29th Jul 2026 (25 days ago)
We chose Keenans Rawtenstall to sell our house primarily because of their competitive fees. Looking back, I wish I had done more research beforehand.<br><br>When signing the contract, I dod nit sign it, it was automatic and entered an incorrect name, I contacted and was told "don't worry, it's fine". I also asked for a copy of tbe contract that was readable but this was never provided. Therefore, I habe never seen their terms of service.<br><br>On the day our property went live, I visited the office for the first time to drop off a key and was quite surprised. There was very little to indicate that it was an estate agency. There were no property displays in the windows, just a very minimalist office with mirrors, lighting, ornaments and interior design books. It felt more like an interior design showroom than a business focused on selling houses.<br><br>The same impression carried over to their social media presence. There seemed to be more content featuring selfies of their young staff in mirrors than actual property marketing. As a seller, I expected a stronger focus on promoting homes.<br><br>When I dropped off the key, just three hours after the property went live, I was told they had already received six enquiries. Our property was also labelled as a "Hot Property" on both their website and Zoopla, with indications of high interest and hundreds of views. Given this, I found it difficult to understand why we received only three viewings in the first three weeks.<br><br>In fact, one of those viewings came about because a note was posted through our door by someone who had been trying unsuccessfully to contact Keenans to arrange a viewing. We organised that viewing ourselves. Perhaps that offers some insight into the issue.<br><br>During this time, we viewed numerous properties through other estate agents. Many were more expensive than ours and, in our opinion, not as appealing, yet they often had back-to-back or block viewings arranged. By contrast, whenever we tried to arrange viewings through Keenans for properties we were interested in, we frequently had to chase by phone and email before receiving a response.<br><br>After three weeks, we raised our concerns and asked for our property to be promoted on their social media channels. Following this, we received two additional viewings. However, after five weeks on the market and only five viewings in total, we felt we had made the wrong choice and decided to take our property off the market.<br><br>Two days after sending our notice by email, we had received no response, so I had to follow up myself. I also mentioned again that the terms and conditions supplied to us were extremely difficult to read because the text was so small and became blurred when zoomed in. Harry agreed that this was an issue and said he was unsure about the notice requirements as a result, promising to call me straight back. Unfortunately, he never did.<br><br>The following day I called again and was told that I would remain tied into the contract for the remainder of the 12-week term plus a further 28 days' notice. I said OK because I just wanted the property to be removed from the market. I was then told that this could not be done and that the property had to remain online.<br><br>When I explained that I no longer wished to sell the property and wanted it removed, I was told it could instead be suspended and reactivated later to complete the remainder of the contract period. I explained that if we decided to sell again in the future, we would not be using Keenans.<br><br>After speaking with his manager, Harry returned and confirmed that I was in fact correct: the property could indeed be removed from the market immediately. The only restriction was that I could not instruct another estate agent until the contractual period had expired.<br><br>Unfortunately, after this experience, we have no intention of selling for a while. Will never use Keenans again.<br><br>Update: I finally got a confirmation email that I have taken my property off the market on 29th July!! Only took 2 months!<br><br>The response from Keenans is absolute rubbish!... Read more