Fresh Estate Agent & Residential Lettings - Swansea SA1

Had such a positive experience with Fresh. Massive shout out and thank you to Rob and Amy, who were so helpful, personable and communicative, and made everything feel really straightforward from start to finish. Would highly recommend Fresh to anyone looking to rent in Swansea!

Rob in Fresh Lettings has helped me find several tenants over the past few years. Always professional and speedy to work with.

*Landlord under Fresh avoiding liability for council tax payments, ignoring tenancy agreement condition, lying about knowledge of previous conversations and putting financial and legal strain on past tenant whilst playing the system/grey areas for landlords!* Details; I rented a property with Fresh, under the landlord Salah Kamil. On moving in the landlord offered to increase the rent by £100 to cover the council tax. I confirmed all details with him relevant to this, that I was working full time and was a single occupant. This sounded great and the ways of having all bills, rent and tax be covered in own payment was easy! What I didn’t know at the time, was that this isn’t allowed for the property type I was him and only legal for HMOs. For the 3 years I was there, there were no issues and Salah proved to be helpful, communication and a lovely landlord. When I left the property, I received notices from the council for unpaid tax for the last 5 months I was living there. The landlord had not paid the council tax in this time (me being under the pretence that he has this covered and it was included in the rent). At the time I was having constant calls with the council, communication the situation, sending all evidence of the tenancy through. I had also attempted contact with both Fresh and Salah, with no response. Approximately a year later, I’d not heard anything so assumed that it was all sorted and paid up as it should be. However, I have just received another letter from the council tax department with notice! After a phone call, they confirmed that Salah should never have advertised the ‘tax included’, but despite him being in the wrong, unfortunately the law states it sits with me and as we all know, there is little renters protection. Salah is refusing to comply, ignoring all liability and stating that all our conversations and agreements are not evidenced and never happened. Despite it being in the contract/tenancy agreement!! I hoped better for this agency and this landlord, but as many do, he’s pocketing five months of tax with the financial and legal strain now being put on me - full well knowing what to say to entrap me in this situation and make me pay. We know renters have little protection, but letting agencies need to do better to protect their clients, uto actually read the contracts landlords are issuing and to hold landlords accountable for their wrong doing. I am stressed, upset with the money I now have to pay up and ongoing failings of the rental system!! I ask that Fresh step up and resolve this, holding Salah Kamil accountable for bad practice.

Fresh have been excellent in dealing with my rental property, I can always rely on them to communicate any issues promptly and offer a good service and helpful advice to address any problems that may arise.

Great experience of selling with Fresh (Swansea) from valuation stage with Simon through to negotiations with Sian who went over and above expectations at every stage. Many Thanks to you all.

I don't know what this company is like as a sales agent but as a lettings agent for student lettings. I must say the customer service and interaction is one of the poorest on the block. The property Manager Alicia Cardone, is rude and condescending in email interactions that I was forced to always copy her entire office inclucing the kitchen sink into conversations to ensure I'm not attacked in email interactions (Not that it ever stopped her). To give context to my review, below is her most recent email to me. "This is unfortunately the downside of a shared property, which you signed up for. In line with HMO regulations, there is more than enough space in the kitchen to store your food and belongings. Not a problem and yes it has been locked previously. I can only assume it has mistakenly been left unlocked by a contractor. I allowed them to store belongings in there for one day and yes they did pay for it, not that this is any of your business and the landlord agreed for this. This was a condition of their tenancy. Finally, I can see your vacation date is 10th March, can you please confirm as per the notice that this is still the case and you will be leaving on this date?"

I have sold two house recently with fresh and have had mostly a positive experience. Both houses sold quickly and all the staff answering the phone in the sales office were very helpful and always did exactly what they promised. They were always keen to get the sale completed. My only criticism is the branch manager. He tried to bully me into taking a lower offer by presenting misinformation. It was obvious he just wanted a quick easy sale. He seemed frustrated with his work and even made a derogatory remark about landlords which I am one! His behaviour was disappointing as all of the other staff were first class.