Delayed repairs, disputed charges: Student tenants speak out in Newcastle
The market for landlords and property managers in Newcastle upon Tyne is large, especially given the high demand for student housing driven by the city’s two universities. Seekers Property is one of the biggest providers of student housing in the area. It has been subject to a number of complaints from student tenants. This investigation looks into stories of three tenants, former and current, to find out what living under Seekers' management actually looks like.
“They charged us, like, £110 for a bin. […] There was no damage to the previous bin, and we cleaned it. So, it was actually pretty good, you know.”
About Seekers Property
Seekers Property is an independent property management company primarily focused on students and young professionals. It was registered at Companies House in 2000 and operated under the name Walton Robinson until 2023. Since then, it has been trading as Seekers Property.
Mark Walton, the CEO, explains on their website that "[t]he Seekers name maintains our standing as an authoritative figure in the property domain. It's crucial to emphasise that this rebranding isn't a result of a merger or a change under a new guise. Instead, it's a strategic decision to invigorate our brand." However, there are rumours suggesting that “they changed their name because of the amount of bad reviews they were getting,” Ben Bouet-Renison, 23, said. Some online comments echo this sentiment, though there is not enough evidence to confirm these claims.
Mark Walton
CEO, Walton Robinson (Seekers), since 16 February 2000
Inside student complaints
Benjamin “Ben” Bouet-Rennison is a 23-year-old from the North East who studied Psychological Sciences at Newcastle University. A funny, big-hearted character who, by his own standards, is fastidiously clean. He moved to Seekers’ property at 10B North Terrace in June 2023, as a final-year student, with five other flatmates. He initially moved there because he and his friends were looking for accommodation at the last minute, and this house seemed to be for a reasonable price for the year. During their house viewing, everything seemed to go well. Although the house was dirty at the time, they assumed it would be cleaned before they moved in, as there were still occupants living there. However, when moving day arrived, the situation quickly turned into a nightmare.
“When I moved into this property, I didn't have a bed frame. And I continued to not to have a bed frame for three weeks."
“I was on a mattress on the floor. Bear in mind, they were immediately aware of the fact that I had no bed frame, and it took them three weeks to fix. And when they came in to assemble the bed frame, which, I mean, fair play. […] But they left so much stuff all over my carpet, like wood shavings, everything all a mess."
“[…] And then they damaged the wall, putting the bed sheet up. They then proceeded to charge me for that damage in the wall.”
That thread of emails shows another problem Ben Bouet-Rennison had to face: reported maintenance issues being cancelled.
When there is a problem with the property, instead of calling up or sending an email, Seekers set up a portal called Property File, where tenants can report issues of various origins and see how they are then being managed. However, the way they do this can sometimes look a little questionable.
This doesn’t appear to be a one-time thing. Maxim "Max" Toma, 24, a current tenant and third-year Psychology student at Northumbria University Newcastle, is a hardworking, warm character who admits he can be something of a clean freak. He has faced strikingly similar issues.
“[…] most of the time, no matter what issue you've reported, they'll just cancel the issue on their side, rather than saving it or acknowledging it or anything of the sort, and so what happens is, because the issue's cancelled, there's no record of it on the website. So, it sort of like, seems like they could be using that against us, and say like, oh, you've never reported this, because there's clearly no record of any reports.”
Max Toma, 24, has been living at Seekers Property, 5 Huntsmoor House, since September 2025. He described his experience as a “rollercoaster” and “negligence.” On move-in day, the kitchen was not clean after the previous tenants, leaving mouldy food and bug-infested lentils in the cupboards.
“We've got a little beetle infestation of some sort that they're breeding in the kitchen, because you can see, like, different little sizes of them, of larvae and the beetles themselves.”
5 Huntsmoor House
Bugs in lentils left after previous tenants
Bugs have already spread in Max's belongings
Bugs in the carpet
But the insects were not the only concern. During his kitchen inspection, Max Toma, 24, moved the previous tenants' belongings into a single cupboard to free up space and shone a torch under the fridge and dishwasher.
"It was very dirty under there, and there were a few bits of rat faeces as well," he said. "This was reported back in November, re-reported on the 2nd of February, and as of February 24th, there had been no reply."
Similarly, Ben Bouet-Renison, 23, has also experienced some parasites in his property.
“The dishwasher was broken. All of the kitchen tiles were, like, so damaged that we had ants coming into the property, like, actual ants. There were, like, maggots underneath the floorboards near, like, the bin. Because they hadn't tiled the kitchen properly.”
Max Toma's washing machine was another issue. It was mouldy, smelly, and only washed in cold water. He has reported it a few times, and although some came to fix it, nothing was actually fixed. Therefore, Max lived without a functioning washing machine for almost six months, until it got replaced.
Thomas Brennan, 20, a sociable third-year Business Management student at Newcastle University, also reported a troubled move-in experience at 3 Huntsmoor House, where he lived during his second year. Upon arrival, the sofa was broken. Despite raising the issue with Seekers, it was never fixed during his tenancy. Thomas did not provide documentary evidence to support his account.
“They're so slow with it. Even our freezer drawers didn't fit. So, there was one time a lady, never met her, she just kind of popped in, put some freezer drawers on our floor and then left. And the freezer drawers didn't even fit. They were just there.”
End of a tenancy and the deposit
Another common issue was end-of-tenancy charges, including fees for damage or wear that tenants claimed was either pre-existing or fell within the realm of reasonable wear and tear.
“They charged us a lot of money, I think maybe £200, £210, for garden maintenance. Bear in mind, we did not have a garden. We had steps leading down to the property, and the rest was a public car park."
To clarify the situation outlined in the table: all six tenants collectively paid a total deposit of £2,555, which amounts to £425.83 each. The total charges imposed on the tenants came to £2,151.96, or £358.66 per tenant. As a result, each tenant received a refund of just £67.17 from their initial deposit of £425.83.
Seekers also proposed that the landlord contribute an additional £3,080.31, raising the overall cost for the property to £5,232.27. Ben mentioned that this is a revised proposal following an earlier dispute in which the final refund was around £30 per tenant, although he no longer has a copy of the previous version.
Several deductions stand out as questionable. For example, there was a £107.22 charge for a replacement kitchen pedal bin, split equally between the tenants and the landlord. Additionally, there were charges for external work described as "pathway all along by bedroom and kitchen windows," costing £228, which was also divided 50/50.
These contested items, among others, prompted Ben to formally dispute the charges with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), the government-approved body responsible for protecting the deposit.
TDS (Tenancy Deposit Scheme) offers two deposit protection schemes: Custodial, where TDS itself holds the deposit, and Insured, where the agent or landlord retains the deposit and insures it through TDS. Seekers Property uses the Insured scheme, meaning the deposit remains in Seekers' own account throughout the tenancy. At the end of the tenancy, Seekers administers the repayment directly with the tenant, proposing any deductions and agreeing on the amount to be returned. If the tenant disputes those deductions, they must formally let Seekers know of their objection and attempt to reach a resolution. Should the two parties fail to agree, either party may escalate to TDS's free dispute resolution service, but this must be done within 3 months of the tenancy ending. TDS will then appoint an independent adjudicator, who reviews the evidence submitted by both sides and issues a binding decision, typically within 28 days. There is no right of appeal.
Full-time students and term-time accommodation in the year 2023/24 and 2024/25 in Newcastle
|
Provider maintained property |
Private- sector halls |
Parental/guardian home |
Own residence (including rented) |
Other rented accommodation |
Other |
Not available |
Total |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
2024/25 |
||||||||
|
Newcastle University |
4,245 |
3,730 |
2,090 |
1,335 |
13,345 |
290 |
800 |
25,835 |
|
University of Northumbria at Newcastle |
4,450 |
1,340 |
5,975 |
3,450 |
9,825 |
600 |
5 |
25,645 |
|
2023/24 |
||||||||
|
Newcastle University |
6,860 |
6,155 |
1,890 |
1,070 |
8,720 |
155 |
1,365 |
26,220 |
|
University of Northumbria at Newcastle |
4,505 |
2,000 |
5,390 |
3,885 |
9,620 |
615 |
5 |
26,020 |
The table draws on data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) to highlight the market size in which Seekers operates. In the 2023-2024 academic year, 18,340 students rented accommodation through independent landlords or agencies, which includes Seekers. By the 2024-2025 academic year, this number had increased to 23,170, a nearly 5,000-student increase in just one year.
Seekers Property operates across a large part of Newcastle, particularly in the 9 areas listed below.
Listed addresses were available to 17 April 2026
Fenham
Property number: 2
NE4 9AB (Wingrove Avenue)
NE4 6PD (Liddle Court)
Gosforth
Property number: 5
NE3 1HN (Lansdowne Terrace)
NE3 1BJ (Church Road)
NE3 4HN (Salters Road)
Heaton
Property number: 15
NE6 5LU (Trewhitt Road)
NE6 5AR (Warwick Street)
NE6 5DT (Whitefield Terrace)
NE6 5BH (Hotspur Street)
NE6 5LR (Warton Terrace)
NE6 5YE (First Avenue)
NE6 5SB (Chillingham Road)
NE6 5SP (Biddlestone Road)
NE6 5YB (Eight Avenue)
NE6 5BB (Stratford Grove West)
NE6 5NU (Cardigan Terrace)
Jesmond
Property number: 30
NE2 1NE (Osborne Terrace)
NE2 3AR (Otterburn Villas)
NE2 4RJ (Eslington Terrace)
NE2 3HF (Lonsdale Court)
NE2 3DH (Brentwood Ave)
NE2 3DD (Lavender Gardens)
NE2 3DP (Mayfair Road)
NE2 3HQ (Lonsdale Terrace)
NE2 2RQ (Grosvenor Road)
NE2 3HS (Bayswater Road)
NE2 1QY (Middleton Court)
NE2 3HU (Hazelwood Avenue)
NE2 4PF (Sloane Court)
NE2 2PR (Queens Road)
NE2 4RP (Clayton Road)
NE2 2DX (Mistletoe Road)
NE2 4DF (Eskdale Terrace)
NE2 4DE (Victoria Square)
Newcastle City Centre
Property number: 123
NE1 5AR (Falconars House)
NE1 5JQ (Murton House)
NE1 5AE (Murton House)
NE1 5SF (St Andrews Street)
NE1 4PG (Leazes Park Road)
NE1 4DB (The Open)
NE1 5JG (Victoria Chambers)
NE1 5AS (Falconars Court)
NE1 7RP (The Bruce Building)
NE1 7RY (The Bruce Building)
NE1 4ES (Thornton Court)
NE1 5JG (Victoria Chambers)
NE4 6AL (A2 Westgate Road)
NE1 8JN (Ridley Place)
NE1 5JE (Chaucer Building)
NE1 1PG (Dean Street)
NE1 4XB (Blackfriars Court)
NE4 6BA (Barrack Court)
NE1 4SG (Gallowgate Apartments)
NE1 5JG (Mawson Chambers)
NE1 4DD (The Chare)
NE1 4DA (The Mews)
NE4 6AY (Swinburn Place)
NE1 4XH (Charlotte Mews)
NE1 2AY (Pandongate House)
NE1 4XD (Jacobins Chare)
NE1 5PZ (Clayton Street)
NE1 6AL (Westgate Road)
NE4 6AA (Westgate Road)
NE4 6AD (Westgate Road)
NE1 5DZ (Rubicon House)
NE1 5AG (15-21 Nun Street)
NE1 4AL (Centralofts)
NE1 8SG (Northumberland Road)
NE1 4DE (Charltons Bonds.)
NE4 5BJ (Hadrian's Tower)
NE1 5DZ (Clayton Street West)
NE1 4LG (St Thomas Crescent)
NE1 5XE (Tanners Court)
NE1 8DE (Casa Central)
NE1 2AY (City Road)
NE1 2JR (Melbourne Street)
Quayside
Property number: 3
NE1 3AD (Hanover Mill)
NE1 2BA (Lime Square)
NE1 2JR (Rialto Building)
Sandyford
Property number: 10
NE2 1RW (Portland Mews)
NE2 1QX (Grantham Road)
NE2 1PN (Greystoke Avenue)
NE2 1RD (Helmsley Road)
NE2 1DL (Helmsley Road)
NE2 1PL (Greystoke Gardens)
NE2 1QY (Middleton Court)
NE2 1DP (Dinsdale Road)
NE2 1NY (Amble Grove)
Shieldfield
Property number: Not available
Spital Tongues
Property number: 15
NE2 4DT (Claremont House)
NE2 4AA (Claremont House)
NE2 4AN (Ashtree House)
NE2 4AN (Claremont Road)
NE2 4ND (Huntsmoor House)
NE2 4LL (Belle Grove Terrace)
NE2 4AD (North Terrace)
NE2 4ND (Hunters Road)
Multiple Award Winners
Seekers has been awarded Feefo’s Trusted Service Award every year since 2022. These awards recognise businesses that provide exceptional customer service, with winners chosen solely based on customer reviews. While Seekers Property has received this accolade annually since 2022, a closer examination of the reviews reveals that very few address the actual experience of living in their properties. Most reviews mention experiences from viewings, consultations, and inquiries.
Right of Reply
Where to seek help
Hannah Cooper, Research and Campaigns Manager at Citizens Advice Newcastle, advises tenants in dispute with their landlord or agent to contact one of their advisers or reach out to Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.
"Agents often make money out of this as they charge the landlord for arranging work. Some landlords/agents will always try this as a matter of course, but the property only needs to be handed back at the end a tenancy in the same condition as they found it on moving in.
The tenant is not responsible for wear and tear either, only for things they have damaged or allowed to be damaged."
Cooper also points to the Renters' Rights Act as an important development for tenants to be aware of. The legislation, which received Royal Assent in 2025, introduces significant changes to tenancy law in England, most notably the abolition of Section 21, the so-called "no-fault eviction" notice that had previously allowed landlords to evict tenants without giving a reason. For students and young renters in particular, she recommends familiarising themselves with the new protections now in place.
