Help me become a Londoner!

[Peter Corlett]

On 19 Nov 2009, at 12:32, David Cantrell wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 11:44:44AM +0000, Dermot wrote:
>> On this point all I would say is avoid Foxtons.
> Why?


They are very slimy.

I had a bit of time on my hands, so thought I'd give them a spin,  
partly because I was actually looking for property and could use a few  
leads, and partly because I wanted to see if their reputation was  
accurate.

I specifically asked for one bed flats in Fulham for about £200/week  
as an opening move, knowing the market rate to be about £220-240/week.  
I'd set myself a hard limit of £240/week.

They claimed they had a few, and so we pottered around in one of their  
famous Minis. What I was being shown was a succession of flats in  
scummy corners of West Kensington for ~£280/week, until I pointed out  
that I hadn't just come off the banana boat and this wasn't Fulham.  
Eventually, they bothered to show me some dingy flat that was  
technically Fulham, but not terribly convenient for public transport.  
We parted our ways.

The following day, my phone went mental with calls from various  
Foxtons offices around London, trying to offload their properties on  
me. My details had been shared around without my consent.

Eventually, I took a recommendation of a small agency from a friend in  
Fulham, and was immediately shown exactly what I was looking for at a  
fair price. It was all sorted out within a week. Result!

(It's "The Letting Company", and they seem to have since expanded  
across west and south-west London.)