Placefirst

4.0 (149 Reviews)

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Placefirst is an award winning and experienced built-to-rent developer with a growing portfolio of over 1,500 homes throughout the UK. We are committed to building and developing neighbourhoods with high-quality, well-maintained homes, built specifically for rent.

We have neighbourhoods across the UK that are created with the community in mind. At Placefirst, we design, develop, let and manage the neighbourhoods we create, and we have specialist in-house teams to handle every step of our residents’ journey.

We stay for the long term. Our in-house teams stay on site to manage our neighbourhoods. Placefirst makes renting stress-free so you can get more joy from your homelife.

Reviews 149

4.0

Out of 5.0

shannon spence

Aug 12,2023

Dave was a great help and went through the process with us as we are both first time buyers and made the experience 10/10 he was friendly and just a down to earth person ! Would definitely recommend

Sean Collins

Aug 11,2023

Been renting with Placefirst since December 2018. Very happy with the company overall. They just let you get on with, don't pester you but glthere when you need them. Maintenance responce could be a little faster but thats only a gripe. Build quality of the renovated pretty property pretty high and well planned. Had an issue a few years ago with fencing due to neighbours on existing properties to rear and Placefirst listened and rebuilt all the fencing to give us all more privacy which was fantastic. Local officer Dave is a great bloke and always up for a chat and catch up and with the new bungalows being built area will look even better. The builders are nice too, friendly and chatty, makes it easier having a building site next to your house haha. As mentioned, the maintenance reapince time could be a little faster but otherwise very happy here.

Robert Baldwin

Aug 11,2023

My experience so far has been great. The manager, Dave, has been very helpful and transparent. The initial viewing and subsequent communications have been professional. Maintenance teams were sent out as soon as requested and all issues resolved rapidly. I have absolutely no issues and without Dave the process would have been a lot more difficult.

Consumer

Aug 11,2023

Agent was amazing, Dave made sure to show us how everything worked since we’re just starting out and he was really nice, he made sure we were fully comfortable and answered all of our questions before setting off we appreciate it and thank you for helping us

Carla Froggatt

Aug 10,2023

Do not rent through this company. They are overpriced for the poor quality, customer service and locations they offer. I rented on Sky Edge in Sheffield and it is one of the worst rental experiences I have encountered. From cutting corners with paintwork to constant crime and empty promises from the company that things would get better, I have nothing positive to feedback. You will pay more on rent will through this company than any competitor that I found properties through when looking to move out. The site is set directly adjacent to an area of Sheffield historically notorious for crime. During my time at the property, my car was broken into while parked in the residents car park. A number of other residents cars were also broken into and taken on joy rides. The local children from the estate opposite frequently play knock and run, and hang around in gangs that behave threateningly towards residents. Placefirst did nothing practical about the situation, and it got so bad that the head of Sheffield police came out to speak to residents. There is still no security on the car parks. Some lighting was added as an afterthought. One resident’s house was broken into by youths smashing through the glass doors with a crow bar and the residents were attacked. The photos shared in the neighbourhood WhatsApp group were terrifying and there was fear it was racially motivated. I would add these photos to the review but I think Google would take them down because it was awful. If you are moving here from another country and unaware of the area or market rates, you can get much cheaper rent elsewhere to live in a safer area and nicer house. I would suggest looking at RedBrik as a starting point. There are better places in the city centre, Crookes, or Norton, for example. Beware of this area. Search for “The Manor” or “Arbourthorne” and research crime before moving. I was paying £1200 a month and was constantly reminded by friends that this was astronomical to essentially live on “The Manor”. You can easily get a nicer property for £850-£1000, so be careful; they will try to overcharge you. Rent was increased yearly and they will also try to lock you into another 12 month contract. My rent went up nearly £100 in the second year. The communal areas, for example, the bin stores are disgusting. The locks are constantly broken into and used by fly tippers. The residents eventually set up a group WhatsApp to gather evidence to send to Placefirst pleading for them to be fixed, which was rarely actioned. Occasionally they would put on a new padlock and then forget to send round the new code to me. This would then be broken into again days later. I had a number of repairs that I required doing to my property which I reported and I was still waiting to be done a year later when I moved out. If you end up staying there you will need to pay a professional cleaner before moving out or they will take £240 from your deposit. Get very good insurance on your contents and car. Don’t waste your money on this company, the “professional community” they claim to offer is nothing more than clever marketing.

Marcelo

Aug 08,2023

We are having a great experience with the management of Place First, especially with David's attention, who has always been very helpful and prompt in solving our doubts and daily problems.

Ami Zanders

Aug 08,2023

The agents I had the pleasure to speak with were kind, supportive and reached out to me on a few occasions to ensure that I was able to view the apartment at my earliest convenience. Meera in particular, made the process easy for me and my family. The apartment looked amazing and I can't wait to move in.

Mr Benjamin Foster

Aug 05,2023

Good and efficient process for moving in once I'd given them a phone call to confirm a viewing and application. Sarah in Longsight was very helpful and welcoming for the viewing and laying out the options, particularly as I was moving with a dog. The process was quite straightforward to arrange the move in date and the handover of keys and documents was very helpful with arranging bills and eased the moving process. Sarah has been very responsive by email for any questions and overall a good experience. The website and application portal does need optimising though.

Jijo Mathew

Aug 01,2023

My tenancy ended on last month 25th and still waiting for the deposit refund..

Jack Baker

Jul 31,2023

Customer service is second to none, thanks to the Manager Sheryl

Jord Hall

Jul 19,2023

Takes months to sort a broken freezer and they don’t even sort it out properly they just keep making excuses the staff are a joke not willing to chase up a job and just being rude on the phone keep hanging up never renting with them again it’s a joke any repair I’ve needed I’ve had to wait over a month for usually

Vicky C

Jul 07,2023

Terrible customer service. I have had several phone conversations with different members of Placefirst staff over the last few weeks. Finally managed to book 2 viewings, one of which was for a property that was already empty (I was told the previous application had fallen through) but could not view the properties until at least 10 days later. Couldn't understand why one of the houses had no tenants and was completely empty. I was worried this would be too late and the properties would be signed quickly but was falsely reassured by the a member of the team who said I was on the first day of viewings, and the only one to view the specific property on that day. This meant I stopped house hunting for a week as I was pretty confident I would put down a holding deposit after the official viewing. 30 mins before the viewing after waiting over a week to view, I was informed the property had been signed, and that I should have not been told by their own team that I was the only one to view it that day with no other bookings being taken. Thanks to Placefirst I have a delayed move in date for another property and need to stay with friends for nearly a month. After this ordeal they had the audacity to offer me a more expensive property. I wish I had never clicked on their website.

Sharon McKinlay

Jun 20,2023

Both myself and my husband are disabled. After seeing the advertisement for Morecambe we applied for ground floor apartment. We completed the form got through to “ Thank you for your application our office in Morecambe will contact you. Nothing, nada, zilch happened. I then went online to check and it said property gone. So I phoned asking how the criteria worked. She denied they had ever received my application despite it saying on their website application received our staff will contact you. She then asked if I wanted apartment on upper floors despite my email stating we are disabled. So she said they would put us down for phase 2 on checking I found none of which are ground floor properties. A disgraceful company.

R.C

Jun 05,2023

Anything would have been better than my old landlord. But after some hesitation, i must say i am pleased to rent from Placefirst/Revive. They have improved the area in which i live and the workers are all pleasant, polite and professional. My neighbours are also saying the same.

lorraine

Jun 03,2023

We have just moved to another property and the experience has been fantastic Dawn who has helped us with the home move has been great and very helpful and any issues we had she has been there to help I couldn't thank her enough.

Adam King

Jun 03,2023

I have recently rented a property in Hartlepool, I have left this property after purchasing a home, the house was in good condition with everything I needed. My point of contact was Dave Bellenger he was fantastic in my first visit all the way through to me leaving. Dave has a great approach to his work and is always on hand with any issues I had (which weren’t many). Dave is realistic and friendly with a professional approach. I’m happy to say my experience with Placefirst was five star.

June P

May 28,2023

I moved into my Placefirst Morecambe property 6 months ago. I had some difficulty in filling in the documents for the application so the ladies in the office arranged for me to meet with Sheryl, she sat with me and we completed them all. The whole process after that was amazing and straight forward. When i had a boiler issue, I called the maintenance line and spoke to Lauren, she tried to talk me through re pressurising it but because of health issues I couldn't manage it. Within 10 minutes Lauren was at my door and did it for me, Lovely girl. I love my new home.

Jade

May 24,2023

My partner and I had booked a viewing for a 2 bed house 6 weeks ago. We received a phone call the day before to say our appointment had been cancelled, and the reason they gave was that the current tenants didn’t want people looking around the house whilst they still lived there. Fair enough. They asked if we wanted to rearrange the appointment for today. We were unsure whether we’d be able to as we both work full time and would have to take more time off of work to do the viewing, and we’d previously been told they work on a first come first serve basis, so we didn’t want to take more time off for potentially no reason. We were told that, the person that does the viewings in our area would be overseeing a window fitting in another property that day, so her first appointment wouldn’t be until 12pm, so we’d be the first appointment to view that property. We agreed to take the appointment and arranged with our employers to have the required time off work to view the property. Then today, just over an hour before our appointment, I get a voicemail come through to say that the property has now been let. We went to our local office (at around 11:30am) and it was closed, so I rang the head office number to ask how the property had already been let when we had the first viewing. I was told that they had someone go to view a different property this morning, but it had already been let, so they, in her words, ‘managed to squeeze them in’ to view the house that we were supposed to see as they had been ‘let down as the first property was no longer available’. I questioned how this was fair on us, as we had both had to take time out of work, and had been reassured weeks beforehand that we would be the first people to view the property, and the response I got was ‘all I can do is apologise and offer you the only other property we currently have’. When I asked what property that was, I was told it was ‘still a 2 bed, but it’s a 1st floor apartment’. I explained this was no good to us as we have two dogs and we required a garden, but again, she just apologised for us ‘missing out’ on the property we wanted. The treatment we have received from this company is absolutely ridiculous, but reading all of the bad reviews they’ve been given, I’m now starting to think we’ve had a lucky escape. We will definitely be looking to rent a property elsewhere, and avoiding PlaceFirst

Rory Jobless

May 22,2023

Company is shocking they talk the talk. Also they can’t add up either. Also you have to fight for your jobs to be done. They are always trying to interfere with the contractors jobs sheets.

Andrew

May 19,2023

I recently moved from a Placefirst home in Accrington where I have lived for four years. Sheryl and Dawn have been absolutely brilliant. The only reason I moved was due to work commitments. I did ask if they had any properties in Leicester, but unfortunately they didn’t. I really hope my new landlord lives up to the same standards I’m used to. Thank you so much for a wonderful home and for making everything so easy.