Housing Hand Reviews 

It was a great pleasure working with Jessica Machado at Housing Hand. I had some trouble with my application because I started the process quite far in advance, and some of my documents expired. She was extremely helpful and highly responsive throughout the entire process.

The property management company was also moving slowly, so she helped by sending follow-ups to ensure that the property verification was completed as quickly as possible.

In the end, everything was resolved successfully. Jessica was always very polite, attentive, and proactive, and I really appreciated her support and the help I received from Housing Hand throughout the process.

very friendly and helpful, especially for international students, not at all complicated, and arguably economical.

If I could give 0 stars, I would. If you are a postgraduate student, a final year student, or an international student, save your time, stress and BREATH, considering this guarantor. They pulled out at the last minute on a technicality that was integral to our situation and left us homeless!

Housing Hand and our case manager, and countless customer service agents strung our immediately pre- approved guarantor application ( I can only assume by an AI) along for a month, asking for several documents, barely responding to any of our communication, neither to us, our agent, nor our landlord. These third parties also spoke with them. Never did we get rejected, dropped, or even told we had to shut down during any of the nearly four weeks, and we were told to look for another guarantor.

Last week, three weeks in, they asked for a final sign-off from my landlord on the T&Cs so they could sign our lease the day before we were supposed to move in, which was done swiftly. The next day I called to say, “it’s done, everything has finally been signed and approved” With a smile from ear to ear.

I was told quite brusquely that I don’t qualify as a student and working professional, and I need to cancel my application and portal immediately because my course ends in 2 months, not three, despite being an international and not being able to work full-time for this exact reason and was told to come back when I have a full time job or earn double the rent. My flatmates application was abruptly shut down the same day. We went from having made arrangements to move to have to cancel moving company, facing homelessness and real fear for our future, especially for postgraduate and international students who cannot work more than a certain amount of hours legally, no matter what, we CANNOT even meet their "supposed "working professional criteria. I say "supposed" because the goalposts move so conveniently when questioned.

This "strict policy" should have been made clear 4 weeks ago. How have we been, albeit an awful response rate, been in touch for weeks and getting kicked off the day before our move-in date after positive conversations with only 1 day before! I shudder to think what would have happened had we paid the 1329 pound fee for coverage for 12 months, they each gave us both, and then this happened.
Housing hand then rejected us four weeks in, and when I called to complain and ask for a refund of the service fee due to the immense distress and delay they caused to our move as vulnerable students, they made mention of a new reason each time:

1. Our student status doesn’t last long enough because our course ends at the end of September… if it didn’t take so long, we would be full-time students for at least 2 months at the start of the tenancy. And this could have easily been flagged in week 1, and we would have made other arrangements if you strongly disagreed with our student status.

2. We, as in I, Sara, as the employed party, don’t earn enough to cover double the rent ( hence why we need a guarantor). We cannot legally work more than 20-hour workweeks EVER until our course ends as postgrads)

3. THE RICHEST EXCUSE, when I call to ask for a refund after all we’ve been through, I am told. The fault is your landlord, we asked “time” ago, what is the tenancy type? Was this confirmed with you weeks ago? And my agent called again and was asked to provide this again, and an employee said he had no clue, and his colleague might have the email somewhere.

The excuse now is “The property isn’t an HMO, we could have guaranteed you even if you were only going to be a student for a couple months if this is a year HMO” we are 2 people and the landlord confirmed that as soon as asked, two weeks ago and you never followed up.
with our move-in date 1 day away despite our agent and landlord submitting everything requested, on time. My case manager, gave no clear explanation and no timely updates on a decision that put two full-time students at real risk of homelessness in under a week.

If we didn’t meet their criteria, that should have been flagged in week one, not after they’d taken our onboarding fee and let us believe the guarantee was going ahead. Every customer service rep I spoke to afterward seemed to know less about our case than the last chasing this company felt like chasing an incompetent centipede answering machine where no one answers.

I was told by phone the refund for myself and my co-signer was under review. Nothing happened. My emails were forwarded to the refunds team five working days ago. Still nothing.

Avoid this company if you can. The service fee is 20 pounds per tenant, but the stress, wasted time, and risk to our tenancy were entirely avoidable and entirely on them! I am traumatised at the very least.

Although the process seemed simple at first, there are quite a few hoops to jump through. Best to be organised and respond as quickly as you can. I couldn’t have done it without the help of staff member Jessica who was friendly, warm, efficient and encouraging. Thank you!

Avoid! I was not entering my previously booked accomodation due to it is not being completely built yet. So I contacted Housing Hand multiple times to request a contract termination. I have also let my accomodation provider to send multiple notices back to their email: starting with "refunds" confirming that I am not gonna move into the accomodation on the lower Ashley road. However, they did not respond and their customer services phone line is not reachable at all. All you get is a stupid AI assistant that cannot do anything but to tell you no one is available to pick up the call!!! What's even worse, is that you cannot start a new application with the same account if you change to a new accomodation!!! Because they never resolve the issue with my first application, I have to open a new account and pay extra £20 for a new application.

What's even worse, they emailed me and my accomodation provider that my second accomodation guarantor paperwork was successfully completed. HOWEVER, my accomodation provider NEVER received the signature for my second application!

All they do is nothing but charging you once a month and leaving you to do what they supposed to do!

Also there is a guy from their customer service who uses a mic with really bad echo issues, but he never seems to realize.

Ruma replied very quickly and resolved my issue quickly and very professionally

I am still being charged after I left the house.

Incredibly frustrating.
1. Lousy customer service - The whatsapp chatbot useless, multiple emails ignored and the only channel that is responsive is via their calls. Even that is frustrating because their different agents and they kept repeating the same generic answer.
2. Time period for application not the same as advertised - Their website mentioned needing only 3-5 business days. In reality, I’m currently on the 13th business day and they still haven’t completed my application.
3. Glitch on the dashboard during payment selection - during the payment there was 4 options (2 options for one off payment & 2 other for monthly). I chose the one off payment which was 1064 but when it cane time for me to made payment suddenly it was 1329. I called the customer service and their response was there was a technical glitch in the website. Sucks cause i didn’t take a screenshot as proof.

The only reason I went with this guarantor was cause of the student accomodation not allowing other guarantors. If I had any other choice I WONT BE USING HOUSING HAND EVER AGAIN.

As agents using the service for the first time, and asking our tenants to use it, we found the process not very fluid, we received repeat requests for same information, very slow process to then being rushed to sign the T&C without allowing time to read them. The tenants didn't seem to know what was going on and were left waiting for long periods, every time either side contacted them the blame would be put on the other side. I had a video call before using them but was not significantly useful.
I won't be rushing to use them again and will look for alternatives.
reading all these comments it's an eye opener.

Very user friendly and great customer service!! Shout out to Christina for her quick responses :))

One of the worst customer experiences I’ve ever had. The platform doesn’t work properly, and the customer service is easily the worst I’ve encountered.

Emails, when they are answered at all, take far too long and rarely offer any meaningful help. I also booked calls with my Housing Hand representative on two separate occasions, and both times they failed to show up without any explanation. As for the WhatsApp support, it’s completely ineffective, they simply don’t respond.

Overall, the lack of communication, accountability, and support has made what should have been a straightforward process incredibly frustrating. I would not recommend this service.

Housing hand is good until you have to actually interact with anybody from the service. Not like they actually interact with you. They have ignored multiple emails from multiple email threads including an email from my landlord who has said that the lease has ended. They refuse to cancel a service that is no longer needed and have had me jumping through hoops for months while they ignore any email. While emailing me threatening me for "ignoring them and their attempts to get payment" after 10 emails responding to that email I am yet to hear anything back from the people that I am apparently ignoring. Absolutely useless customer service that is rude and extremely unhelpful. Overall my experience with housing hand has been absolutely horrible and I would recommend trying another company that might actually respond to one of 50 emails you send them trying to work out a cancellation.

DO NOT USE HOUSING HAND!!

My experience with Housing Hand has been incredibly frustrating and stressful.

I contacted Housing Hand to cancel my guarantor service after I had permanently moved out of the property and no longer required the service. Despite notifying them in advance and repeatedly explaining my circumstances, my account remained open while I continued to receive ongoing charges. They have since referred the account to a law firm to pursue an alleged debt, despite the fact that I requested cancellation over five months ago and should have had the account closed.

Rather than dealing with my cancellation request promptly, Housing Hand insisted they required confirmation from my accommodation provider before taking any action. This left me caught in the middle of a lengthy dispute between two companies, despite the fact that I was the customer paying for the guarantor service.

Throughout the process, communication was extremely poor. Emails often went unanswered for extended periods, and I spent months chasing updates while continuing to receive payment demands and debt collection correspondence. The process became unnecessarily stressful and incredibly time-consuming.
I was also disappointed by the lack of transparency surrounding the cancellation process. As a customer paying for the service, I expected clear contractual terms explaining when and how the service could be cancelled. Instead, I found myself repeatedly asking for clarification while the charges continued to accrue. I have also been waiting months for a copy of the signed agreement and the contractual terms relied upon in relation to my cancellation and alleged outstanding balance, but have yet to receive the requested information.

What should have been a straightforward cancellation has turned into a months-long dispute involving my letting agent, Housing Hand and debt collection correspondence that I am still dealing with five months later.

I would strongly encourage anyone considering this service to read the terms and conditions extremely carefully, understand exactly how the cancellation process works, and keep a complete written record of every communication from the outset.

As a result of the ongoing issues, I am now seeking legal advice.

Unacceptable and lengthy application process. Zero communication from the dedicated HousingHand advisors. It has been over 2 weeks past the move in date for my prospective accomodation, as well as since I have paid HousingHands fee in full and it is solely on HousingHand that I am unable to move in. Other gurantor schemes seem not to have this issue at all as the person I am sharing accomodation with settled theirs immediatley.

I was completing my Application form until it got to Verify, there it asked for the details of someone who could verify my ID. When I read the Terms they are actually asking for somone to pay the rent if I default! OK they pay the rent to the Landlord, but then recover that from this person I nominate. That is a Guarantor!!!!!
If I had a Guarantor I wouldn't need this Company would I?
When I finally managed to speak to someone, he confirmed that was right, but that where they differed from other Companies was that the Guarantor didn't have to prove their income or have to live in the UK. BUT they still want a Guarantor!!!
There are other Companies who insure payment of rent just like a Landlord gets, but the Tenant gets it and assigns it to the Landlord.
I think this Company are highly deceptive in asking for ID but actually calling them a Co-signer and legally stand as Guarantor! They are not guaranteeing the rent!!! Julian

Absolutely terrible service. I wanted to apply with my friend, and despite their advertised 24 hour response time, they are highly resistant to processing any query. My friend promptly applied and did not have her application processed, and is in fact still waiting; the only thing HousingHand arranged promptly was the deduction of her application fee. Personally, I mistakenly selected 'working professional' instead of 'student' and despite the advertised 24 hour response time to rectifying this I was not able to speak to any human, only being able to reach AI agents who assured me that there was nothing they or I could do but wait. This delay may cost us a housing opportunity. NEVER use this service.

The staff was very friendly and supportive during email back and forths, always replying back as soon as possible.

If I could them 0/5 I would.

Absolutely awful service. I sent them 16 emails in the space of two weeks and not once did I receive a reply from a person, automated responses all the way. I tried to call the office, went straight to voicemail multiple times and when my friend tried to call they wouldn't speak to her for 'confidentiality reasons'. I submitted everything they asked for, and where I had made errors on my end there was no way to amend it via the actual dashboard so I had to email them to change it on their end. The user interface is awful, completely one-sided. I expressed over and over how urgent this application was and how I had no alternatives as an international student. Yet not once did I receive an update on my application, aside from automated emails. They charged for the service before my application had even been completed!! I paid £667 for nothing because they couldn't be bothered to respond so I had to find another option. Renting in the UK is hard enough as an international with the new Renters Right and this organisation is not a helping hand in urgent situations. Honestly, would be tempted to give them 2 stars if they bothered to reply, but they never did. You're better off asking a friend who's a UK resident to be your guarantor, please avoid for your own sanity.

Christina has been assisting me since the 22nd and has been of absolute quality — super proactive, patient, and brilliant at getting my application and portal issues sorted out.

While a phone interaction yesterday with another agent felt a bit rigid and unhelpful, Christina’s dedication over the past week more than made up for it. Huge thanks to Christina for her fantastic help throughout this process!

A scam, need me to pay 20 pounds ahead for applying, and when I can't provide my payslip because I have just graduated they have cancelled my application and refuse to refund. And the callers I talked to are very unprofessional, they don't know anything and cannot answer any of my question. Big scam and give you fake hope