1

I would definitely not recommend Knightsbridge Estate agents. They largely made the process more difficult. Once we had been offered a rental property, the communication was immediately excessive. They (and the third party providers they use) contacted us via three different means (text, WhatsApp and email) and within the space of 3.5 days they had sent me 19 WhatsApp messages and 15 different emails. This meant that important information was communicated via several different means and within several different messages/emails.
Further, and I’m unsure if this is usual in today’s rental market so perhaps not a Knightsbridge problem, but they used a third party service to verify numerous details, called Canopy. I do not know if it is Canopy or Knightsbridge’s protocol, but the amount of information and evidence required was excessive.
We had to attend their offices in person so they could verify our identities despite the fact we completed rigourous ID checks online. When we attended their offices, they took scans of our passports and sent us away. I then got a call 30 mins later saying that they weren’t willing to accept my ID as the photo was too old! It was a valid and in date passport that I have very recently traveled abroad with. When I challenged their request for further identification, they immediately conceded, leaving me confused as to why they requested it in the first place. I’m also unclear what the purpose of us attending their offices was as if it was to verify our identification, surely they should have done that whilst we were physically there.
Then, when we asked for assistance in respect of several separate issues, we were told to use the Canopy chatbot. The only time we actually wanted to hear from them, they sent us elsewhere.
As above, communication was excessive and there was a mad rush to pay the initial holding deposit and get all our referencing done. Once this was sorted, it was radio silence. We then didn’t hear from them for 7 days. I had to chase them to query when we’d actually receive a tenancy agreement and was just told that would come “shortly”. Bizarrely, immediately after I asked that and before any tenancy agreement materialised, they asked us to leave them a google review. They also stated that they only saved our referencing on file on 19/03 despite confirming our referencing was complete on 12/03.
When it came in to move in date, they asked that my partner and I attend in person to collect the keys. I made clear from the start that I would be unable to attend on a weekday (when our move in date was) due to work commitments. They took no issue with this. However, on move in date they contacted me by phone as my partner was running late. I said I was at work but would contact him. Immediately, the person I spoke with said that I had to be there physically so they would be unable to hand the keys over to my partner only. I confirmed I had been clear that was not possible and that has been acknowledged by them as ok. I queried how we were to proceed based on this and they simply couldn’t answer me. They just kept saying they would call my partner and I queried why given they had said they couldn’t hand the keys over to him only in any event. They then handed the keys to my partner only without further issue.
It just felt like they made everything unnecessarily difficult and it was like no rental process I’ve been through previously.
I don’t raise these issues to be unkind and I’m specifically not naming any individuals as I don’t feel that’s fair. I raise these issues in the hope Knightsbridge will reflect on their processes and hopefully adapt them.... Read more
30th Apr 2026 (8 days ago)