Student tenant felt "kicked out" by her Crookes letting agent
“Too many landlords and agents act as though the rules do not apply to them – because there’s no one really holding them to account”
A Sheffield student left her Crookes tenancy feeling hassled and “kicked out” by her letting agent earlier this summer.
Clarice Webster rented a student property in Crookes with three housemates over 2025 and 2026 with MBA Lettings.
During the tenancy she claimed people would turn up without the legal 24 hours notice, including once over the Christmas period.
She said: "I was home alone, maybe the first week of January, and randomly three men came into the house.
“It was two workmen and a painter who let themselves in with a key and said they had been told that the house was empty and that no one would be here.
“It’s no hate on them, they'd not been told. Both me and them were really taken by surprise and had been lied to."
She said her housemates had also not received any notice, and that wasn’t the only occasion where people would turn up unannounced.
Mick Siggs, property manager at MBA Lettings said: “All contractors are told to give 24 hours notice to tenants before entering a property.
“Sometimes there is a breakdown in communication between housemates listed on the works order as they sometimes don’t pass the message on to all of the others.”
Clarice said that in the last month of the tenancy the agents repeatedly asked where the tenants were.
“He said, ‘if you're not in Sheffield where are you going to be? Where are your other housemates going to be?’" Clarice explained.
“I don't feel like he has any right to know and it just felt a bit weird."
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She said the agent "kept bugging us for the exact time we were going to move out.”
Clarice said she had to leave the property four days earlier than the end of her tenancy, because the estate agent said their ‘move out slots were full’.
"So I can't be in the house that I'm actually still paying for."
She says she was not made aware of this procedure beforehand and was offered no rent reduction for those days.
Mr Siggs said: “The student changeover time is very fast paced and fraught for all parties involved as there are between 700-1000 tenants moving out and then the same amount moving in the next day.
“We know dates and times can be fluid with parents etc providing lifts, but a ballpark date gives us an indication to work with, which can and often does change nearer the end date.
“At no point is anybody forced to leave early, they are told and know when the end of the tenancy is. They have until 1pm on the final day of the tenancy if they need to.
“I am sorry she felt pressured; all MBA were after was a decision (day/time) to work with.”
Crookes and Crosspool Councillor Minesh Parekh said: “I hear far too many accounts of bad experiences with landlords or letting agents, where they haven’t properly followed the law, where they hound tenants, and try to take as much of the tenant’s deposit as possible.
“Clarice’s experience is sadly far from unusual. Too many landlords and agents act as though the rules do not apply to them – because there’s no one really holding them to account.
“I have been urging the council to introduce landlord licensing powers, to move from reactive enforcement to proactive regulation, so that we can ensure every house is at a safe, decent, and genuinely liveable standard before it is let, and that every tenant has a good renting experience.”