Keylet Sales & Lettings

Keylet have one of the funkiest letting offices going in Cathays, if not of the whole of Cardiff, or even the world — well, maybe that’s going a bit too far, but it is pretty funky with its bizarre circular design and and strange gaps in the floor where you can look down at some office monkeys working away below.
Keylet are very helpful when looking for a place, if not badgering, to get you to look at them. I had all but given up on looking for a house share when Keylet rang me up regarding a viewing I had taken on recently. They took me to a house that was perfect for me, location wise and cost wise.
We have had some problems with appliances breaking here and there, it may take them a little time to do it, but it does get done in the end, but then again that may be down to the landlord. You do have to pay a £75 agency fee to Keylet for the pleasure but your bond does get stashed away in one of those external bond companies, so it is easier to quibble if you don’t get the amount back that you were expecting. So far, no major disasters but then again I am only 2 months into my tenancy, I shall see how it goes.

Just. No.
When you start thinking about looking for somewhere to live in your second year of university, your university should provide you with a list of recommended agencies and landlords to go through (if they don’t, ask them about it).
You’ll notice that Keylet isn’t on that list. It’s not on that list for a very good reason: Keylet are evil. The sole purpose of Keylet is to rip off unsuspecting, vulnerable students. Stay far, far away from them.
I wasn’t involved with the choosing of my second year house. I left it in the hands of a group of friends, who, for whatever reason, chose to go through Keylet. Despite the shocking agency fees, at first I didn’t think they’d done too badly. The house was quite nice: a good size but cosy, with everything we needed. By the time we moved in in September though, I realised what the Keylet agent had successfully stopped us from noticing: the damp, the unfinished bathroom, the cupboard under the stairs filled with the landlord’s paint and other flammable things…
And, after we’d been there for almost a month, we finally met our landlord. The landlord who’d turned up to start fixing doors and painting walls that I’m sure should have been done in the two whole months no-​one was living there. And then when something genuinely did need fixing, like the heating or a light switch or a door either the landlord couldn’t be bothered to do it, or — equally likely — the Keylet agent who was supposed to organise all this for us didn’t tell him it needed doing.
When we viewed the house, the agent told us that the landlord was «a fantastic guy», «the best landlord we have», that he’d «do anything you needed him to». Instead we ended up with a man who couldn’t care less about what we needed, or getting a professional to fix things properly, and who told me that «all windows leak when it rains a lot» … Really?
And then, when we finally moved out, we get billed for all the things that were wrong with the house before we’d even moved in. Because that’s just how Keylet roll. The money stealing gits.

It’s a time honoured tradition of letting agents to screw people over. It’s how they make their money, after all. «Oh, your mates are moving out of a house and you’d like to make sure you and another group of friends can move in straight away? Well, that’s going to be £250 agency fees. That’ll pay for all the contracts we’re going to print out for you. In about four months. If we feel like it.» I’m well aware of this fact, and I factor all douche-​fees into my accounting when dealing with estate agents.
So understand that when I say Keylet takes the goddamn cake, I know what I’m talking about. I’d never witnessed such incredible incompetence until I rented a student house with them, and never thought I would again (but that’s a topic for another review).
In what society is it considered fine for an estate agent to be made aware of problems 2 months before new tenants move in, only to not have fixed them AT ALL, but also to deny ever being told about them and, when presented with e-​mail evidence of them being told, to say the tenants FORGED the e-​mail and the reply? And furthermore, to not only not fix the issues for the entire length of the year long tenancy, but then try to bill the renters for the damage, which they had also tried to do to the previous tenants?
Keylet is an incompetent, malicious company based around the business model of thoroughly screwing any customers that are unlucky enough to not have already heard their reputation. Landlords and tenants alike, do not use them. If you see a house you like with Keylet on the front, try your hardest to contact the landlord directly and do everything through him. Keylet will screw you over.

Everything about our experience with this letting agent was fantastic.
We called up, looking for a house for the next academic year. We arranged a booking with a secretary who was friendly and efficient. When we met up, the man who showed us around took us to a variety of properties, including ones that weren’t on his list, that we bugged him to take us to!
Back at the agency, having seen a house we liked, we were given time to think about our decision without being hassled.
We decided to go for it and had a two week period between paying our agency fees (to get the property off the market) and signing the contract. This was good because it allowed us to calmly assure ourselves that it was what we wanted.
Going back for the signing, we were shown downstairs (this did scare us a little — I felt as though we were being led to a dungeon) and greeted by another office of happy looking staff. Everything was explained to us clearly.
I left feeling as though I was right to trust them.