Fineholm Letting Services

If I could give Fineholm zero stars, I would. We haven’t even been able to move into the flat we’ve chosen yet because of the utter ridiculousness and bureaucracy of their letting process. Where do I start?
We viewed the flat and called the next day to tell them we wanted it and to pay the deposit. All fine and well until we were asked how much we earn. As my housemate and I are employed part time and also freelance artists, we were told we would not be allowed to move in as they didn’t think we could afford the place (despite what we earn in our paid jobs alone covering the rent and bills and then some.)
Some wrangling later, the landlady agreed to rent to use if we could provide references and a guarantor, which we dutifully did, along with paying half the deposit. We were also told that she would take away the bed in my room so I could bring my own bed, however this was revoked later.
Fineholm wanted every single piece of stupid information under the sun. References for references for references. They don’t accept payslips as proof of address. My parents were asked for P60’s, pension information, bills, passport scans, you name it. It was a gross invasion of privacy and not something I wanted my parents involved in. My Mum was told she couldn’t stand as a guarantor because she didn’t earn enough. My Dad was told he couldn’t stand as a guarantor because they repeatedly mistook his pension information as a document that he was claiming state benefits (which he wasn’t) Eventually we were told we couldn’t rent the flat and that they were taking the money we had already paid, upon which my parents politely told them to jog on, whereupon they sheepishly came back saying the would rent to us if we paid 6 months rent up front. 6 months rent from the people they were so afraid couldn’t afford their flat. Reluctantly my parents agreed to this, and have given over some of their savings, something that as a 28 year old, I’m terribly embarrassed and upset about.
Fineholm’s treatment of tenants who are not full time permanently employed is nothing short of disgusting. Myself and my parents were made to feel like né’er-do-wells because we are part time/​self employed. Their greed and ridiculous policies have caused myself, my parents and my housemate an inordinate amount of stress and emotional turmoil, and if they step out of line even once when we finally get the keys we will not be staying past 6 months. So be warned, if you don’t have a permanent, high paying job, Fineholm will make your life an utter misery.

After having had numerous problems with 12let Fineholm is like a breath of fresh air.
I moved into my property August last year so have been in almost a year now. I have had no problems at all and found Fineholm most helpful whenever I have contacted them.
The flat was spotless on arrival and I even received a welcome pack with some basic kitchen essentials which I thought was a lovely tough (I don’t think this was provided by Fineholm alone but was done in consultation with another company hoping to sell home insurance)
The few problems I have had have concerned my boiler. It was a brand new boiler as the flat had been completely refurbished for me moving in and the pressure had dropped causing me to lose hot water and heating. I contacted Fineholm and the very next day an engineer was sent out to repair a leak in one of the radiators which had caused the pressure to drop. This happened a couple of times and on both occasions the problem was dealt with smoothly.
I can honestly say that after such an awful appalling experience in dealing with 12let Fineholm have been like a breath of fresh air to deal with. Long may it continue!

Iain pretty much hit the nail on the head with this agency. My flatmates and I have had a number of problems dealing with Fineholm over the years. One such problem resulted in us talking to the big boss in the Glasgow branch as they had our account in hundreds of pounds worth of arrears that were never there in the first place; the threatening letters then stopped not long after.
On another occasion we were informed our flat would be inspected at a specific time and date, so we stayed in and the guy simply walked in the front door to our hall way and then just walked straight back out again. Most folk would find this perfect, however we are on good terms with our landlord and felt it unfair that she was paying for a service that she was not receiving, so we called her and she duly complained. Fineholm then sent another rep for a rigorous inspection in which they tried to fine us every way possible — presumably for the inconvenience. Avoid if possible