What follows is a true account of my dealings with ALP, a property management and lettings agency in Aberystwyth.
READERS ARE REMINDED THAT THIS POST CONSTITUTES THE OPINIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS ONLY OF THE AUTHOR, AND THESE ARE NOT TO BE TAKEN AS REFLECTIVE OF THE OPINIONS OF ANY OTHER PERSON. (since this blogpost, ALP have phoned me)
Like many of you, I’d heard the horror stories about ALP, the property management/letting agency at the roundabout at the end of Alexandra Terrace, in Aberystwyth. A friend of mine reports that while he rented part of a shared house with them, an agent would frequently let himself in and refuse to leave until due rent was paid in cash. I’ve also heard reports of them witholding deposits without cause (until taked to court to reclaim them), among other atrocities.
But perhaps that’s just the way they treat the tenants of the ‘student houses’ they let out. Or perhaps these are isolated cases. In any case, they can’t be that bad. There’s certainly no harm in viewing a property they manage, is there? So Claire and I thought…
At half past nine we met up with ALP’s agent at their offices, and he took us out to see the flat we’d expressed an interest in: a third-and-fourth floor two-bedroomed flat on Albert Place, opposite the council offices. The agent unlocked the door and led us upstairs, where the usual tour began: this is the main bedroom, this is the bathroom, blah blah blah. We got to the door to the living room, on the upper floor. The agent tried to open it, but only got it ajar before it jammed against something. The agent put on a pleasant tone: “I’ve just got some tenants I’d like to show around,” he called in.
“Why don’t you come back at the agreed time, 2pm?” came the response: slightly shaky, slightly rehearsed. The agent pretended not to hear him.
“I said I’ve got some tenants to show around,” he repeated, pushing the door a little further. Through the crack, I could see that the tenant had wedged a chair against the door handle and retreated to the opposite corner of the room.
“Why don’t you come back at the agreed time, 2pm?” the tenant answered again. So this was a rehearsed response.
The agent pretended to the tenant that he hadn’t heard him, and continued to jiggle the door handle to try to dislodge the chair. He turned to us and imitated the tenant’s words in a mocking mime. The tenant repeated his message, adding, “You said you’d only bring people after 2pm.”
The agent made his little performance again, showing us what he thought of the tenant’s concerns. Then, having moved the door enough to get his hand around it, he manuevered the chair carefully out of the way and entered.
I needn’t even discuss the legality of what he did. We were sufficiently disgusted with the attitude towards tenants to not even consider renting property from ALP. As we left, the agent tried to belittle the problems with the tenant, implying that he was paranoid delusional. Whether or not this is the case is completely irrelevant, of course, to the fact that the agent unlawfully entered the home of a tenant, and, when asked to leave, continued to force entry, thereby technically being a tresspasser. God knows how intimidated the tenant feels by them to resort to trying to barricade the doors of their own home.
I’ve not sure I’ve ever been so disgusted by the actions of a company disregarding it’s customers’ rights. Sony’s rootkit‘s got nothing on ALP.
- ALP phoned me regarding this post on 9th December 2005.
- A man who’d like to remain anonymous has allowed me to publish the story of his dealings with ALP, in June 2006
I actually felt sick having seen this treatment of another human being. The poor tenant looked terrified, and I wanted to make it obvious somehow that we could see what was really happening and we weren’t fooled by the calm demeanour of the agent. Sadly we had to leave and let the agent speak to the tenant alone. It was precisely the calm manner of the agent that worried me the most — this is someone who has done this time and time again, systematically, and no longer feels anything but boredom. The smiling face and soft words couldn’t hide that they knew exactly what they were doing, and chose each action, each word, precisely so as to put us at ease whilst silently threatening the tenant. I wonder if it’s just this person, or the entire company, but in any case I’ll join in warning anyone considering letting their house with these people, or renting one from them, just don’t — look elsewhere. Living on the street might be less stressful.
I HATE HIM I HATE HIM I HATE HIM. ALP MAN IS A FUCKING BASTARD CUNT SHIT
OF A MAN THAT WILL ONE DAY BE VERY BADLY PUNISHED BY THE WORLD THAT HE
WANKS ALL OVER. FUCKING FUCKING BASTARD. however I hear he is very nice to Welsh
people, that all importantly, speak Welsh.
He exchanged a few words in Welsh with the tenant we saw, at the end. So I maybe it’s nothing to do with language.
Fuckers. Er, don’t bother with them if you want stuff fixed promptly, but Philip Evans had the up-side of being very hands-off landlords in our experience… their approach to new tenants was just to suggest that people go round, introduce themselves and ask to see the place. We must have scared the crap out of some of the people who came round.
Yikes that’s awful, I’ll be sure to avoid them when I start looking for a place in Aber.
Hi Dan,
Can you get in touch with me via the e-mail address I submitted? I have a much longer and nastier (personal) story about ALP and (from what you’ve written here) you seem to be one of the few people who will listen and take notice!
– Davey
Ah, where do we start. Oh I know….
Its no suprise I found someone with equally awful experiences. I was the poor fool who lived in the basement flat where you looked round.
The reason why the chap was so scared was a: He was a very shy fellow and b: the premises were full of scallywags who would rob you without a second thought.
When I left I was calling the police weekly (I was on first name basis) and of course I was barricading my door too, so no surprise there. Also you can actually see the damp float up and down the wall depending on the tide level..
How can I say all this, well enviromental health have a VERY healthy interest in the activitys of this bunch of crooks and criminal so plenty of evidence exists.
And thanks again to (Braingrind the Man-Bear) Alexis and the abernet fellows that deflected the wrath of the famed ‘Mr Stabby’ one evening after ghosts stole his jewellery. I ended up staying at St Marys Hall.. Yes it was THAT bad…..
Fortunatly I found a Private Landlord after and never looked back. I actually never looked back…..
ALP haven’t improved one little bit. Even down to letting strangers have the keys to just walk in. I was in the bath at the time!!! Never do repairs. never had the place cleaned before we moved in. Try every trick in the book to get more money.
Totally dishonest rip off merchants. Tell so many lies wouldn’t believe them if they said it was raining during a monsoon