IRD Homes, Sunil Dhown and Richard Elby - Avoid!

I've been informed by a few students living in flats owned and managed by IRD Homes, Sunil Dhown and Richard Elby that they have had a particularly bad experience in Magnum House which they own and manage. Essentially they have only had 6 months tenancy in their flat due to a £100 or so pound rent increase which being students on a limited and fixed income they cannot pay. This has led to students needing to find alternative accommodation, which is particularly stressful with exams looming.

Aside from these tenancy issues, there are also issues with the actual state of the building, particularly the communal entrance and hall ways which are poorly lit and stink of urine. The letterboxes for the individual flats do not have locks on them and one of the entrance doors have a window missing which enables anyone to access the building. This has been that way since August 2009. Presumably because of this, a homeless man now lives in one of the electricity cupboards and local kids have been witnessed using the stairwell to loiter. Tenants have notified IRD Homes but nothing has been done and contact details for property management have since be removed from their website.

A cursory Google search brings up other issues with these people stretching back several years (when they operated under the name SD Investments) which suggests their negligence and general behaviour has not changed.

Students, please be warned before you enter into any tenancy with these people and don't be fooled by no deposit being required. Try to stick to the advice given by the Kingston University Accommodation department to save you pain in the future.