Imperial property services also sometimes referred to as Imperial services has a dominant property management and lettings for it's location. The whole business exudes professionalism from the glass fronted particular sheets advertising the latest offerings to the leather chairs for waiting customers. The staff seem committed and are helpful when answering questions. When choosing on which letting agent it can seem daunting but there is always a helpful estate agent, the problem arises when you need something repaired or when you need their help due to a landlord dispute or when you want your bond back. My advice is to be very careful when choosing a property and make sure you have taken advice from student services or citizens advice bureau for housing before making a decision. Also remember the fee doesn't mean they will be good at what they do. read more

Imperial Property Services - Real Estate Services Near Me - Cardiff, CRF

One of the, what feels like 850 Estate Agents in Cardiff, Imperial predominately deals with student properties and is therefore, conveniently located at the end of Richmond road. Every student must walk past once a day so the name is permanently etched onto their minds. My dealings were as someone looking for a private flat and I was amazed at Imperial's ability to find flats that looked exactly the same. The flats on offer weren't much to get excited about and I found their listings on websites such as findaproperty and their very own website were not updated regularly. This meant that you were probably looking at a property online that had already been taken. The staff were mixed, one friendly and helpful when showing me around. Another refusing even to acknowledge me when I walked in and was looking for help. It's a typical rental estate agents with no real attention to detail or customer care. read more

Absolutely awful. Expect at least 20% of your deposit to be taken away if you behave nicely and do not damage anything! Expect more if stuff is damaged. I think this awful 2.0 average review is already too high compared to their bad conditions and services. They behave nicely before signing the contract and awfully after signing it. In fact, you will become their cow they can milk money from. One of the major issues is that students are generally not united to defend their rights and not be exploited. Maybe a union in the future might improve things or a better unity between tenants from the same house and different houses. They will try to profit from you and exploit you as they know you are young and probably a student and do not know that much legally. They also assume you are not going to report an abuse from them or go to court. Send them an email with all your problems in the house when you arrive so that you will have a proof that you were not the one who damaged the property. I was treated with arrogance and superiority by the staff, especially by the great master of asking money and imposing herself on others (an old 40 - 50 brunette woman). They and especially this woman will threaten you with issues that are not true. They assume you do not know the law, are too weak to go to court or report them. They will almost certainly take a great portion of your deposit to pay for stuff you have not done. They will not repair anything with that money. Rather, they will keep the existing damages so that they can ask for more money from the next tenants (a house in a good shape would not be a reason to ask for damages, right?). For every problem, they will charge the person who called them (as if he certainly was the one damaged the property). If the washing machine is broken, they will ask for £10+ from the person who called them (as if he damaged it!). For us, every 2 months, the washing machine would not work. Someone would call them and they would charge us .Simply put, it was not in their interest to repair anything, but to try to charge you for as much as possible. They keep track of everything that has not worked and at the end of the contract you will be charged! Moreover, if someone you are not in good terms with damages something and he does not admit it, everyone in the house will get a portion of the fine. At the end of the contract, the major damages (that had already existed before you came) would be split among tenants and everyone charged. The walls were dirty when I came and the floor already damaged. I told them I do not want to pay for these. At the end of my contract, they asked me to pay for those damages not done by me! One of the multiple toilets has never worked. They have tried to repair with (with an incredibly horrible smell in the house), but did not improve it at all. One of the toilets was useless. I was treated with disrespect and arrogance at their office. They see you are a student and inexperienced. Please avoid if you can. They do not improve anything as they have enough houses in good central areas and know there will be people coming. read more

Money grabbing fraudsters who back off when you challenge them. Watch out, they will come up with all sorts of rubbish to try to get your bond. The unprofessional manageress Katie even offered the tenant free food if he got me to stop contacting her. Because I chased the bond she accused me of 'bullying and harassment'. If anyone has a complaint about this bunch contact The Ombudsman Service on 0800 4840424 for help. read more

Agree with the term 'money grabbing fraudsters'. Will try and charge you for things you haven't done, so take pictures of absolutely everything. We were told at the start of our tenancy that the flat needed to be repainted from previous tenants so we were able to choose whether we wanted them to paint then (during exams!) or after we had moved out. We discussed with Imperial and agreed after our tenancy - then got charged for repainting! My housemates and I read bad reviews but though 'that wont happen to us'. We were wrong, do not trust Imperial at all!! read more

Before diving into a complaint about the company (which I do very seriously dislike) I will offer one positive to offset the criticism. For all their flaws and faults, some of the deals they offer with bills included were extremely competitive compared to the prices I've paid at other places in Cardiff. The other complaints that reviewers make about them not responding to emails/ caring about tenants after they've been signed - while true, is not unique to Imperial. The nature of the market in Cardiff means that virtually every agency takes their tenants for granted. My main issue is to mention again like others their borderline criminal behaviour towards tenant's deposits. Every agency I've been with will charge a dishonest £20/£30 for 'cleaning' regardless of the state you left or found the place in. Unfortunately it's just a fact of life that unless you are willing to spend a lot of time and effort disputing agencies, they have all of the leverage when it comes to your bond. Imperial though, are the first agency I've met who start their dishonest claims on at least £150/£250. Their strategy then is to ignore every single e-mail/ evidence/ communication you send to them to dispute it until the last possible minute of their self-imposed deadlines. At which point they will ignore everything you've said and knock a small amount off the amount they've asked for - and rinse and repeat until they hope most tenants have lost the will or and under too much financial strain without their deposit and will just agree to take the hit. I've been with them three years and all the people I've seen go in that time I have seen suffer this treatment - every one without exception. They/ their main landlord Mr Abedi - is as cynical and unpleasant a person as I've ever come across. It was interesting being with Imperial for three years because I changed rooms once or twice in the same house - so I was in contact with people going through the dispute process while I was still in the house. One poor tenant Abedi insisted on holding out for months on hundreds of pounds for his deposit because of alleged damage to the walls in his room. I moved in straight after this tenant moved out, and when he finally gave in and surrendered a large chunk of his deposit - no-one from Imperial ever came to redo the walls, Abedi was just happy to pocket the cash from this not very wealthy international student and move on to the next deposit he had his eye on. When it came time for me to leave - the same claims were made again and any of my responses about how I had copies of the emails of these previous claims from the previous tenant were ignored as Abedi applied the same strategy of ignoring and delaying in the hopes of making me give up my deposit. Whatever you do, if you are going to choose Imperial - make sure in your head you include your deposit as part of your initial agency fees - because the chances are you are not going to get much out of it back. Edit: One other thing I'm shocked I forgot to mention first time around - they also couldn't give two hoots about the legal right you have to 24 hours notice for a visit. When they are trying to rent your place you will be bombarded with visits whether you know about it or have given permission or not. On more than one occasion the incredibly unprofessional and rude 'Maz' came into our house with viewers without notice and when I politely asked that next time he makes sure he sends us an e-mail to let us know he was having a visit he stated arguing with me in an unpleasant tone - in front of the people he was allowing in to visit the house!! I repeatedly e-mailed about this, contacted the Citizen's Advice Bureau but in the end Imperial's strategy of doing nothing unless actual legal action is taken won over me again. read more

Absolutely appalled at the service Imperial provides. Situated at the end of Richmond Road, it looks professional and modern, immediately drawing your attention. But please don't be fooled, especially not by all the pretty charming ladies who work in there...Here are our experiences during our 10 month contract 2010-2011: We chose an Imperial flat over one with Pinnacle, because they promised us they would build a bike shed at the rear of the property to keep our bikes safe. This was never done; the maintenance man bought the materials, which were left outside over the whole winter. This resulted in the wood rotting and the cement going hard- a complete waste of money. Nothing has been done since, despite countless reminders from us. Our fridge and washing machine were broke for the first 3 months of living here. This resulted in paying a heck of a lot of money at the launderette, and not being able to enjoy our food as most of the meats and dairy went off much sooner than they should have. A formal letter of complaint was written, and they said they would take action asap. Still nothing. When we viewed the flat we noticed under the closed blinds that our bedroom window (double glazed) had a huge crack in it. They said this would be sorted before we moved in. Nope, it's still bloody there!!! Our oven burns all our food at the bottom and doesn't cook it on top, no matter which setting we put it on. So we invested in a microwave combi oven which cost us even more money. Last year our electric box was dripping with water. This happened 3 times before someone *apparently* came to fix it. Today, it started pouring with water, causing the risk of a fire. I phoned them up and they seemed pretty laid back about the whole situation, stating someone will come and have a look at it soon. I wonder when that will be?! Before we move out at the end of the month? I doubt it! And lastly, MICE. Word of advice: Never go with this agency. read more

Cardiff's worst letting agency! Moved in to the property to find it filthy. It took months for any cleaning to be done (Most was done by ourselves). After moving out they did anything they could to hold on to our hard earned deposit money (Although the property was left in a better state than when we got it). Never respond to emails... Biggest money grabbing ''estate agents'' (I'll use that term loselly) in Cardiff... STAY AWAY, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! read more

Literally the most awful lettings agent in Cardiff - and I thought CPS were bad! They don't provide you with accurate information, they don't reply to your emails, they don't answer their phones (only once in a blue moon I've found), and the attitude of the Manager and some of the staff is simply appalling. In trying to get my final deposit back, I emailed over what I thought would suffice (final bills), however two of the bills apparently did not have the account closing date on - fair enough. However, they did not even bother to respond to my email simply to say 'sorry, these don't have the date on - could you send another bill (or whatever) over please?' - no, instead they just ignored my email and told me nothing more about my deposit until I emailed them AGAIN, and they responded several days later. Their attitude and service is literally the worst I've come across. I even read several negative reviews of them and the manager beforehand, however thought that maybe it was just a few occurrences. However after speaking to others, seeing even more negative reviews and my own experience it's safe to say that they are NOT a reliable agent. The only positive I have is that when I did live there they were relatively quick to get the maintenance team out to fix whatever the issue was, however that's probably only because I put pressure on them to as I had a young child living there. Definitely not worth renting with these people. read more

I've rented a several properties in Cardiff over the years from several different letting agents and this company is the worst by far. They ask for 12 pre-dated cheques all in one go and in my experience they attempted to cash one of them early! This resulted in a letter arriving from Imperial trying to charge me a £35 admin charge for a bounced cheque and for their mistake!! The bank had to send a fax and make a phone call to them to get them to admit their error. The bond was nearly twice a months rent and I was warned from other ex-tenants that I stood no chance of getting the full amount back regardless of the condition of our flat. I hired a cleaning company who did a thorough clean and I photographed the property extensively before I left. As expected they tried to take nearly half my bond for damages that didn't exist and for leaving the property dirty. I passed this issue over to my solicitor along with receipts and the photographic evidence. They ignored his first letter and supplied a brief explanation as to what they claimed I had damaged. All complete lies which my photo's proved otherwise. After 7 months of contacting them they said they had never meant to withhold my money and they were sorry. Unfortunately this happens to alot of people and they don't expect this to be challenged! Do yourself a favour and avoid this company. There are plenty of reputable agents in Cardiff but sadly this isn't one of them. read more

As a recent immigrant to this country I was looking for property to rent from their company. As a single female I required a property that was in a safe area. I came to Imperial to view a property in Moorhead Close by agent Leeanne from the Richmond Road office. The flat itself was a beautiful and met my requirements. I viewed the flat twice and asked a dozen questions of the estate agent. The most important question I asked was about the safety of the area. I informed her I had no car and would be walking to and from city centre as late as 10 p.m. at night. She informed me that the property was safe. I put down the estate agency fees to secure the property. However, once I started speaking to other people from Cardiff I was informed it was not a safe area and would be dangerous for me to walk at night. I was concerned, so I arranged for a friend and me to walk to Moorhead Close at roughly the same time I would walk home from work at night (10 p.m.). Not surprising, we encounter several incidents that were of grave concern. In the first incident, a woman was yelling and exposing herself to the prison near-by. Further on the street on the magic roundabout (so I'm told it is called) there were several young females prostituting themselves. Beyond that the area is quiet, dangerously quiet for a single female walking home alone. In short, the agent misrepresented the area. I asked specifically about the safety of the area and was lied to. I am very disappointed that the company did not act in the best interests of the client and that I was taken advantage of. As a recent immigrant unfamiliar with the city I expected Imperial to provide honest information about the area. read more

Have had a number of houses with them over the years, always reliable, quick maintenance service and lovely staff!!

Stay away! Quite frankly one star is giving them too much. They are crooks that will take money at every available opportunity for literally anything. When you let a property you are presented with a 4 page list of possible charges that they can impose for example £15 if a light bulb blows and needs to be replaced. They are incapable of doing their jobs correctly and when presented with a problem will literally shrug their shoulders and say theres nothing they can do oh and would you please pay them another £40 for the priviledge. Seriously, there is nothing positive about this company, the only work they do goes into making them appear professional when in reality they are anything but. read more

Hi there. If you have had problems with Imperial Property - especially with regards to deposit protection - please contact me on jessieshp@aol.com Many thanks. read more

One of the worst companies I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. Unhelpful and rude staff. Our basement area in the flat flooded and it took them 7 MONTHS to repair the damage. For at least three-quarters of that time there was no progress at all. We were left with a damp hole in the ground. Even though we cleaned the flat thoroughly when we left we did not receive our full deposit. I would honestly recommend sleeping under a bridge before I would recommend Imperial. read more

I rented off Imperial until a few years ago but my experience will never be forgotten. They bend over backwards for you and the staff are even helpful and pleasant when you are looking for a property on their lists. This all changes when you sign however. Not only do they fail to complete all necessary work that is promised, but they pass you around the office when you complain. Six months into our tenancy we had a leak in our bathroom where the floor tiles were removed. 18 months later these tiles had not been replaced and in fact we left the property with the work still outstanding. When our boiler stopped working they sent out a guy who looked like he'd never seen a heating system in his life. The workmen used when they finally got round to sending anybody out for issues were often completely untrained and lacked any technical knowledge whatsoever. I even carried out work myself when I got sick of waiting for months on end for anybody to take an interest, despite persistent phone calls. The real gem was when we moved out. Now this is the point all potential tenants need to consider before signing with Imperial. We paid an £825 bond at the beginning of our tenancy and when you look after a property, you do expect this money back. Having heard other horror stories of Imperial withholding bonds we decided to cover ourselves completely. I hired a professional cleaning company to completely clean the flat and had receipt of this. I took around 50 photographs of the property and also a video. I filmed every single window sill, surface, floor space of that flat. It was absolutely immaculate. Imperial contacted me to say they were withholding £300 of our bond to cover damage to a cooker door, cleaning because the flat was dirty, and wait for it....... damage to the laminate floor throughout the property because we had worn it out!!! Worn it out!!! I assume by walking on it for 2 years! We handed the matter over to our solicitor along with all our evidence and they argued it for nearly 6 months. When we suggested it was settled in court, Imperial offered us the £300 back and suggested it had all been a misunderstanding. No, they tried to steal our money. They also tried to cash rental cheques early on two occasions that incurred banking charges for myself. Avoid this company unless you are rich or are a sucker for a hard time. A massive thumbs down and an experience I will remember for the rest of my life. read more

little to no advance warning when they were going to do a viewing. slow to perform repairs after faults were reported. when we moved in the house was disgusting and dirty. we left it in a better state than we received it and they tried to charge £2000 for damages that were either there when we moved in or didn't happen. they also lost my key after i returned it but claimed they never received it. staff were short and pressured us into signing very quickly, and made us feel like an inconvenience more often than not. also the house had rats. would not recommend. read more

Don't! Don't! Don't rent accommodation from this company! Poor students are being taken advantage of by this company. Staff are rude when you visit the office. When washing machine and toilet don't work you have to pay for repairs, although most people would expect them to work as they are in the flat you're already paying for. If you see mice / rats and ask them to get rid of these 'pets' - guess what you have to pay again. They don't give you receipts for anything, not even for keys returned and you you get charged for not returning keys! Get evidence of everything! They make up lies to keep most of your bond. Be warned! Don't fall into the trap! Cardiff university should not be recommending or giving a high profile to these crooks. read more

nothing but problems with this property service, before moving into a property with them, I was told by a man whom showed me the property, that both gas an electric were included, upon signing the contract and moving in, I found this to be untrue. when I moved in I noticed a bad smell from the toilet, it was the drainage, until now, and my tenancy is almost over, nothing has been done, despite countless emails, I soon learned that all the drainage is connected, for example, using the washing machine means that the shower cant be used as it becomes blocked, and the sinks in the house become filled with water from the washing machine. I also had a problem with mice when I first moved in, that never got sorted, I had to ask them to simply fill the holes around the house so the rodents couldn't get in, occasionally one will die under the floor boards and smell. The disconnected fire place also hides a massive hole where the chimney has not been boarded off, and non of the hot water from the taps in this house works, only from the shower,,, the house is at 37 Woodville road flat 4, ive emailed so so many times, but everytime I'm asked to send pictures, again. The staff are ridiculously rude, this house and the property service is a nightmare, DO NOT GO WITH IMPERIAL!!! read more