Howsy - Online lettings agent Reviews 2,901

I just found out that Howsy changed my original contract, which has tied me into a yearly contract (fixed contract)
I would like to leave, and I can't, but as from the 1st may 2026, all contracts will become periodic

Howsy took £60/month out of my bank account for 11 months under the financial facility called ‘No Agent Technology’ as there is no identifying information on each bank reference I actually thought this payment was going to another company but eventually when I checked I realised my mistake. Howsy refused to return the funds and never even came up with how and why they were taking these funds from my account. I am very unhappy with Howsy and wouldn’t trust them an inch.

Absolute disgusting what you did. I would give 0 stars if I could. The worst company I ever dealt with.

I specifically contracted Howsy to bring my property/tenancy up to compliance ie. do the EICR, EPC, How to rent guide ect... and issue them to the tenants. I had several calls with them to ensure this was clear. They were quick to take my money to get all the certificates done but didn't issue any of them to the tenants so now I want to serve notice to my tenants I have no evidence that these documents have been issued. They are just poor administrators.

Managed our property for 2 years in East London, could not complete simple tasks if their life depended on it. Would not rent with them ever again - our landlord eventually moved the whole building to a new agency.

My overall review for Howsy is 3* because they overall give a reasonable service but with a significant amount of inconsistency, failure to get back to me, crossed messages etc. I think they're great at the Tenant Search stage but much less reliable at the ongoing maintenance stage. I've already conveyed this in my resignation so don't need it followed up (thank you).

However I do want to highlight POPPY from the Property Management Team who has been with me since I gave in my notice, and she is excellent (5 stars for her!), guiding me through the process. If I'd had this sort of service from the start I possibly wouldn't have given notice.

Want to thanks to Danny and Samatha for helping out with my matter, great follow up and amazing service!! Thank you

So two month after an agreed rent increase I get sent an addendum to my contract. No explanation - just asking me to sign it. I asked what it’s for and a week later they say it’s because it wasn’t sent out when it was supposed to - it’s the thing that makes everything legally binding. So kinda important.

No apology - nothing. Just factual. And not even in any hurry to respond.

Pretty sure that’s 3 strikes now.

I was originally with the Happy Tenant Company (who were excellent) until they were unfortunately taken over by Howsy. Howsy's service has been incredibly poor; most often very slow to respond despite multiple chasers, total lack of acountability. They ultimately then pushed a service "Rent it Quick" (or something like that) which resulted in my tenants leaving only then to be told that Howsy no longer offers this service and I had to find new tenants myself! The only silver lining of that episode was that I finally pulled the plug and moved to another service provider who have been really excellent so far and everything Howsy isn't. Would not recommend under any circumstance.

I was a happy landlord with the Happy Tenant Company before Howsy took them over. (Howsy is currently owned by Dexters Estate Agency.)
Howsy forgot to advise my tenants of the annual rent increase. It took me a week of web chat, telephone calls and emails to contact someone at Howsy who would deal with this omission. They place too much reliance on tardy emails for matters that need an immediate telephone call. They no longer offer a tenant-find service (although this is still advertised on the website as part of their 'full service' offer). I refused to give the three-months notice period that they wanted in order to terminate my agreement.

I ventured into being a landlord as a result of a new job. When I spoke to Howsy whilst looking for a property management company for my flat, they would not leave me alone and constantly emailing me to sign up. HOWEVER once the contract started they were impossible to get hold of and useless from start to finish for the following reasons:

- They were impossible to contact.
- Rent was held without informing me why. When I called up to ask I was made to feel like I was bothering them.
- The half way inspection was not arranged until I called to ask what was going on. I was then told lies that the tenants had been contact about this (luckily one of the tenants was my friend so he told me what actually happened). When the inspection did happen I was sent poor photos and a minimal report.
- Getting in contact to speak to someone is impossible. You speak to someone different every time.
- Their staff are rude.
- Whilst getting a tenancy renewed with a change of tenant, the communication was next to nothing I had to hear everything via the tenants directly to me (which is NOT what I expect from a fully managed service provider).
- There is just no explanation for things sometimes. I would receive half of the rent and with no justification or reasoning (even if it was legitimate).

I ignored the 1* reviews on here when I chose Howsy and focussed on the positive ones. I was stupid to do this and regret it massively. When getting someone to manage your property do not be persuaded by their cheap monthly fee.

I am neither a renter or a landlord. I am a homeowner who unfortunately lives next to a rented house "managed" by Howsy. There are loads of men living there and loads of noise and other stuff. They have made my life a misery. I contacted Howsy to help me on several occasions and they fob me off by saying that they are "only the rental agents for the landlord". Passing the buck. They have also informed me that there are only three people living there. Pull the other one. Whenever I contact them they are disinterested or disagreeable. If I were a landlord or a renter I would most certainly give them a wide berth. The local council have been more helpful.

I have been using Howsy for about a year to manage my property however their service level has considerably decreased in recent months resulting in my having to cancel my contract with them. I initially posted my review on Google Reviews; however these were removed by Howsy (seems part of their tactics to artificially inflate their reviews).

Summary of points:
1) The agent who was meant to check-in the tenants was off sick on the move-in date and Howsy were not able to send a replacement. They suggested that the new tenant check in on another day (even though they had already arranged moving vehicles) or suggested that I should do it even though I was paying for a fully managed service.
2) The provided an inventory of the property but were clearly missing several big items which we had to add in ourselves after the investor.
3) The refused to provide additional quotes for works (we initially added for a fence repair quote and they only provided one very over inflated quote costing 5k). I understand that estate agents make money in the backend with their contractors; but I was able to get a quote myself for 2k through a quick google search and a very reputable company.

Would not recommend - AVOID AT ALL COSTS

Really unhappy with Howsy. No end of problems and they don't bother to reply to emails or answer the phone. They clearly do not care about their customers.

They are lucky to get two stars from me. Been with them for few years so Started off well, then lack of communication from them was very bad because it wasn’t one person dealing with it, several people so you never knew who to speak to. Never responded to our emails, offering fee refund out of goodwill but still charge themselves for the service. The hassle to get new rent increase is unbelievable, even the recent yearly check up on the property was overlooked to the point we are very embarrassed to be associated with this company. i am not recommending them to anyone. No one should have to keep chasing a company over something that could of simply been dealt with asap instead of still waiting over two weeks for a reply.

Howsy were great at the beginning when they were trying to get me to sign up to use their service - very attentive and quick with communications. However, it’s a totally different story once the tenants have moved in and Howsy are “managing” the property. I put managing in inverted commas because in actual fact I am managing the property but paying Howsy for the fun of it!

They started off great but over the last 12 months have been awful. They take weeks to respond to emails and now appear to have done a runner. Dexters bought the company and then laid everyone off and the company appears not to be operating any more.

Do not trust this agent. I am not even sure whether they are still in business. Do not pay any management fee to them as you may not get your flat rent out nor the money they owe you back.

Our flat was not taken care of for the 3 months before we took it back and we lost 3 months of rent in this heat market where a lot of people need to rent. What is worse, they did a poor job at check out and no repair after checkout. As a result we had to do tons of cleaning and repair work and have not got any compensation back. We have not even get our keys back although we requested this long time ago and they agreed to do so!

Multiple letting and management staff responsible for our property have left the company in the recent a few months. It is always we talked to someone in the team about the situation and the next week we had to talk to a different person about the same thing and nothing got done.

The phone line is always not answering. In the automated telephone system, during the working hours, it says "our office is now closed..." I am not sure whether this company is still in business. Do not give any money to them as you will not get any service and you will lose your rent, time, service fee, energy, etc......

BTW, if you are considering Howsy, make sure you sort the reviews by time and get the most recent to display first. The good staff previous good reviews mentioned like Beth in the letting team and Charlie in the property management team are all gone. You would be lucky to get Howsy's email reply in two weeks time, if any reply!

Please don't trust this company!

We made this mistake and it has cost us thousands, for no service over a 3 year period!

The company has changed ownership 3 times, with no communication to customers and each time the service has gone down and down.

They are "cheap" because you get what you pay for. However, whatever you pay in too much as you get zero service!

Please don't say I did not warn you!

I am landlord. Unimpressed with Howsy. There have been issues from day one from wrong information on the contract, not inspecting the property, doing a proper reports, not passing on issues from tenants (for months and months) and paying incorrect rent with wrong deduction.

It is impossible to get any response from Howsy and all emails and calls are ignored. The telephone constantly drops out after waiting for someone to answer the phone or emails. They constantly say someone will call you back but no-one ever does. They have left me in debt with one tenant who destroyed my property. Ignored complaints from neighbours on unsocial behaviour. As a landlord I feel totally trapped as I have good tenants. I have a tenant - his tenancy ends on 31st December, as we are ending contract with Howsy. Tenant has not been informed on day or time of Check Out. I have one property left with them now. Our contract ends in 2 months. PHEW.

If you are a landlord avoid at all costs, you might save some money but it is not worth the stress.