William H Brown Estate Agents

Feb 25th, 2023

Seems I gave this five stars years ago when we rented a property through this estate agent. Time to rectify that, I think. I could write an essay on everything that went wrong with them, but I'll summarise to the best of my recollection: It started with one of their Liverpool staff contacting us via text and asking if we'd "like" our rent increased. Originally just by 5%. We agreed. Around two weeks later, we were told by her that she meant 15%. Asked us again if we'd "like" an increase. After much deliberation to determine what we wanted to do, we conclusively said no. A week later, she asked us if we'd changed our minds. Because of course we must have. Silly us for making a difficult decision. While explaining yet again that we'd already agreed to a 5% increase but refused to agree to a 15% increase, and that the liability of that agreement lies with the person that agreement was made with, the staff member simply hung up. Excellent professionalism. Later discovered that it was that staff member at fault for the 'misunderstanding' in the first place. They ignored our notice (emailed to their offices, sent via registered mail, and sent to the landlords). They then tried to demand payment. This is over a month after we'd moved out, and landlords had moved their relatives in. Oh, and they, in fact, owed us money. Of course they didn't tell us that, the landlords did. It took them countless emails to various branches (William H Brown is but one head of this hydra) and offices to sort out. Despite repeatedly providing evidence of and confirmation of receipt of our notice. And the time for them to sort it all out? More than two months after we'd moved out and more than a month after our lease ended. During which we were also phoned and asked if there's a carbon monoxide alarm, in a place we'd vacated over a month before. Which reminds me. They will text you to ask about appointments with various bodies such as electricians, plumbers, certifications, inspections, etc. Of course, you can text them back, but they will never respond or in any way acknowledge receipt of your text. They will ask you, the tenant, if the landlord has made an appointment. Why not ask the landlord? Courtesy is not exactly their forte. So, yes, they kept over 1,000 of our money (deposit and monies owed) through the Christmas season, during the cost of living crisis :) Imagine if we depended on it. My advice if you deal with this company: document everything. Get everything in writing. Go the extra mile to cover your bases. They absolutely do not have your best interests in mind. And, clearly, there's no love lost between them and their landlord clients either. We documented everything. I strongly recommend you do the same. And don't rely on getting your deposit back quickly. You've been warned.
Feb 19th, 2023

With being a first time buyer, I worked with Sophia Graham as my financial advisor and I cant recommend her enough. Made the entire process as quick as easy as possible, even with the lack of knowledge of the process from myself!
Feb 6th, 2023

We arranged our mortgage through Sofia Graham, we feel 5 star's isn't enough, due to our circumstances we were given a limited time frame to have a mortgage set in place, Sofia went above & beyond and managed to get everything sorted well within the time frame meeting all our requirements. Sofia kept in contact throughout the whole process so we were well informed and kept up to date. We highly recommend Sofia.
Feb 4th, 2023

Jan 24th, 2023