2026-03-05T22:46:23.076Z

My experience with Citywide Housing Group was terrible. This Company (Lewis & Mo) approached me that MEARS was interested in taking up my property on a long self repairing lease. In case you are not aware, you can approach MEARS directly as a Landlord but these guys told me they can get a better rate since they introduce many properties to MEARS and can negotiate a better deal. I was told my rent will be £700 per month and they will take a one-off £500 fee from me which l assumed was an introductory fee being able to get a better rent. I negotiated this to £250 but l later asked how they will be making money from this transaction, they said they will be my managing Agents and their fees will be made by MEARS. On that understanding, l signed an agreement with them as managing the property. When l later receiced my formal lease agreeement between MEARS and my company, l discovered my rent from MEARS was actually £850 which they never told me before. First lesson is NEVER sign anything with these guys before seeing your LEASE with MEARS. I queried the disparity in writing but instead of these guys responding in writing, they offered a conversation instead. Did not want to document a response. I took it on the chin with the hope that despite cheating me of £150 every month, hopefully my property will be looked after. These guys took £150 off my property for complete 40 months amounting to £60000. There was never any instance throughout the 40 months that these guys sent me even a quaterly report of inspecting my property. If they want to dispute this, let Citywide share openly here the email sent to me about any property inspection for 40 months of which they took £6000. The transaction started in September 2022. Around November 2024, these guys contacted me about damp in the property, l complained that if they had been inspecting this property earlier as expected, l.should have fixed this at the early stages. Mo apologised verbally that going forward, my property will be inspected properly and report sent to me and this was never done up till 2026 when l requested my property back. Back to November 2024, l then secured a Damp Specialist and we agreed access will be secured in January 2025 to fix the damp. Got to January 2025, access was denied, told it will be done later. Property continued to get worse but Citywide still did no inspections as l never received any report. Another shocker came in November 2025 when l was told the damp is getting worse and MEARS want it sorted. I said we wanted to do it a year ago but access was not granted. Got in touch with the Damp Specialist and another date was agreed for January 2026 to allow access. A day before the work was to start, Damp Specialist suffered a heart attack. I had to look for another reputable person. To my utmost surprise, l was told on 29th of January that my rent was stopped on 23rd of January. While the Damp Repairer was working on the Damp between Feb 2 -6, when he goes off site, tenant was still accessing property rent has stopped. This complaint was logged. After the damp works was done, l started getting another request to fix electrical sockets that was not part of why rent was stopped and also asked to deep clean my property that has been abused and left in a stinking state. I declined and said ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I am now pursuing my property recovery from MEARS in a satisfactory state that aligns with the inventory that was done by MEARS at the beginning of the lease. The frontage of my property all litered with broken bottles, neighbours told us property constantly abused, alleyway door broken down, white goods in kitchen in a messy state etc. IT IS UP TO YOU IF YOU BELIEVE ME OR NOT BUT BE CAREFUL WITH THESE GUYS. NEVER SIGN ANYTHING WITH CITYWIDE WITHOUT FIRST SEEING THE LEASE FROM MEARS. DOCUMENT A REQUEST FOR REGULAR INSPECTION REPORT OF YOUR PROPERTY IF YOU STILL DECIDE TO WORK WITH THESE GUYS. TELL THESE GUYS TO LIST WHAT IS COVERED IN A SELF REPAIRING LEASE. BE VERY VERY CAREFUL. DOCUMENT ANYTHING YOU ARE PROMISED.

2026-01-16T08:39:26.523Z

Extremely happy with service received from citywide housing last 6 years

2025-12-10T08:13:27.517Z

Great reliable company. Lewis is an absolute pleasure to work with and always has your best interests in mind as an investor. Cannot recommend them enough!

2025-12-03T18:34:14.883Z

Citywide were a pleasure to deal with. They made the whole process very smooth from start to finish and as a landlord ensured it was stress free. Highly recommended.