Portico Property - Walthamstow Arvostelua 

This review is for both the Walthamstow and Woodford office.

If I could give these people 0 stars I absolutely would. They have zero accountability, only give you empty “apologies” by basically going “sorry this happened but you’re to blame“ in short, and are run by people sharing a singular brain cell among them all when you ask them what 2+2=.

I had a viewing arranged for the 22nd of July at one of their properties at 09:45. This wasn’t a group viewing, this was a viewing for myself and my partner only. My partner and I kept the person who texted us the appointment details, William Turner, in the loop, informing him that we were lost at 9:51, because we're not local to the area. We found the property minutes later, as we weren’t far at all, and got directions from locals (we’re talking 2 minutes away maximum).

I tried giving the mobile number William Turner texted me the appointment details from, but it was a text-only service. I then called the office that informed me of the property viewing, since my first ever interaction with them was over the phone ending in a 2110 number, which differs from their 5255 number, and despite having rung them many times, and speaking to the receptionist 3-4 times, telling me that the agent must be late and she was trying to get in touch with them, I heard nothing back. At no point did that 2110 number call me back, nor did the agent who was doing the viewing, who happened to be William Turner himself. During that time I even called the current tenant, because they put their mobile number over their door bell because it didn’t work, and he said that only the agent had the key, so he couldn’t help us.

After waiting for 60-90 minutes my partner and I left, and I filed a written complaint, packed with screenshots and timestamps. I originally emailed the Woodford office because that’s where the 2110 number went back to (went on Portico’s website and cross-referenced the number that way). It was then forwarded over to the Walthamstow office, which took them 2.5 weeks to properly go over my complaint with me. Was there really any point though? No.

I was gaslit by Sean Hewitt, where he said it was my fault for ringing the wrong office when I didn’t even know a Walthamstow office existed until I cross-referenced the 2110 phone number on their website, AFTER I left the property. He also said I wasn’t there, and William was there until after 11 – there was nobody standing there. The only thing that struck me as weird was that someone was in their car for about 30 minutes on their phone, and then they left. Sean Hewitt seems to be of the understanding that I’m supposed to know what William Turner looks like after a single phone call and a single text from Portico, and that I should’ve tapped the invisible man standing out in front of the property to ask if they were him – yes, the invisible man, because again, no one was there, and when I said that Sean Hewitt still insisted I should’ve spoken to whoever was standing outside the property. Again, there was nobody there.

When I asked why the receptionist at Woodford didn’t direct me to the right place, even though she had the details of the flat, of the viewing and of the agent on her system, he just said that because it wasn’t “his office’s” receptionist he couldn’t do anything, and could just inform Woodford to direct people to the right branch in the future. When I asked why William Turner never queried where we were after 10-20 minutes of not seeing us at the building, because apparently I wasn’t there, he said that he had other people to tend to, and made a big deal that my partner and I were 7 minutes late. I'm sorry that we aren't local to the area, Sean. At least we had the basic human decency to text William Turner to let him know we were lost.

Sean Hewitt gave me nothing but pathetic “sorry but you didn’t do this or that” apologies, if that’s what you want to call them, and refused to reimburse my partner’s Zipcar journey, as we came from Bow. The fact that he even suggested he would see if there are other appropriate properties and would handle my query personally made me laugh, because not even if hell froze over would I ever consider renting from Portico after this.

I will be visiting the office, and I will be singling William Turner out, and I will be sending my outgoing calls log to Portico once it’s available from my provider come the 17th of August so they can see, point blank, all the calls I got from their company, because to, in essence, be called a liar is completely unacceptable.

Never deal with this company to any extent.

I recently had my first email exchange with Megan Buchel who is the person responsible for managing our property. I had asked her a number of questions spread across 3 emails, asked one question twice, and in one of my emails had accidently put some misleading information. I was really impressed that she answered all the questions in full, at the same time making me aware of my misleading question. In my experience this is pretty rare and as a first impression I have to give it full marks.

I was looking for a room to rent, so i checked online saw a beautiful room of my choice, made a call through to the agent and was attended to by a lady called Gergana. She was very professional and communicated to me in a respectful manner. I recommend portico property because of their commitment and professionalism

Recently moved into a beautiful new build, and I was supported by James Wackett. I was handed leaflets at the viewing, and questions were answered sufficiently. This agent had a lot of patience during our onboarding and application process, grateful to have recieved such a prompt agent.
I also received the sweetest move in box with lots of goodies and helpful connections to get me started on furnishing my new home.

Gergana an excellent agent guide me through every process. I appreciate thank you Gergana and portico for approval into renting one of your apartment.

Sincerely
Nadata Burnett

My partner and I have recently rented a property through Portico and have had a fantastic experience with the Walthamstow. Our estate agent, James Wackett was helpful, informative and made the whole experience run very smoothly. We would very much recommend the company based on our experience.

I was contacted by an agent on Thursday about a flat I was interested in renting. A visit was scheduled for the 14th at 11.10. Well, I arrived at the place before the scheduled time, I waited for a few minutes before contacting the agent by message, which I did not get a response. After 40 minutes I called and no one answered, I sent another message and I'm still waiting for an answer until now. It is important to mention that I am a 6-month pregnant woman, with a high-risk pregnancy, I spent almost £50 to travel to the site of the visit, I spent more than 40 minutes in the rain and wind. I find the behavior of Mr James, Portico to be totally unacceptable, and I will take legal steps to prevent this from happening to others in the future.

Advertise property for £1150 but when you open it and read it it is for £1400...do you want to make you're mind up portico?

Gergana is an exceptional agent. She went above and beyond to make sure that the property was suitable for me and my family. She helped to maintain a smooth communication with the landlords. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to work with her.

I rented the property in Walthamstow and agreed to pay fees of approx £1100 (extortionate!!) for early settlement as part of the terms of the TA. However, on vacating the premises in accordance with agreement it's been 7 weeks now and I still haven't had my deposit back nor 3 weeks rent due back to me. Neither has anyone called me (Several requests by me) to explain why the delay. All I have is some old emails saying it's with accounts. Unfortunately looks like having to go to litigation on this one! Totally disgusting customer service - they take the money upfront (which is fine) but when it comes to refunding they are non-existent! How can they run a legit business in this manner. Be Very Aware!!! For deposit I have had to raise a dispute as this has not been released to me yet (zero reason for not releasing).

In short... Flat in Walthamstow, even though advertised wasn't available for veiwing for over a month of constant inquiring.
All sorts of excuses why I was unable to veiw, from landlord unavailable to property key can't be located etc.
I needed a place urgently at the time so was very frustrating waiting.... And as it turns out waiting in vain.
Eventually property was no longer available.... (even when still being advertised) predictable.... lol😡

Friendly, Helpfull and got me a place in this compatitive market. Good frequent calls with updates/ requests for information.

I was looking for a property for a while because I wanted a nice place for my little baby and we had viewings with Lady Niongo.
By far she is my favourite agent forever .
Not only she is professional but also so lovely person with all the meaning of the word and so kind always with a warm smile .
Always answered my emails no matter what time it was and always made her best to help us with everything so everything is perfect for us.
I’m really happy that I find and trust her about our new home and the agency as well .
I’m already recommending the agency to friends that are looking for a property.
Also the box we had from portico when we took the keys was so special.
Thank you so much Lady and Portico , I’m really grateful .

During my search to rent a property, I was frustrated as I always find moving difficult.
Lady was a great agent and made the process easy, she supported me with my search and found me the perfect property to meet my requests. She was very professional and polite throughout and I will definitely be using portico going forward.

Lady and her team provided very good customer service throughout the process of renting. There was decent communication and professionalism throughout. We are very happy with our new apartment

We used to rent a property in Walthamstow and had the most awful experience in my 10 years of renting in London. They should be reported and shut down. They charged us extortionate fees to renew our contract every year, but when it came to carrying our repairs, they took absolute ages. We were left with a leaky boiler for over a month, and as a result had to pay a small fortune for the water bills. On the day of our check-out, they cancelled in the last moment (when we were already waiting in the flat). They were generally very unpleasant to deal with and would take ages to get anything resolved. Would really warn against renting through them.

Was looking to rent a place through Portico and Lady was very helpful throughout, from organising the viewing, to helping us put in an offer, and also to make sure we checked-in okay. She answered any queries we had quickly and professionally and even followed up to check if our problem had been resolved even when the issue was with a third party.

Lady (Walthamstow) was extremely helpful (and patient) with all of our questions. Very quick and efficient process; between viewing a property and signing a rental agreement it was less than a week and Lady kept us reassured throughout. Thank you, Lady!