Digs Bristol Reviews 50

I've worked for Digs as a Flooring Contractor for many years now, I have always found them to be professional, well orginised and easy to deal with.
Communication is clear and concise, jobs are scheduled efficiently and access to the properties is straightforward, which helps whentrying to complete work on time.
Dave-AKA Contract Flooring

Have been working with digs for a while all the staff are brilliant and always reliable

I have been working with digs as a contractor for the last 10 years and I can honestly say it’s been great !!
The property managers and admin team have all become my good friends and have always been super efficient whenever I needed them.
A well run company by the manager nick and great team to work with ! Thanks digs

James was really helpful when I asked about a few properties. He took the time to explain the different options available and made everything much clearer and easier to understand. He was professional, friendly, and quick to respond, which made the whole experience much more straightforward. I’d definitely recommend speaking with James if you’re looking for helpful and reliable advice.

The agent booked six groups at the same time for one flat and made us take turns viewing. We were then told we had 15 minutes to sign, and whoever had a £2,000 deposit ready would get it. People were literally running.
Creates panic, forces rushed decisions, and the flat was clearly overpriced. Very poor experience — wouldn’t recommend.

This business is absolutely awful to deal with. We had issues with student accommodation from the very 1st day and a few months on we still are trying to get them to fix damp, mould and rodent infestation! The money being paid out to this company for such a disgusting property in dis-repair is truly beyond my comprehension. They do not belong to a property redress scheme either. Funny that! They have terrible reviews everywhere you look and for good reason. The problem for many students is they have almost a monopoly in Bristol so it’s hard to avoid them. If you can steer clear of Bristol Digs at all costs!

I had a really disappointing experience with Bristol Digs. During our tenancy, my housemate’s bedroom door handle broke and despite reporting it several times, it was never fixed. This meant she had to keep her door open for the last four months just so she wouldn’t get locked in her own room. Luckily, we were all trustworthy housemates, but that’s definitely not how you should have to live!

The biggest frustration came at the end of our tenancy. They deducted £500 from our deposit for so-called “professional cleaning,” even though we spent hours deep cleaning the entire property before moving out. When we asked for evidence, they sent photos showing things like a single hair or a speck of dust, nothing that justified such a huge charge. It felt completely unfair and unprofessional.

I wouldn’t recommend Bristol Digs.

Awful company takes advantage of students. Didn’t give our deposit back. So much was broken in the house. They took forever to respond to requests and communication was poor

Absolute bunch of cowboys. Breached contract on response times for resolution of issues. Amongst other issues that were left unresolved for months, my daughter had a mouldy mattress for almost the entire year she was in her student accommodation. It was replaced a month or so before she left despite this being requested soon after she first moved in. Oven did not work for significant amount of the tenure. House was in Clifton and dilapidated. Rental cost as much as a private rental of a beautiful house in Clifton of a similar size and would expect top notch service from the landlord and agent as a result. I do not know how landlords and these agents are allowed to get away with poor standard of accommodation and service levels. I refused to pay the final months rental and would advise all students do the same thing if they are not satisfied and unfortunate enough to have to deal with Digs. The rental can be taken from the deposit which would avoid be charged extortionate cleaning costs. Whatever Digs respond to this message with, it’s nonsense. Read the rest of the reviews….. they have also been successfully taken to court for charging students for costs that should not have been levied. Google them and it. I would avoid these clowns at all costs. Appalling.

I truly believe living in hell would be a better alternative to renting via Digs, as even the devil himself must be a better landlord than Digs Bristol. From unannounced viewings to rat infestations, my two year misadventure that was renting with this evil company was filled not only with consistent property issues but also demeaning and belittling emails from the property managers who must see their job as a form of sadism, because I do not see how a non-sociopath could interact with human beings in the way they do. If you value your money, mental health, or general wellbeing I recommend you do not come within 5 feet of any Digs property, including their office.

Corrupt agency that are the epitome of slumlords. Managed by Nick Jackson, an uncooperative, unaccountable GM. They prey on students, break laws, and enact in unethical conduct so commonly that Digs are notorious among the Bristol student community. Need investigation from Bristol City Council.

issues include - properties below regulations and liveable conditions (mould, no hot water, broken kitchen/bathroom facilities, holes in walls, rats, little to no support from the agency.

To counter this the repair team are polite, helpful and great people. But Digs understaff and exploit this team leaving backlogs in necessary property functions being left to worsen often exceeding regulatory requirements of repair times.

If you use this agency assume you will have a major chunk of your deposit withheld without evidence or appropriate reasoning.

Absolutely rubbish. Showed up at a property to view it, they don’t turn up. I give them a call and the property is now off the market. They didn’t let us know. Wasted £20 on Ubers.

Thanks Grace!

NEVER USE THEM

DO NOT EVER USE DIGS. If you have already done it make sure on leaving the property you take videos of every part of the room and all the walls. You will not get your deposit back as they just make up claims, provide fuzzy close up photos of blue tax on the walls (which aren’t even your walls!) specs of dust and charge ridiculous spurious things like costs for alarm maintenance, refuse disposal, astronomical shared electricity costs for the shared areas and on an on and on. With evidence at arbitration you WILL get most of your money back but it’s a long process, but very satisfying especially when you have wasted hours of the letting agents time asking questions and ensuring they provide all the invoices etc. Fortunately I am retired so I could spend hours asking more and more questions until they eventually refused to respond; then I went to arbitration. I included all the trust pilot reviews in the claim which details most of their scams. If you are reading this you are either very lucky and are checking out reviews before you rent or most likely unlucky. Good luck!!!!

My son stayed in a studio let by them. They took over half the deposit saying it was dirty and a mattress cover was missing. He never took it as we bought him him his own one. The studio was clean my husband checked.
We asked for evidence but I don't believe it was of his studio just a close up of a hob and microwave that had a bit of grease which certainly was not his! Very sad making money off students as if they rent isn't enough. Disgusting! Don't use them!!!

Due to their quasi-monopoly over the Bristol student property market, my flatmates and I ended up living in Digs-managed properties for several years, and we can confidently say they are the worst letting agent in Bristol, if not the UK.

Through various tenancies, my flatmates and I experienced:
- Repeated damp and mould outbreaks
- Frequent structural leaks that were never fixed
- Endless maintenance delays, with defective items taking weeks to be addressed
- Poor communication, with emails frequently ignored (we had 4 different property managers in one year)
- Fire alarms going off for hours with no help from them to resolve the issue
- Leaks through electrical appliances (fire sensors, emergency lights, power outlets) posing fire hazards
- Key appliances out of order for excessive periods (washing machine and fridge down for a week, shower down for a month)
- A pigeon corpse rotting under bedroom windows for over a month
- A week-long sewage leak at the building entrance, hindering access to our flat and exposing us to severe biohazards
- Recurring appearances of rats (alive and dead), along with their excrement, due to non-existent maintenance and hygiene in the communal areas

I’m unsure whether this is the result of severe incompetence or carelessness, but there is clear negligence on Digs' part that poses a direct threat to the health, safety, and well-being of its tenants. A formal complaint was raised about these issues, but in the eyes of the general manager, hazards, vermin, sewage leaks, fire risks, excessive noise, and other deficiencies were not "evidence of issue[s] which rendered the property uninhabitable, at any point." Digs undoubtedly takes advantage of tenants being students to get away with these unreasonable practices.

To top it off, Digs seems to automatically deduct hundreds of pounds from tenant deposits through outrageous cleaning charges with no real justification. In our final year, they attempted to unjustly withhold nearly £600 from our deposit, yet could not provide a single piece of evidence to justify this charge, despite repeated requests. Thankfully, we had thoroughly documented the state of the property before and after with hundreds of photos and videos, and threatening legal action was sufficient to recover nearly all of it. Ironically, tenants who lived in the same flat six years prior even took Digs to court over the same issue and were able to fully recover their deposit.

It should be clear that Digs and their properties should be avoided at all costs if you value your safety and peace of mind. Current tenants are strongly advised to extensively document the state of their flat before and after they move out, keep a copy of the signed inventory, and maintain written records and photo evidence of any issues during the tenancy. If any disagreements arise, thoroughly dispute unfair charges through deposit dispute schemes, and if severe negligence occurs, raise a complaint with a redress scheme or seek legal advice.

They wont let you know if a viewing is cancelled, and even if you properly cleaned the house at the end you can get charged 1000 pounds from your deposit for cleaning and missing items, until you call them to show them proof. Make sure to take pictures and videos. Worst company.

booked a viewing for today, travelled all the way only for no one there and the advert taken out this morning, no call no answer. in away its good just imagine renting and having to deal with this kind of service. its 2024 guess anyone can manage a calendar and let the customers know. horrible service.

Have rented with Digs for two years now. Truly the worst customer service I have ever received. Both properties were uninhabitable in states of disrepair. We were charged £900 in cleaning fees on moving out of our student house despite leaving it in a better condition than we found it. The property managers are ignorant, unprofessional and only concerned with making money for the landlords. They will ignore often dangerous maintenance issues for weeks despite us sending many emails (mice, mold, sewage, exposed wiring etc) and never fix anything if it involves them spending money. They have no empathy for their tenants and have never treated us with kindness or even respect. A glorified student scam. 0/10. Never again.

If you are considering letting a property with Digs, please let this and other messages find you and avoid them at all costs. I cannot emphasise enough that the only way I can describe this company is a legalised scam. We moved into what resembled a building sight, and when moving out we were charged over £500 for a cleaning fee in a spotless flat left in a much better condition than when we moved in. After 6 months of fighting Digs, the deposit protection scheme awarded us £300 back from the £520 they stole from us. Some charges included mattress protectors being 'missing' that were never provided in the first place and a key that belonging to a tenant who had remained in the property the year after. Unsafe, exposed wiring was only sorted once we pointed out the wires hanging out of the wall and when our washing machine broke, it took two weeks to get a response from them, which arrived in the form of "is the washing machine still broken". Another two weeks followed before it was sorted. I could go on but if you have read this far you should be convinced to never go with Digs if you value your safety, your time or indeed your money. Stay clear.

Went with digs last year for our first student property outside of halls. The place we moved into clearly hadn’t been cleaned very well finding maggots in the fridge and such, and now over a month of moving out we still haven’t received our deposit with the team being very dismissive. It took us weeks to get into contact with them and they are not acknowledging their breach of contract in not returning the deposit. Highly don’t recommend they don’t do anything.