto our rent if we didn’t pay it immediately. Literally did nothing the whole time but take our money and not fix or help us with anything.

Awful customer service, they literally can’t answer anything - everyone has about 1 brain cell and clearly don’t know anything about letting houses or how to deal with issues.

Disgusting how they are still in business.

I was just about to write a review on google when I realised they must have removed their profile, it was so bad. Too many people would have realised what a scam this is.
Then I started writing a lengthy review here, but after reading other reviews on trustpilot I don’t think it is necessary… just read all other reviews and you should get the picture, most of the issues described there happened to us as well! Clearly this is the way they are operating, they should be investigated by the council asap!
Mould: tick
Blatant lies and never-ending promises (in writing, in person, in the contract…): tick
Threats and multiple attempts to extort money: tick
Incompetent and arrogant staff who refuse to complete the right to rent check(!!!), and when reminded about it several times, after 6 months told me I cannot enter the property they expect me to keep paying for: tick
Tradies entering the property without ANY notice and walking around the house while my wife is on her own: tick
Etc, etc, etc., I could write a book about their incompetence.
When we signed the lease we believed we were paying a premium for a newly renovated house. A few months later, when autumn started and rains came, leaks appeared in several rooms, followed by mould practically in every room. When we moved out we had to throw away several items of furniture as we didn’t want to take mould with us.
I walk past the property several times every week, it was back on the market as soon as we moved out, it has been let again and there is no evidence that any work was done to fix the leaks and mould as it would have required external work. The new tenants will soon discover what they signed up for, and year after year, tenant after tenant the scam continues.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND STAY AWAY FROM THEM.

The crappiest letting agency who Monopolize the area.
Nightmarish experience for my son and his flat mate who were given the rundown, moldy, blood stained and infested property.
It was so bad that the 3 friends had to sleep for 10 weeks some where else.
We weee promised that the landlord will fix the property soon. Year passed and that “soon” has never seen the light of the day.
WORST LETTING AGENCY
If there was a Negative rating … that’s what they DESERVE