Hope Estates

I am currently in my final year of study at Durham University and have rented properties from a number of agents and private landlords in Durham. I am pleased to say the Hope Estates have been the best by far! Staff are pleasant and always willing to help in any way possible, furthermore always quick to respond to problems. We as a household would definitely recommend Hope Estates to other students studying in Durham in the future. Thanks for all of your help and support over the past year.

Houses in gilesgate went up from £99ppw to £160ppw in one year.

Their houses are reasonably maintained but watch out for them pushing tenants around, threatening them with all sorts of silly sanctions...

Avoid this company at all costs !!!My Daughter is currently locked into an incredibly unreasonable, one sided lease with these people. Very substandard property; broken furniture, exposed wiring, mouldy appliances... All issues raised with the landlord met with distain.Most recently, the Landlord has decided to replace the roof on the property, at two weeks notice, no mention of this intent when the property was leased only 3 months ago. When I called to seek some explanation was met with an extremely hostile reaction, no hint of an apology for inconvenience or attempt at conciliation. Entirely unreasonable to undertake such work during a tenancy... ample opportunity to carry out these repairs during the summer months when the property was empty.Do not give these people your money.

Great letting company, staff always friendly and responsive.

Avoid, avoid, avoid!My experience with this agency has not been pleasant eg they commissioned major refurbishments to take place during (not between) tenancies and only gave a day’s notice - so that despite paying full rent, students were unable to use kitchen facilities for nearly two weeks. No reduction in rent was forthcoming.Customer service appears non-existent. It is usual at the end of a tenancy to return the deposit - or to advise tenants if there are to be deductions. The tenants have still not received the return of their sizeable deposit or been advised of deductions, even though the tenancy came to an end six weeks ago. Hope Estates has not responded to correspondence about the deposit, apart from issuing a standard email saying they aim to respond to emails within five days (which they haven’t). When I did manage to get through by telephone, it was answered by someone who said she did not really work there but that she was helping out because all staff were off sick and that as they had 400 properties to manage, she didn’t know when they would be able to release the deposit.