Masters of Cunning, the Fox-tons (Foxtons)

Member Name: jojoegypt2008

Product:	Foxtons
Date:	09/01/09 (547 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You see a lot of property in a short time

Disadvantages: The hard sell, the spin, the over-pricing, the fees, the sheer Peter Mandelson-ness of it all

We've just rented a flat in London, and having been looking for a while, I'm glad to find somewhere to write about my experiences with Foxtons, as letting agents.

They are truly the masters of spin - the training must be rigorous, and the whole brand is very seductive. It's so easy to walk into a shiny, clean branch, be sat down and offered a drink (coffee or soft drink), and be coddled by a nice man in a suit who makes it seem like all your problems are over, that he'll take away the hours of trawling the internet, walking to properties described as "minutes from Angel tube station" (how many minutes is never spoken of), and you start to relax. Then he says he can show you his "five best properties and get a feel for your needs". How many he must have, you think.
You get into his shiny little foxtons car and zoom off to look around some flats. The car smells lovely and is so warm in the cold winter evening...


STOP RIGHT THERE. Get out of the car and step away from this man.

The branch I used was in Islington, and the letting agent was friendly and seemed to want to let me a property more than anything on earth. Of course he did, they charge a whopping £360 "fee" for finding you the property, doing a credit check and references, and "paperwork". He gets a slice. And he wants it.

Having seen some apparently great places, the Foxtons man would ring every morning to see how I was. I felt like I had a new friend. I knew he was from Edinburgh and loved his job, and was looking for a flat himself. He felt my pain. He was committed.

I took my other half to see the two flats I had ear-marked. They were "really close to transport links to Bank" (our requirement). Luckily my other half is cynical. We viewed the places, and walked to the bus stop/tube stop. We did the journey, and realised that cars are a lot faster than pedestrians/buses. These properties were in the middle of nowhere in terms of transport and amenities.

Then I went to Gumtree. Guess what? Not only are the properties not where you think they are, they're over-priced too. Landlords pay Foxton's a fee to manage lettings, and they want you to carry the cost, so the rent goes up. As much as £40 a week over the going rate.

I'd fallen into the trap, seen properties we couldn't afford, that weren't where we needed them to be, and that weren't worth renting through Foxtons (a private let would have been a different matter).

I'm not averse to paying for a service, and the service is pretty fine (if you ignore them trying to make you spend more than you can afford, and live where they have properties to let, rather than where you want to live, oh, and did I mention the "hard sell" - 'I've got three more viewings this evening, this flat is going to go if you don't take it now'; followed by a phone call two days later asking if you want to view it again....); but you don't need it.

At the moment there's property to spare, and at good prices. Gumtree/Loot can help you find people letting privately (there's a search function for this specifically on the London Gumtree), and then you don't have the £360 fee to factor in to your costs.

Steer clear of Foxtons, do the legwork yourself, and treat yourself to a slap-up meal (with that £360) when you find somewhere. We did, and we're really glad.

Summary: DIY beats easy option