Portico Property - Islington Reviews 8

I had an excellent experience working with Cullen & Portico. From the very beginning, Cullen was incredibly quick and proactive. After taking my details, she immediately shared a video of the flat, which made the whole process much easier and more transparent. She provided all the information I needed, answered every question clearly, and made me feel completely confident and safe in moving forward with an offer.

Throughout the process, she explained each step in a simple and structured way, which made everything smooth and stress-free. She definitely has “get the job done” mentality, and I appreciate that a lot, thank you for making this such a positive and seamless experience.

As a landlord I reluctantly pulled out of a letting because I didn't trust the negotiator, who found to be a glib smart @rse.
My suspitions were raise by being told I could skip reading the online contract, which was struggling to download and read, and scroll straight to the signature page.
Whether its a work culture or one rogue employee - but I shall not be using Portico to manage any of my properties in the future.

Sure enough, the commission rates agreed verbally and confirmed by WhatsApp, had been hiked and there was a list of 'optional' extras which I'd said I expected by be included in normal 'management.'

Cullen O’Leary was so helpful. After an initially poor and stressful experience with Portico Islington (why the pressure to use No Deposit Option which seems great for the agent but bad for tenant and landlord!), Cullen was great. Proactive, communicative and efficient.

AVOID.
Coerced into taking a no deposit option by making seem like there's no other option, and offers will be rejected if it is not taken.

Did not disclose to us that both windows of the flat are completely broken; do not close properly, do not open properly - hidden behind blinds on viewing days. Very remiss of an agency not to disclose this to tenants.

Extremely slow to respond to requests. Did not even perform my right to rent timeously- made me go into their office the DAY BEFORE MOVING, after I already did this, to scan a passport. Useless. Inefficient. AVOID. Unfortunately I'm trapped now after signing the contract before noticing the windows in the empty flat on moving day.

If possible ZERO ratings for Islington Portico Letting service. This my 2nd nightmare experience with this particular branch of Portico and same staff involved.

Issues with Letting Manager Islington Portico Estate agent : 2023 experience- initial client forwarded by Ms Squire : I confirmed I wanted to go ahead with down deposit and referencing but after 4 days informs me client has backed out. Meanwhile I had refused 2 good offers with better rental income from other agency.
Later continuing with Portico turned into a stressful disastrous experience after securing a tenant at lower rental/pm income as compared to other agency , who had lots of viewings and also steady offers.

Landlord duped by Megan Squire, Islington Portico 'Lettings' Manager . I wanted a ' Let ' service only and repeatedly wrote and insisted that NO rent collection by Portico.
Ms Squire, after me repeatedly refusing to sign letting agreement, made me sign it while clearing stating in email that only let and no rent collection. AST was repeatedly declined by me as it stated rent collection by Portico. Again Ms Squire agreed by email that rent collection by landlord but slipped in a sentence in AST where first month rent would be collected 72 hrs before moving in from tenant with an 'asterisk' . No mention i.e. no transparency, that this would mean that first month rent collection from tenant will not me transferred directly into Landlord bank account. This led to a 'statement'/'bill' from Portico( charging me a ridiculous amount) that though AST clearly states Landlord will collect rent it also had sentence that the first rent collection would be collected by Portico: but due to lack of transparency/duplicity, process of rent collection was set up ? for whole year ( huge administration fees etc) and the first month rent was collected from the tenants first month advance but the total cost of which (bill/statement) was more than the first month rent so LANDLORD has to pay £ 500.00 to Portico for this so called 'statement'/'bill' rather than receive 1st advance rent payment! I , the landlord, was totally unaware of this and kept asking for full and final invoice for letting service. The Portico invoice was now more than 1 month rent for 'Let ' service only ( not including the statement for 1st month rent ) i.e. in short I am now charged two and half months rent for a 12 month 'Let 'tenancy in which I , the landlord, will collect the rent for next 11 months from tenant, manage property and also set up deposit. No mention was made to me, Landlord , of inventory by Portico and in fact the Portico inventory is totally different from Landlord inventory done by me prior to tenant moving in ! Worse is that invoice and statement do NOT GIVE BANK DETAILS to which money is to be paid (Portico invoice ,'statement'/'bill' clearly state: we do not provide bank details for payment in email !) Even a plumbing service and minor repair services provided invoices with bank details like Account name, sort code and account number for bank transfer .Despite of me having stated from the start, that I would need invoice , then after payment by bank transfer of invoice I would expect the tenant's 1 month advance payment along with Deposit to be deposited in my bank account , I received none of these. I received the tenant's deposit which is now in custodial govt. approved scheme, Portico to date has failed to provide me with a proper break up charges etc nor bank details in Invoice . This is NOT the first time Megan Squire has done this - in 2022, both tenant and myself wanted to extend tenancy but reading ridiculous fleecing clauses of extension of tenancy contract , I did not proceed . I have sent all emails from Ms Squire trying to mislead, dupe me to my legal advisor and asked why Portico invoice or statements do not comply with legal requirement providing bank details like other Estate agents. Advice to landlords : keep clear of Islington Letting Agents , beware of agents/managers like Megan Squire who will take you for ride ;keep all email communication and read READ all small print and DO NOT SIGN AST even if you receive emails from managers like Ms Squire/ any estate agent that the clause will not apply in your case. I will NEVER again consider Portico for any of my properties ( neither rent nor sale) nor advice either landlords or tenants to deal with them. Tenants too be ware as my last tenant struggled for weeks to get deposit back despite of me, the landlord, having given permission for return of full deposit.

SC

I’m very grateful to Elianna Blankson for helping me find the ideal rental property. She is professional and friendly, consistently providing excellent rental services. She patiently answered all my questions and was very supportive throughout the entire rental process. I highly recommend Elianna as a rental agent; if you’re looking for a trustworthy professional to assist you, she is definitely the best choice. Thanks again to Elianna; I’m truly satisfied with my rental experience!

We rented 40a Cloudsley Rd N1 through Portico Islington for 6 weeks whilst we were having our own property renovated. Despite this being a short term let (and pre paid in full) they took a deposit equating to 5 weeks rent. They did a check-in but we never received a copy of the report.
When we left this property on 28th of May 2022 their office was closed despite advertised as open so I put the keys through the letter box and emailed them stating this and asking when I might receive my deposit back, I never received a response. I chased this again on the 31st and once again I did not receive a response. I phoned later that week and the guy that answered the phone told me that they had in fact received the keys, but knew nothing about my deposit and the the lady we originally rented off would be back the following week and he would ask her.
She finally emailed on June 6th to confirm receipt of the keys but ignored my question about my deposit. When I queried this again she said that the deposit would be released when the check-out report was completed.
Since then we have been ignored and passed around repeatably. During our time at the property the boiler stoped working and portico sent someone to fix it. The plumber struggled to find the issue and even needed to remove part of the kitchen unit to discover the issue was low pressure.
Portico is now saying it is our responsibility to pay the £200 call out fee. They tell us we need to pay, we ask for an explanation, and to show us where this was stated in our agreement and they do not respond. The again come back a few weeks later telling us to pay and again we ask for a further explanation.
It's as if they want to keep going round in circles till we concede. On June 21st they emailed to say there was some missing items from the property. We responded to say that we never saw these items at the property and refer to the check in report and photographs and again they never responded so we have no idea if they are still trying to claim for these.
On June 27th they stated they would release the undisputed funds and to date (Jul 7th) we are still waiting.
Avoid Portico at all costs.

My flatmate and I rented with Portico Islington from December 2020 to February 2022.

When I arrived in the flat it had not been professionally cleaned. It took three weeks of antagonising back and forth for the agents to agree that we would not be liable for a professional clean at the end of the tenancy.

When our kitchen sink got blocked we were immediately gaslit into thinking we were responsible by both the property manager and the handyman, and we were threatened with charges. When it was discovered that the blockage had nothing to do with us, we received no apologies for the previous threats. It took two weeks for this simple drain blockage to be fixed.

The property we rented had been very poorly refurbished. A lock was missing on the door when we moved in, the kitchen tap was not attached, and the flooring was incomplete.

The bathroom fan did not work and the bathroom suffered continuous mold. Again, we were blamed for this with no evidence. I informed the property manager when we moved out that the mold problem was recurring. They did not suggest that they would take action.

Communication with the agency was deeply flawed, we never received confirmation that our deposit was protected, property managers took up to a week to reply to our emails if ever, they were uncontactable by phone.

When we moved out the landlord attempted to charge us for breaking an item that was listed as intact on the inventory.

Regardless, we have now received our deposit back so we are rid of this agency, hopefully for good.

Do not rent with Portico Islington.