Shields Student Homes

Absolutely abysmal estate agents. I had to endure this company for a year with them ignoring or not meeting deadlines for tasks to be done to our house, rude members of staff and them not taking us seriously. To top everything off, my housemates and I discovered that they did not protect our deposit which is a violation of section 213 of the Housing Act 2004 and meant compensation was due to us. We have not received the compensation. After being ensured our deposit would be immediately returned to us at the end of July with an accompanying payment of good will as an apology, only one of four housemates has had their deposit returned with no good will payment. Also after multiple calls from different housemates to Shield's who were ensured the manager would call them back, no such call has been received. Under no circumstances use this agent.

Always slow with maintenance queries and took ages to respond to everything. Don't care about anything but taking your money. All bedrooms were not adequately stocked with furniture forcing us to buy our own, none of the room had chest of drawers... Just desks bed and a wardrobe, how kind. Plus all the blinds were the wrong type meaning they blocked out no light so they might as well have not been there as they did nothing.

Terrible experience during my second year

Few examples

Lack of communication between the Shields and the actual LandLord.

The lack of effective communication to tenants regarding scheduled viewings....on 4 occasions random and unexpected house viewings have took place and I was not informed!!

On the other hand, there were 2 agents (Vanessa & Rachel) who was extremely helpful concerning my faulty boiler.

Save yourself the hassle and stress...just avoid!

Worst landlord ever - faults with the house that should have been easily fixable became massive issues due to a constant lack of communication on their part, via both email and phone, this was a running theme throughout the year. As we were all final year students, we didn't really want to waste our time chasing up on things that should have been sorted months earlier. By their own incompetence and laziness, they are creating further problems for themselves which could easily be avoided - case in point: a month after our lease has ended, only one of the four of us has received their deposit back, which is just mind boggling. Do not use them!!!

A terrible student lettings company in Nottingham. They are quick and efficient with regards to payments and situations where they will profit. However when it comes to processing repairs for your house such as a broken fridge, it took them over a month to come and replace it. Moreover I recently called to complain to the manager regarding them over charging me a considerable amount of money, they said that she would return the call within a few hours, it's been a week now and nothing at all. Please do not waste your time with this estate agents.Their customer service is appalling and to be honest they really should not be allowed to deal with student accommodation.

This bunch of charlatans seem to have worked out how to remove unfavourable reviews, mine included, so this one might not be up for very long. Students should not use them, they will keep your deposit & give you awful service. Landlords avoid them, you will be lucky to see your rental monies.

Seems like shields have found a way to remove reviews including mine also. So I'll remind those wondering if shields are worthwhile.

DO NOT USE. During my final year, my landlord had to change to FHP Living due to shields withholding money, including our deposits. They refuse to answer phonecalls or emails. Pay attention to the '5* reviews', they date back 5 - 8 years.

These people are lower than low. They take your money then ignore you continuously. They had very helpful staff when we first signed with them but I believe they were smart enough to see what was going on and that's why they left.

Avoid at all costs. There are far better place in Nottingham that have far more dignity than this pathetic excuse for a student lettings company.

If there was a zero rating for these cowboys I'd have given it to them! Going to be reporting their poor service to trading standards. Have just moved my daughter into a filthy student house. They've done nothing in terms of maintenance or cleanliness. House full of damp! Very disappointed.

I would not recommend. Although we like the property, these agents are terrible. Faults and repairs take weeks if not longer to happen after a considerable amount of notifications, in person and via email.

Often the 'repairs' haven't solved anything and do not address the problem at all meaning another worker is required and the whole thing has to happen over again.

Our smoke/fire alarm was broken for several months despite notifications twice a week.

Awful experience with Shields overall for multiple reasons:

1. Didn't keep our documents filed properly so claimed we hadn't sent vital pieces of information from the get-go, even though we had. Eventually found and barely apologised.
2. Arrived on move-in to a disgusting house, kitchen barely cleaned, rubbish from previous students not cleared, sanitary products outside the house (!) tea stains on leather sofas etc hadn't even been wiped. No apologies just arguments from a very rude woman in office (I had to go in because they were doing nothing via phone).
3. General poor communication when contacted about broken things in the house such as the extractor fans, the sink, the shower, the toilet, beds, chairs, the freezer, the back gate, the front door, key locks, a wardrobe...
4. Their 'gardener' left all our doors unlocked as he left leaving the house completely insecure.
5. Their gardener then lost our keys so we had no back-ups and they had no way of visiting unless we were home. They didn't bother to communicate properly with us to find out when we were home. Overall, when they DID visit it was very delayed due to their incompetence and lack of communication.
6. No instruction on fire alarm/burglar alarm/how to set up Internet or anything- "no it won't connect in the basement"... Hours later, we found it did, obviously.
7. Took 6 months to bring a new wardrobe to replace a broken one.
8. Took a month after move in date to repaint.
9. Broken back gate fence that we reported and they ignored.
10. NEVER pick up their phones - their phone is currently switched off!?
11. Claimed they hadn't received rent when they had- they had just lost the paperwork.
12. very fast turnover in office = poor communication between staff = none of them know anything.
13. contacted on multiple occasions by the house landlords, who claimed he hadn't received rent from them, received the wrong meter readings from them and was ignored by them. Landlords should find a new agency!
14. Late deposit return and now have their phones switched off entirely so I am unable to contact.

Generally this pathetic excuse for a Student Homes agency should be avoided at all costs. No matter how nice the house looks from photos, how much you're paying- whatever. Avoid. Far too much stress