Spaces Life Avis 

I've was a tenant with Spaces for 2long years and only few weeks ago my tenancy came to an end.
Because of work unfortunately I've had to move out of London otherwise I would've been more than happy to extend.
My personal experience has been absolutely brilliant! I honestly don't have a bad word to say about these guys and believe me I always have something to say as I'm very fussy person haha

Whenever there was a problem they ALWAYS dealt with it pretty quick! The team are ever so nice , very patient and understanding! In the end there was absolutely no problem getting back my deposit!

I would definitely recommend it ! 100%

Three months in and loving my Spaces place. Got a new job and had to move fast so viewed online, moved in 2 days later, though they said I could have had it that afternoon if I wanted. Everything is included so no surprises and it's right where I need to be.

Quick and easy, there has never been an issue with Spaces. They are always reliable – offering rooms to a high and comfortable standard. The apartment I chose boasted a brilliant location near to my preferred tube stop at an even better rate than other places I viewed!

I did once or twice have the odd problem with my place and when I did they immediately were on the case, responding to my emails and fixing whatever needed doing at their soonest convenience. In light of all of this I am definitely going to extend my contract as my experience with Spaces has been an extremely positive one.

Been living in my Spaces apartment for 6 months now, and I've been very happy with the experience so far. The flat is lovely, in great condition and in a lovely location. I will definitely be renewing my contract, especially as the service has been flawless. All my emails have been responded to extremely quickly and professionally. I thoroughly recommend Spaces.

I've been living in a Spaces apartment now since September and I have been very happy with the experience I've received so far. Arranging a viewing was easy, as was the reservation of my room, which is bright, big and the location is fantastic. Whenever I've had to contact them, Spaces have always responded to my emails promptly and professionally. Also when I had a problem with my taps, they sent a plumber around to fix it the same day. If I had to make one complaint it would be that the rent price includes a cleaner whose appearances are becoming more and more sporadic! Despite this, when my lease expires I have absolutely no qualms about extending and staying with Spaces beyond that time. I would highly recommended.

Had a viewing confirmed with them and came on time.

Nobody showed up.
- No return to my 7 missed calls and a voice message
- No return to my text messages
- No response on Spare Room.

I only knew viewing was not on because after waiting a while I knocked and spoke to the tenant who said it had already been reserved (and the guy left).

I had one missed call while I was cycling 10 minutes before and nothing else (tried calling back as above). So they could have emailed/texted/called again. They could have just waited and let me know in person. They didn't even apologise.

Judging by the reviews below a blessing in disguise.

Avoid this company.

The Spaces Urban Living experience starts with a hunger games style event they describe as a viewing. You arrive and discover that several others already have and you get a chance to view based on when you showed up. This serves to increase the pressure to say yes which suits their sales tactics, should you say yes they'll take a non refundable deposit (several hundred pounds). This is before they let you see the contact you are now bound to sign or lose your deposit, this contact includes mandatory inspection fees and a jacked up charge for a replacement mattress protector (payable whether you've used it or not when you leave).

Maintenance is very poor and when things break you'll be left chasing them. It took them a fortnight to replace a broken washing machine and seemed most put out when I wasn't up for taking a day off work to let the delivery people in. Far worse was when the shower broke and wasn't fixed for 40 days, early on in an attempt to fix it they tore off a bunch of tiles. They then decided they couldn't and apparently couldn't really be bothered. This exposed a large mount of mould (present due to previously mentioned poor maintenance) and made the bathroom unusable even for a bath. They refused to discuss any rent rebate despite making the flat basically uninhabitable.

Spaces also failed to protect my deposit in an appropriate scheme within the time period required by law.

Spaces are some of the worst agents/landlords going and that's up against some stiff competition in London.

I am currently renting my second room with Spaces. The rooms are quite pricey, but they are really good quality in nice areas.
If there are any problems the team is always available and they solve queries very quickly.
The whole process is super straight forward and I never had any problems or doubts.

By far the worst landlord I have ever had. Booked online and was completely duped by photos advertised. The photos were of a different room, the rent is 25% higher than comparable houses in the marker, we paid for cleaning only for the cleaner to refuse to clean the bathrooms (they give you a contract that says they provide "surface cleaning" only; too bad they don't advertise the cleaning service as such), substandard kitchen, substandard mouldy bathrooms, the list goes on. I never review things, but this one is so off the mark people should be warned.

The admin side of the company is great. Really helped me when I went through a tough spot. Besides that the experience was horrible. 90% of their rooms have extremely thin walls so you're guaranteed to hear the other occupant living in their room. You might as well come over to their room when you hear them watching their favourite show. The cleaning lady might possibly not show up or won't do their job properly. And heads up, that all inclusive bill package is mandatory and it's how they make a large profit off of you. No matter the location, they're over charging and exploiting you in every way, from room to bills. That save £470 deal they have is for you to not view the rooms and see how bad the rooms are for yourself.

Lastly, they award tenants a £50 Amazon gift card for good reviews and showing proof.

Where should I begin?
I first rented with Spaces in September 2015. I'd rented a room before I came to London (Spaces did not offer Skype viewings). When I arrived in London at the 3-bed flat share I couldn't believe my eyes. Not only was the room quite small, the furniture was broken, the wall damaged, there was mould in the bathroom, the kitchen was super dirty. All in all I didn't even want to unpack or shower because I was too disgusted. Therefore I called up Spaces to complain and to release me from the 1-year contract (Spaces are not easily reached by phone). Of course, Spaces wouldn't release me from my contract but offered me a viewing of a different flat close by. As I didn't have an alternative, I signed another 1-year contract with them and had to pay 300 pounds to reserve the room when I was there for the viewing.
The room was nice, large and had a balcony. However, I paid over 1000 pounds per month for it! The flat itself however was tiny, there was no living room and not even a table in the kitchen.
In the winter when our heating broken, Spaces took about 3 days to fix it. They refused to provide us with a toilet roll holder as they thought it wasn't necessary. The cleaning staff is a joke. When my flatmate's bed broke, they fixed it within a few days. They take 15 minutes and only wipe some surfaces and the floor of the communal areas.
Don't be surprised if you suddenly receive an email and a letter with the title 'pre-court letter' stating that you failed to pay your rent (which I of course didn't, turns out it was an automated system failure, what a waste of my time - this happened 3 times in a year). When my flatmate/boyfriend and I decided to move in together and end our contract with Spaces early, it got even worse. Spaces want you to pay 350 pounds and find a replacement tenant for your room in order for you to terminate the contract early. Only as we decided to move into on of Space's vacant 2-bed flats they let us move without having to pay the early tenancy termination fee and without having to find a replacement however with the condition to stay in the 2 bed flat until both our contracts ran out. Spaces was very cooperative regarding this matter and made it possible within days. In the new flat I reported some issues like a broken kettle, and Spaces fixed it within a day. Spaces also transferred our deposit and pre paid rent instantly. The new flat is significantly cheaper and nicer than our previous flat, even though its location is not ideal (ground floor next to a main road). However I appreciated Space's flexibility and cooperation in this matter.

I’ve been staying with Spaces at Elim Estate for five months and it was my worst experience ever. The room prices are way too high for what it is. GBP 834.- per month for a tiny 10 sq.m. bedroom in a 4-bedroom flat share with a single bathroom, tiny kitchen and NO living room. For the same money in London you can find a two-bed flat share with a living room or even a single studio.

Weekly "cleaning service" means just one hour once a week, cleaning (slightly wiping, let’s be honest) surfaces in communal areas. During Christmas period there was no cleaning at all during four weeks. Following our complaints, the agency explained it by a "mix up with managers" (as they always explain), however I’m convinced that they were not sending the cleaner just to save money, expecting that we were all gone on holidays.

The advertised "24/7" client service is just a fake. When our washing machine was broken, the agency was sending a useless technician who were spending 5 min with the machine and reporting that the problem was solved. Once we tried to use it again, lights in the flat were going off and it smelled burning. We spent 5 weeks without washing machine.

Forget your Netflix. "Ultrafast WiFi" is just another fake. Many times you just can't do anything, especially watching a film on Friday evening or on weekend. Quite annoying, isn't it? After numerous complaints they replaced the hub for what they believed to be "broadband", however it didn’t change at all. I’ve finally stopped complaining and just moved out.

No clear information is provided when you are signing up for a room. They push you to book a room and pay GBP 300.- towards reservation deposit, and after that only you discover that: 1. if you are a foreigner living in the UK less than 12 months, you must pay for three months in advance plus 6 weeks deposit; 2. fees at the end of tenancy - GBP 19.99 for mattress protector (it's 6 quid in nearby Tesco) and GBP 49.00 "final inspection fee" (what can you "inspect" in a tiny 10 sq.m. almost empty room?).

Cherry on the cake - at the end of my 5-months tenancy they proposed a new 1-year contract and the rent went up by 30 quid per month without any reasoning.

The only advantage of renting with Spaces - flats are furnished and you don't have to move in with loads of kitchen- and house-ware. If you have no better choice, have a short (no more than 5 months) stay with Spaces while looking for a better value.

I rented from Nov 2016 - February 2017.

The Pros
My room was great. Not quite as 'sparkly' as the pictures made out online but it was very spacious and I had a balcony I wasn't expecting and the bed was comfortable. The nicest room I've rented in London in 10 years of renting.
Kitchen and bathroom was clean and my flatmates were respectful and friendly.

There is a tenants email address once you have moved in and the communication and customer service (Helen & Juan) is excellent although we didn't have any big issues with the flat itself.
My deposit was returned in full (although they take £60 of it for admin and another £20 for a mattress cover).

Communication after you move in is good and I trusted that had anything broken it would have been dealt with well.

They do seem to be a company trying to improve their model through new processes and customer service.

The Cons
It felt a bit of a dodgy process getting the room through the 'agents' who were sales driven but I didn't feel like my questions were getting proper attention or answers.

If they still run the same model, the process is to arrange a series of room viewings. You arrive at your allotted time and find yourself with 10 other people viewing the same rooms which go on a first come first served basis. Everyone in the group is therefore stressed because they didn't realise this was the process. I walked off at that point and organised a private viewing of the room I wanted.

I wasn't told at the point of agreement that I was getting a 'discounted' rent so after my four month contract I was told that my rent was going up by £200. The same thing happened to my housemate which resulted in a discussion where we realised we were both paying the same rent (£1) difference even though my room was much bigger. This housemate also discovered that our rooms had been advertised on the website for weeks before we had officially told them we were moving off.

So the high number of fees and moving costs don't really make a 4 month tenancy good value.

At the "full-price" the room was expensive so that made it hard to fill. In fact, we were offered the room at a 'negotiated rate' at one point but we were both pretty annoyed by then. That meant that for the last month of my residency I was told that they would be doing viewings between 5-7 most evenings. Therefore I had to make sure I was out at that time. It's fine if you are in but who really wants to be crashing out with Netflix with goodness knows how many people in your bedroom with you.

Lastly, aforementioned housemate saw a few other rooms through this agency and wasn't impressed with the condition. So do make sure you see the property first if you can. Get something in writing to confirm the price post the 4 month agreement if you want to stay on.

Final con is that as you don't know who you are renting with so it's a bit of a crab shoot. Having said that, I had the perfect flatmates for me.

Spaces:
I was really impressed by many aspect of your service and this is a really great model to help professional rent in a way that makes life easy. Please be transparent about post contract rental costs and extra training for agents around communication would be great and help us renters really trust your organisation. As most of us work during the day, it would be great to minimise post 5 pm viewings to one day a week when you have a resident in the room.

Money grabbing and misleading. Constant petty charges and deposit deductions. Like most people, I expect to get my full deposit back when leaving a property spotless. They asked me to give them a non refundable £300 deposit before I had looked at or signed the tenancy agreement, and of course, the tenancy agreement is tens of pages long and covers them for these ridiculous deposit deductions. This company also encourage you to leave after 5 months by putting the rent upto £860 a month after an "introductory rent of £760 a month" for a box room with thin walls, no kitchen table and no living room.

Over a year lived at two locations of the company.

Extremely bad customer service support. You can email and call as much as you want but besides automated responses, don't expect a response.
but.....
lol...expect lightening response if your late with your payment and threatening collections etc etc

Automatic reduction of your deposit by a third, despite leaving room spotless. You can request a breakdown or reason for charges....but, you guessed it, automated responses only.

I have been living in a Spaces apartment now since July, and I have been very happy with the experience I have received. It was very easy to arrange a viewing and then reserve the room in my flat, which is bright, modern and in an excellent location. When I have had to contact Spaces they have always responded to my emails promptly and professionally. Additionally when I had a problem with my flat, they sent an electrician around to fix it the very same day. My one complaint would be that the rental price includes a cleaner whose appearances are becoming more and more sporadic! Despite this, when my lease expires in August, at present, I have absolutely no qualms about extending my lease and staying with Spaces beyond that time. Recommended.

I needed to get myself established in London before I looked into making a firmer commitment on housing, so I decided that renting a room for the first 6-9 months would be a sensible idea as it would give me time to find my feet and learn about the area. When I first rang Spaces Urban Living I was surprised at how friendly and flexible they were. I said I wasn't sure how long I would need the room but they didn't seem phased and said we could review an initial contract after 6 months and see how I felt. They were really interested in me as a person not just a statistic, we chatted about my job and my lifestyle as they were keen to find a property that really matched my needs. I was touched by the warmth of their staff. I was trying to figure out how to fly over to do some viewings when they pointed out that they offer Skype viewings and actually I could, if I wanted, do the whole thing over the internet. To have the stress of having to fly over taken away was such a huge relief. The Skype viewings are very professional and the level of detail you can see gives you confidence like actually being there. I never felt rushed or hurried in anyway and I didn't feel like I was taking something because it was the only thing on offer. They were so helpful and friendly I felt completely at ease. Once I had decided, everything needed to arrange moving in was available online, it was simple and quick, and there was always a helpful voice at the end of a phone, or available on chat should I need it. I was able to move with no drama or hassle. My stay ended up being the whole 9 months and extending the original contract for another three months was seamless. I really cannot thank you enough for making this such a great experience.

I really rate Spaces. I have been in my rental property for a couple weeks now and just wanted to say how great it has all been. I signed up with them and they matched me to a few rooms really quickly. I went to see the rooms with some other people looking for a room too, but I got the room I wanted by offering my deposit on the night, they explain everything really well so we all know what to do. I did all the paperwork on the internet, which is so much better than snail mail, and the team were always available on instant messenger chat when I wanted to check something. It was just so easy. My room is clean, well decorated and just what I needed. The shared areas, the kitchen and bathroom, are well maintained and my housemates are really cool too. So far living here has been a breeze and I am sure it will continue to be that way. Thank you Spaces for making this easy and being such cool people.

What I most liked about Spaces was their flexibility and friendly attitude. I keep really odd hours with work (in a hospital), which makes flat hunting really difficult. However the team at Spaces Urban Living could not have been more accommodating. I had to change viewing times twice, which made me feel really bad, but to them it didn't seem to be an issue. Viewings are normally in the evenings and a group of people go along to see a few properties, but even so I felt bad dropping out. However, they were really friendly and just rescheduled the appointments. Once I decided to take the room the communication continued to be first rate, they helped me get all the deposit and referencing paperwork sorted quickly and I was able to move in sooner than I hoped. So far so good!

Recently I spent a couple of months in London whilst on a placement for Uni, being a student I could only afford to rent a room and I was getting a bit desperate until I came across Spaces Urban Living. Thankfully this team really understand needing accommodation fast, and despite the referencing process, they were able to help me get all the paperwork completed really quickly. I confess to being totally out of my depth with renting, but they held my hand and made it seem really easy.

They are really friendly, even when it was me keeping them waiting with odd details, but the fact I could text or email information in made such a difference. The room was great, just what I needed, clean, fresh and up together. I can’t really fault them on everything. It was a totally painless process from start to finish. When it came to me moving out because the placement had ended, that was easy too. I was able to arrange the leaving paperwork with as much ease as the moving in had been. I have to say I highly recommend Spaces Urban Living, and in fact did point my cousin that way when he needed a room in the area too. Thank you all for being so lovely.