Be warned - Caleb Samuels property agents are DODGEY!

This is notify anyone and everyone who is looking for a property to rent in London. I do not want anyone else going through what my housemate and I went through as a result of dishonest, lying and scheming estate agent by the name of CALEB SAMUELS.

My housemate and I came from to live the dream of working and living in London. Finding a place to live is a priority for any foreign national and anyone who has ever tried to secure a rental property in London will agree that it is a competitive market. We came at a time when the credit crunch was at its early stages and there was already a huge demand for rental property and not enough supply.

We found a place we liked that was advertised by Caleb Samuels. They are a property letting agent located at 20 Upland Rd, East Dulwich, London, SE22 9EF. http://www.calebsamuels.co.uk/default.asp

When we put the deposit down for the property which has been advertised for £300 a week. They lied to us and said that there was something wrong with their EFTPOS machines that day so could not process our deposit, but that they will do so the next day. However, the next day, Caleb Samuels called us to notify us that there was bad news. He said that due to the mortgage crisis, the mortgage agreement for lthe andlord's buy to rent property with the bank specified that the landlord could not rent the place out for less than £320 a week. So if we wanted to rent the place, we HAD TO pay £320/week or else we could not move in. We did not have the contact for the landlord to verify this.

By then, we had already spent 2 months searching for a place and was frustrated with the whole rental market in London. We questioned Caleb about this, but his bottom line was that if we didn't pay £320/week, we couldn't move in. Also, he stressed that because his EFTPOS machine had conveniently been broken the day we put our deposit down, they weren't bound by the £300/week that it was originally advertised for.

In the end, we were so desperate to get our own place we agreed. We paid for the deposit, upfront rent and met the landlord on the move in day. When we asked the landlord about the incease in rent, she was not aware of it and had no part to play in Caleb's scheming. Basically, Caleb Samuels lied to us and pocketed upfront the extra £20/week for an entire year that we paid in good faith. We believed that this whole mortgage crisis was affecting everyone and that this increase in rent was systemic across the market. In hindsight, we may have been naieve or even stupid, but we acted in good faith.

When we confronted Caleb about this lie, he basically said tough and that there was nothing we could do because we signed the Tenancy Agreement already. He even lied again and said that that is what the landlord told him about the mortgage document. When we told him the landlord told us that this was a lie he went on to say how lucky we were compared to what he knew that other estate agents do to some tenants. He gave an example of how one estate agent said to their tenants on move-in day that if they did not pay an extra £XX in rent each week, they could not move in! So that made his lie all the more justified?? I think not! He still schemed, lied and deceived us into believing what was really his plot to put more money in his pocket for his bonus at the end of the year.

He was so cocky and smug about the whole situation that I could not believe someone could do this to unsuspecting people who acted in good faith and did everything right.
We vowed to take him to court but he knew that this would be very expensive for us and that in the end, we would not have the time & money to do this. I researched all the avenues that we could take to get our money back but Caleb Samuels was not registered with an association or regulatory body. Even the Office of Fair Trading could not help us. In short, they are DODGEY and think that they are above the law and will continue to lie and cheat people of their money!! In fact, he was so adamant that we had no leg to stand on that he was telling the landlord to not help us and tried to convince the landlord that what they did was justified!

Even though we did not have the money to take this guy and his shoddy company to court, I want to let everyone out there know about this. This is not the first time he has done to this someone and I don't want anyone else going through the same thing. Its not fair and it shouldn't be tolerated. We lost over £1000 because of this company, during a time when we were just starting out and money was tight. We got by in the end, but it only makes me more angry that someone can live without conscience for his actions and still be able to operate a company!
Caleb Samuels has no integrity and if anyone ever has to deal with this company because a property is advertised through them, be warned. Don’t deal with them! They are dishonest and will do anything to make a quick buck. When someone once told me that property agents are scum of the earth, I thought that was quite a harsh thing to say about any profession.

HOWEVER, having personally dealt with Caleb Samuels myself, I want to congratulate him and his company for making this comment so so true. Caleb Samuels gives every other law abiding and honest estate/property agent a bad name. I hope Caleb Samuels pay for their actions one day. You can get away with it once, twice maybe, but the world is a funny place. I believe that there is justice in this world and they will be punished! You can't get away with things like this forever!