John D Wood & Co. Reviews 

This company are scammers, they ask for holding deposit then ask for 2yrs of rent upfront and when i told them it wasn’t possible they said they were going to issue a refund and it has been almost 3 weeks now and they haven’t issued it yett

no deposit back after 10 weeks

I rented from John D Wood for 2 years. They were unbelievably incompetent and non-responsive for the entire tenure. now I have to ring them every week to try to get my deposit back.

RENTERS BEWARE
John D Wood is a very deceitful company. They are withholding my rental deposit after nearly 4 week’s without a satisfactory explanation. They have ignored all requests and constantly lie to me. RENTERS BEWARE

We have dealt with John D Wood in Wandsworth both to purchase a property and to sell one. Our experience has been positive, particular with Stewart Harrison, Head of Sales, who was extremely responsive, knowledgeable and on the ball. Stewart always took the time to speak to us, answer questions and give advice. Jimmy Gallagher was also fantastic.

John D Wood owns APW, a lettings management company. Having raised a complaint against APW, I was, after a ridiculous amount of badgering, passed to John D Wood. Despite terrible reviews of APW already in place and after providing (several times) a list of 14 significant issues, I was informed they had done nothing wrong. Well, if the service (or lack thereof) I received was ‘fine’, goodness knows what this company thinks is poor service. Absolutely dreadful experience. I share another reviewer's frustration when they said they'd rather give their house away than use these guys again. Truly awful. Please don't use them.

I lost 4 moths and 7k in fees because of misrepresentation. They fail to ask or choose to hide basic facts prior to listing a property causing a lot avoidable stress when you work with the right agent.This is fraud in the name of business Buyer be aware! Stay away.

From start to finish with seeking a rental property, Amanda and Anna were so helpful in guiding me through the process so everything ran smoothly up to when I moved in. Even the Landlord was present then to show me all about the appliances.
I cannot commend John D Wood highly enough as regards letting properties to a tenant such as myself.

Absolutely Tragic Organization

Failure to execute basic needs prior to move in- including ensuring lightbulbs were functioning. Failure to deliver resolutions to Damp issues preceding tenancy agreement. Even after escalating issues this organization failed to deliver anything in a timely manner. Incredibly disorganized and charging a 17.5% fee to landlord for Property "Management" when in reality they put the management of the property on the tenant. As others have said, quick to demand if they need anything from tenant, slow to react if anything is need of them. If I am a landlord I am steering clear of this organization or risking potential lawsuits.

Unprofessional, non-responsive and DO NOT return deposits timely
I had a problem slumlord with endless defects in the flat at 4100 a month. Landlord used JDW chelsea/earls court to manage the property. The pod never responded to email to fix anything. After 6 months we agreed to leave and pay less rent. The kid and his colleagues delayed releasing £4700 deposit for 18 days after moving out using any and all excuses until I threatened to file a dispute! Buyer be ware.

We bought our house through John D Wood at the end of 2023.

Wai, in Oxford, was brilliant and kept in touch all the way through the process.

We are very satisfied with a capital V with the service we received to sell our property in Weybridge. All the team are great but Ruby Rowntree who dealt with us from day 1 is excellent both caring and professional.

Kudos to Kate!! She's just amazing. As an overseas landlord, it's nearly impossible to know what's going on in my flat. But Kate is super communicative, and goes above and beyond the call of duty. In addition, I had my flat listed with another agency for months with no action. When I added John D Wood to help rent the flat, Kate found someone within a week. She's a real superstar and the company is lucky to have her. After all, what are estate agents but services from people? Without good people like her, they are nothing.

Appalling Property Management in W4 5DD

The John D Wood team in Richmond and Chiswick has provided nearly zero services in the three months since our move-in. We moved into the property with no professional cleaning done and a third of the lightbulbs missing. There were also many obvious errors in the pre-move-in property check, which we have disputed. Repairs were supposed to be completed in the week between move-out and move-in, but the work was done to a low standard and had to be redone, especially the vinyl flooring in the kitchen, which had to be completely redone once we moved in. Additionally, after we moved in, we had to give up our kitchen and hallway as they turned it into a construction site to complete the hallway painting and kitchen reflooring, which should have been done before our move-in.

It has also become evident that the property has a growing list of broken or faulty appliances. Specifically, in the kitchen, both the oven and dishwasher were damaged by Optimal Maintenance. It took several weeks to sort this out, and even after another contractor came to inspect the units, they still brought the wrong-sized dishwasher. Furthermore, it's clear that the boiler hasn't been serviced properly in some time. We now have to repressurize it with the fill valve or heat the expansion valve with a hairdryer every time we need hot water or heating.

The bathrooms have been a continuous issue. We reported all the problems the week we moved in at the end of August, and as of November 2nd, we've only seen partial rectification of the issues. Some problems we've had to solve ourselves, such as buying new shower hoses, while others are straightforward fixes, like installing a new flush mechanism in the toilet. We are still waiting for them to address the water pump, which needs replacing and has significantly delayed the water flow in some taps with waits up to a minute for flow common.

New issues with damp in the flat have arisen, and it goes beyond seasonal changes. We've witnessed full droplets forming in the downstairs bedroom closet. Additionally, two of the radiators are broken, with one being leaky and the other functioning improperly by having runaway function.

The personnel we deal with are unhelpful and show contempt for our requests for resolution. Valere Charles, the property manager, has apparently blocked my number and avoids my calls to the office. She does not provide updates as requested; we have to gather information about the schedule and scope of work from the contractors themselves. She only sent an update email on November 1st, after I called the office and was screened again, almost a month after our last correspondence. She does not seek feedback from the contractors and appears to intentionally reduce their scope of work. For instance, we expected the pump to be serviced in the week of November 2nd, but the contractor was only allocated one person for one hour, and as such less than half of the work we expected to be done was conducted. The painting contractors initially estimated a one-day job for the flooring and painting, but it ended up taking three days over two separate occasions, with wall and floor preparation on the first day in the first week, and two days to complete the kitchen flooring and hallway painting. Optimal told us that they would recommend that the bedrooms, living room, and kitchen all required additional painting and repairs for the stairway carpets, which are coming loose. They mentioned they would return, but we haven't received any updates on that, more than a month later.

On November 4th, the boiler pressure failed again, and this time, we couldn't rectify it. We made an effort to request an emergency service as per the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1985, which classifies it as an emergency, and should be repaired within 24 hours, with compensation or accommodation claimable by the tenants if not. However, the landlord/managers vetoed our request without any communication, leaving us to endure the cold in the flat.

We've also requested rent reductions due to the current state of the flat, but this has been consistently ignored by Laura Purvor, the senior lettings manager, even after she and Valere toured the flat, expressed their apologies, and assured us that all the issues we showed them would be fixed.

In all honesty, the time for an amicable resolution has passed. We will be approaching the relevant ombudsman and the council this coming Monday to escalate this issue out of John D Wood's hands, as they have demonstrated that their primary concern is extracting rent from us.

While it may work for some, I found the approach and behaviour of the Wandsworth JDW sales team truly abhorrent. Their wrongdoings range from the way they spoke to my husband and I right through to their sales and negotiation tactics. 

They frequently made (incorrect) assumptions and comments about our lifestyle and finances and throughout the purchase tried to belittle and patronise us so we followed their instructions rather than listened to our solicitor.

They nothing short of used intimidation tactics and baseless threats to make us jump for their every wish. They lied in the details of selling the house, both in writing and verbally; accepted offers but broke the terms of the offers with no communication or regard that this was incorrect behaviour; and when we were finally at the end of negotiations and all paperwork ready to exchange and complete, they started upon new tales and demands trying to threaten the chain breaking if we did not comply. 

We’ve fed back directly to the agents involved and while sales behaviours are a common part of society, we both felt this was way over the line of acceptable behaviour. In this area of London, with this amount of money being spent in such a lovely community and neighbourhood, my husband and I were truly appalled by their style and have never come across other agents like it. We won’t be using them in the future and sadly, even if it is just this branch, our trust in the whole JDW organisation has been tainted by this truly stressful and frankly bullying experience. I can only hope our feedback is considered and agents reflect upon their handling so they do not continue to treat people this way.

Both Jessie and Louna at John D Wood were professional, courteous and efficient.

I’d recommend them highly.

I've just sold my flat with John D Wood team in Parsons Green. Molly and Adrian made a great impression on our initial meeting and Daniel Oxtoby was excellent in progressing the sale. Daniel's friendly manner and attention to details was great. Daniel kept in regular contact with us and made sure we were up-to-date with events. Daniel's local knowledge and industry experience pre-empted several issues which led to an overall quick resolution. Great service all round from the team. Thank you!

Simon and the team worked hard to help us find a great place to rent. They always answered any questions we had straight away and the process was easy. They went above and beyond - highly recommend!

This is with regards to Mr David and Ms Ioana from the Docklands branch. Came home to my flat which had a leaking ceiling and that's where the nightmare started. Was not able to get any help from the agent and had to open my windows to air the carpet floor which was soaked. This was in winter, got infection due to mold from the room. Had multiple people enter my flat, take multiple pictures and videos but nothing was done. Wardrobe was destroyed due to the leaks and several of my own clothing. They did not tell the landlord at all so he was in shock when he found out. All in all took 6 months for the whole issue to resolve, and till the end of my tenancy, the wardrobe was not even fully fitted back in so I lived half a year out of a suitcase. Always impossible to get them on email, and always need to make several phone calls before I can finally get hold of them, and then I am told they were JUST about to call me back. They only treat the landlord like a god and renters like trash. Now I am trying to get my deposit back but receive no replies on email. Absolutely no professionalism. They should be ashamed of their own existence.

Worst real estate agency I've ever dealt with. Almost going to bring them to court.

Razvan Boerean was our property manager. We have been trying to get our deposit back for more than a year. Every time we called there was some excuse like "He's out for lunch" or "He's on annual leave soon" followed by "he'll call you back". He didn't call us back and we've had to chase our deposit for months. It's been more than a year since we moved out and still haven't gotten our deposit back yet. Furthermore, our emails are just ignored and not even an explanation for such a delay or the costs of any deductions was given. Our naivete has been taken advantage of because we didn't know that our deposit insurance only lasted for 3 months and now they are very obviously just trying to steal our deposit.

I have sent the last email to them with a 14 day deadline for an explanation or my deposit back. In a week if I don't receive anything I will take all the evidence I have and bring them to court.

Avoid this unscrupulous company for your own safety.

I sold a flat in the Fulham area through the John D Wood team in Parsons Green/ Fulham Broadway. For various reasons (outside control of John D Wood or myself), this was a long, drawn-out sales process. I have to say that John D Wood team was at all times professional, responsive and went above and beyond to get the sale done and completed. I would certainly recommend John D Wood to my friends and contacts.