Babcock & Robinson

Unfortunately, all of these low ratings have come from one particular tenant that will not share the way that she verbally abuses our staff, the owner of the property and any contractors that shows up at her door. She refuses to let contractors in to do work to fix any of the issues in her unit, as we have given her more than enough legal notice. It is unfortunate the amount of incorrect and negative comments that we have received, when 90% of these negative comments are not our renters, nor people we have ever dealt with before, but friends of a tenant that chooses to verbally abuse our staff on a regular basis. Unfortunately, this is what happens when you are also a eviction service.

There are some pretty up and down reviews on here about Babcock and Robinson. Although context to a review is far more valuable than the review itself, which most have fallen short of. I have been on all sides of the equation from renter to landlord, and from property manager to contractor. I have worked for 5 different management firms as a contractor on over 35 properties small to commercial in the Peterborough area and honestly i am skeptical, of the poor reviews because they are the only one so far that runs like clockwork. In my short time as a property manager i realized what a fine line folks in this field have to walk, its hard work. They have a responsibly to the owner to protect their assets and income at all times as well as make sure the tenants are well looked after. I quickly realized the overwhelming undeserved entitlement that comes from tenants, they wreck something or neglect responsibilities then property damage or malfunctions occur and they blame the management and get very petty. I felt this as manager and landlord. Renting out an income property on your own can be a stressful and dangerous business. I gave up after 2 years of being a landlord and 4 months of being a manager (people can be ridiculous). I wish i had known them when i was doing it on my own. You want a team like this on your side to navigate the murky waters for you. They keep it by the books 100% and deal with all the stress so that you don't have to. keep up the good work guys.

My family and I have been renting from Babcock and Robinson for a little over a year. I have always been a renter. I can without a doubt say that they made my transition int our new home Very effortless. They are very prompt with any repairs that have needed done. And everyone’s been extremely friendly. Having children in my home they have also given me peace of mind with having working carbon monoxide detectors throughout. Overall amazing to deal with?

My son moved into his apartment Labour Day weekend a couple of years ago. The place was filthy ( the previous owner did dog grooming so we had to scrape the dog hair and gunk off the floors!) There were piles of garbage left behind, and the property manager had gone away for the weekend without giving him a key!

Unlike the positive reviews posted I endured a brutal experience with Babcock and Robinson engaging them this last January to rent out my townhouse. I was out of town for a month and hoped that they would at least get the process going if not rented. Here’s what actually went down. To begin with, they advertised my 2 bedroom, 3 bath, 1 ½ car garage townhouse with all five appliances as 1 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, apartment with the refrigerator ambiguously crossed out in the listing overview. It takes a special lack of care to get almost every central fact wrong. Less importantly, but still concerning, the photos B & R posted in the ads were taken in the dark and askew. To me they gave the distinct impression of the kind of landlord who would have little respect for a tenant. OK, this might be only my subjective opinion but without any prompting from me, a friend who was checking in on the property for insurance purposes while I was away took the trouble to take a fresh set and emailed the replacement to Babcock. We finally ended our deal when their agent showing the unit parked his vehicle in a well marked fire route provoking a scene with a neighbour that alienated the prospective tenants as admitted in an email from Babcock’s office. Their promise was a professional, turnkey operation for a $2000 fee which as a newbie landlord seemed OK. I especially needed their expertise in vetting prospects. Considering the incredibly sloppy work in listing the unit, lack of pride in posting photographs, and ignorant dealing with condominium neighbours, newbie or not, I decided I couldn’t do any worse on my own. In the event, the unit was rented two weeks after terminating my involvement with Babcock.

As a Property Manager I have had many reasons to deal with Babcock and Robinson over the past 15 years! Bob and his team - special shout out to Margie and Chris - have always been helpful and professional! Property Management has its highs and lows! We have great highs helping tenants find their place and seeing the excitement when they get approved. We have all had wonderful tenants over the years! The lows are evictions, loss of income for the owners and vast amounts of damages by tenants. When we evict for cause, the tenants never have kind words for us! Thank you Bob and team for your guidance over the past years! Terry M

I have been renting through Babcock & Robinson for over a decade in 2 different homes. I appreciate the professionalism, quick response and availability of staff. I have realized throughout the years and with the experience of 2 different homes and owners - the staff does an amazing job, they are balancing the needs and wants of both tenant & property owner, for a very small fee, considering.

Terrible place to do business with. The office manager will decline your application but won’t pick up the phone to give you any explanation on why or even try and work past the problem. I have tried to talk to her for 3 weeks and all they will do is take my number and never give me a call back. Everytime I call, it’s one of her messengers that are very rude and will laugh at you on the phone for being in need of a place to live. They will tell you they don’t have any information, only the officer manager does but yet the manager will not talk to you or tell you why. I am very fed up with this company, this is no way to treat a person in need of a home for her and her baby on the way. It’s amazing how the lady in the office makes all the decisions but can’t pick up the phone and talk to the people they do business with. Not to mention they acted like we were perfectly capable of getting the last 2 houses we applied for and never mentioned anything about our credit being bad until 2 months later and we also have a co signer for problems like this. We have been told our application went through just to be told days later it actually didn’t, we’ll having us thinking we might of finally had luck getting a place. For people that want to “help” people in need they really don’t do much helping unless you have an amazing job that pays 2x the rent amount and perfect credit. Some people just need a place to live and they seem to forget that and how to treat customers.