Piney Developments

Anyone who is a student or has been a student in Belfast will know of these guys. They seem to be the biggest property letting agent to students and young professionals. I’ve rented through them for years and am pleased to say I’ve never had any issues that weren’t easily resolved. I have no hesitation in recommending them! In saying that, I’d never follow the opinion of someone I didn’t know on the Internet, you’re best to get a feel for yourself by visiting the office, that’s what I did.

Based on the Stranmillis Road close to Queen’s University, Piney is one of the biggest letting agents in Belfast. I have rented a house through Piney for 2 years now. Like any 5 bedroom student house, we have had our share of problems but I have found them more than helpful in organising workmen to get things fixed. I am in one of their mangement properties so we never actually meet the landlord but instead deal through Piney for everything. Even over the Christmas period when we had burst pipes, Piney sorted it all within two weeks and we got a rent rebate for the period we couldn’t live there. We got our deposit back in full after the 1^st year and hopefully will do again in July this year.

This is basically where the students go when they need a house and there are unfortunately a few problems which go along with that.
Piney is located right in the student area of Stranmillis and prides itself as being one of the primary letting agents in south Belfast with some notable focus on the student market (namely large houses with between 4 – 6 bedrooms within a mile or two of the area)
They are however a bit of nightmare to deal with. I’ve heard numerous stories about them being notoriously hard to reach, vague when trying to sort issues, a nightmare when a problem arises and in general all round poor service.
My run in was a few years back when we were looking for a five bed house in the area. We ended up getting shown around the same property, twice within a week, and it was… an absolute dive.
Try and look around yourself and maybe try a few online sites to compare properties more accurately yourself.

Ha-​ha notorious Piney. Everyone who is a student knows about Piney. And not for good reasons.
Piney prides itself on having a large share of houses within the student area, so hence everyone knowing about them. Piney does not do what housing estate agents are supposed to, and that is pride itself on providing the best service for their wonderful clients. Rather, they get themselves a flock of tenants, then they give the keys, collect the money and that’s it.
Perhaps they tried once a long time ago to make the best of a bad market, and perhaps they tried to be as friendly and as gracious to students as possible, and perhaps they were burned by some unruly household who broke a mirror or unscrewed a door, because now sadly they just don’t even try anymore.
My girlfriend used Piney in first year and despite there being a number of problems with the house that they were told would be fixed, they never were. And no amount of complaining got them fixed.
And I dare say if we went round to the house, the problems would still be there.
If you want a house, Piney will sort you out. If you want good service, look elsewhere. Piney just don’t care anymore.