AB-FlatMate

During my time with AB Flatmate they ignored my right to 24 hours notice of them sending people into my room... on 5 occasions. During 3 of these the workmen had clearly been climbing on my bed in their work boots, and twice the so called 'repairs' they carried out did basically nothing. One time when I found there was a mouse in my room, I cleaned it and asked them for preventative measures. They sent someone into my room (again without permission or notice) and told me they'd used a 'strong product', without informing me of what it was. It turned out to be a mouse-trap, but I wonder if they would've bothered to tell me if it had been poison. Oh, and they took a year to let us know about the installation of a new carbon monoxide detector in the kitchen - safe!

Everyone in the house has a bad story about AB Flatmate. Apparently on several occasions they have tried to cover themselves by claiming that the company head is 'on holiday', only for him to turn up at the door when the tenant in question threatens legal action. On one instance they tried to take a third of a tenant's deposit for 'overuse of utilities', I suspect because she was moving to Germany and they thought they could get away with it.

Whoever is handling their admin is also a joke. On several occasions, including me moving out of the property, I have asked them to keep me up to date on details and they haven't bothered. A new person is moving in tomorrow, and they still haven't told me what I need to do in terms of giving back keys, cleaning the room and so on.

If you rent with AB Flatmate, you will NEED to show them that you won't take their ridiculous service lying down. If you are willing to deal with them when they are incompetent or if they act illegally, then you should be able to manage. Complaining about how terrible the company is will be a good way for you to bond with your new housemates. Get a paper trail for everything and hold them accountable.

Once I have my deposit back, I'll be complaining to the property ombudsman about them.

I lived in a house of theirs in London. When I arrived at the house it was in such poor condition! After complaining, they promised to fix the facilities and clean the back garden. They never did! I lived there for 11 months and never did they clear the garden. I was the only one in the house who cleaned and when the reat of the household failed to clean the house they sent cleaners who hardly did anything and then charged us each £20 (£140 in total paid by 7 members of the house) which is absolutely outrageous!
They then brought in a second cooker but never fully installed it. After emailing them numerous times asking them to install it, the existing cooker broke and we were left without a cooker for 2 days. Our internet was also not working for over 2 weeks and they said it was our responsibility to sort it out. That month I paid £30 less rent because of the expense of eating out and the additional data purchaced for my phone.
When it came to paying my deposit back they charged me £70 because of my failure to pay the £30!
I am not the only one in my household who experienced such terrible service from AB Flatmate.
DO NOT EVER RENT FROM THEM!

I am in London for the summer and been living in a youth hostel for the past week. I was really wanting to get my own place but no landloard wanted to rent me a place for 3 months even in a shared house.
One of the people living in the youth hostel advised me to contact some agencies specialized in short time, so I contacted several agencies.

I got an almost immediate answer from the "AB-Flatmate" agency who proposed me a suitable room near Padington where I work. I got a personal visit from the place and the room and signed immediately for 3 months starting the day after the visite, which was ok for me.
The only drawback would be the £85 administrative fee which I find quite a lot for the service proposed.

I found their attitude very professional and they understood my needs and so I would recommend their services.

Hi everybody!
I would like to talk about ab-flatmate agency, because my experience was nice with this agency! I didn't have any problem in my house. The employees of the agency are very flexible and available to reply at my questions by email. When I moved in, my wardrobe was broken in my room, the maintenance came in two days after to change my wardrobe for a big wardrobe. It was better for my clothes!
My flatmates were nice and it is perfect to improve my english!

I recommend Ab-Flatmate.

Sofia

Was anyone ever threatened with eviction?
This is the worst agency I have come across
They are rude
They called us 'aggressive' and 'annoying'
They never took our complaints seriously, instead they took everyone else's complaints about us seriously and as law.

The agency owner (Roger Allouche) requested to have a meeting with and proceeded to talk over me, shout over me and not me talk.

In the 8/9 months we rented the room the agency had NEVER let us know they were any noise complaints, they only decided to let us know when they decidedly serve us with notice to leave the apartment.
He proceeded to let me know that EVERYONE, past tenants and current tenants had an issue with us, which was untrue seeing as though we got along with more than half of the tenants.
We had an issue with rats once, and the didn't let us know UNTIL we saw a mouse in the bedroom.
When we called the agency they told us they already knew and they dealt with the issue, which was untrue because we saw a rat that very same day, and many days after that in the kitchen.
They then proceeded to tell us that 'we have to let them know by email so they can take action', the agent said this AS I was on the phone telling her the very same issue, which didn't make sense to me.

He exaggerated claims and complaints made towards
Us, for example me and my roomate never doing the cleaning, which was bull$#*!, because I have made several complaints to the agency about no one following the cleaning rota, doing more housework than I should have been doing, sometimes cleaning multiple times per week for other lazy housemates.
Also 'all of the tenants found us to be loud, aggressive or intimating' which was a blatant lie because we built quite good friendship with some
Of the tenants, even swapping telephone numbers and cooking for them.

We had sent long emails, and all we ever got were 3,4 lines of generic emails.
He also stated that 'until we had moved in no one had ever complained this much about any other tenants'.

I don't know if it was because of our skin colour or because we were quite vocal and forward towards
Things that needed fixing and things that needed to dealt with, but we found them very biased, condescending, patronising and very hard to speak to.

Everytime I spoke to one of their agents or the manger on the phone, it was a screaming match, he has the tenacity to talk over you on the phone, put ac sustains towards you and expects you not to defend yourself.

Stay away from this agency, they seem to only help who they have in common with.
I find it strange that in a multiple occupancy household, me and my roomate were the only ones of African Descent and having all these issues, all our complaints were taken lightly or ignored, and everyone else's against us was magnified, exaggerated or dealth with sharply.
We have lived in other acomadation and I can assure you our previous landlords have not had a SINGLE issue with us.

Their agents cannot count, there were two occasions were my partner had to do his OWN calculations on the rent owed deposit which turned out to be true.
We were also told that if anyone complained about us, even just once, they would serve us notice, sure enough two weeks later, we were told tenants (pretty sure I know who) had complained that we were smoking in the bathroom and in our room (we are non smokers, other tenants smoke outside the property and leave the front door and their bedrooms windows open) that we were slamming doors and windows, the oven door was broken which was false, and that we were leaving blood in the bathroom which was ridiculous, because that was OUR original complaint to the agency in the first place.

They seem to help and support their own.
Stay away

Well, after ONE month living here I'm desperate for moving out. Everything in the house is fixed in the cheapest way possible, that's includes the cheapest home appliances possible, the worse internet connection ever, the people in the house stealing food and with no more than an email from the agency remembering that this is not allowed, so they don't care so much who is living in the house, they only care about the money and that's all.

Today I found a dead fox in the yard, because they didn't repair the yard's fence yet. The only way to contact with them is by mail, so in case of urgency don't expect any quick help. I copy the mail that I received after this, it seems that they have a copy/paste for every situation.

"We will ask our agents to come in as soon as possible and deal with the back garden issue.

We apologise for the situation.

Best Regards,

Team AB-Flatmate"

Completely Pitiful! And the worse is that we pay an incredible amount of money for a room in zone 4. I don't recommend nobody to make any business with them.

I booked a room with AB Flatmate last October for 3 months. I found a room on their website, and after visiting the room I booked it with an agent.
It was absolutely not the room of my dreams (kinda small and not perfectly clean) but it was close to a metro station, and it was very important for me.
Anyways I don't give 5 stars because as I said the room was not awesome, but a least it fitted with my budget and and could move in quickly. (The rent was £150 per week, and I moved in 2 days after i visit the room)
I received my deposit back last week, £50 were missing because my roommates and I didn't clean the common areas every week.
I paid £85 for the agency fees, which is correct I think.

Anyways I had a good experience with them even if it was not always perfect.

Hello everyone,

I booked a room for 2 months with AB flatmate in summer 2015. My experience was not the best one. There were hidden fees and charges in the contract e.g. if you want to move in out office hours (after 6pm) or if a friend of yours decides to sleep-in even for a night they will charge you for that. The people who were dealing with my booking were always different and some didn't know anything about the prior arrangements. Good thing was that I managed to receive my deposit back in 30 days (after I reminded them). The place I stayed in was nice, I had very big room with lots of storage place and it was generally clean (apart from dirty dishes in the kitchen). Overall, they might seem dodgy but they were not scammers. 3/5

Hope this helps :)

If I could I would give these guys 0/5. Yes, they are that bad. Avoid them. Like. The. $#*!ing. Plague.

Gouging prices for the measly rooms. 10 people with only 2 showers. Was initially advertised as a professional houseshare only to be filled with obnoxious, inconsiderate students. Despite notifying the agency on a near daily basis, the aural assault continued. They, quite clearly, could not give a single flying $#*! about you or your concerns.

I am strongly recommending to avoid this accomodation company. We had so many problems from begginning. Firstly we came and we already knew the price of the room. Unfortunately it wasn´t the same price in the contract. Deposit wasn´t the same either! We had to fight about the price with them 2 hours. They needed to call 10x to the agency because they didn´t have the "responsibility for this". I really regret the young people working there, who knows nothing about the conditions and almost can´t speak English! (Mostry French) They always sent a person who knew nothing about our situation. They couldn´t count! We had to literally fight with them about every single penny. We left from the house 15.09.2015. We still don´t have the deposit back! They always says: No problem. But at the end it is a BIG PROBLEM. They gave us a check for deposit. But! With not at the name we asked plus with wrong amount in number and with letters. We wrote them we want the deposit back on bank account. Their answer was: OK, we will send you a new check! The conclusion is: They can´t count, read, write and speak! Good luck with cooperation with them if you choose them.

Hey!

I actually live in a room of ABFLATMATE agency, and the room is very clean. I have lots of space to tidy all my staff, and the common parts are very good, we even have a living room (that is very unusual in London). Moreover, i had some problems with one of my roomate who was very dirty, and the agency done the maximum to change it, because he really makes an effort! Now everybody clean after themselves, and there is a good atmosphere.
I'll leave my room in one month and i've send my notice form!
Normally, I will receive my deposit 30 days maximum after my departure, I hope so!
I really like my room, and my house!

Mickael