50% sales valuation accuracy
100% sales fee satisfaction
0% lettings valuation accuracy
50% lettings fee satisfaction
Oct 22,2013
Oct 22,2013
9
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Gazumped by Acorn Kennington Branch!
My wife and I had an offer accepted on a property listed by Acorn. The sale went to sealed bids as were many offers. We submitted our offer, at nearly £30k over the asking price, and it was accepted by the seller. The agent made a big show of calling my wife and I to congratulate us and a letter came in the mail confirming our offer was accepted.
We liked that it went to sealed bids as we had been gazumped on another property (with a different agent) one month before and I didn't want my 4-month pregnant wife to go through the stress of being gazumped again. Although I knew that sealed bids didn't make the offer and acceptance legally binding, I was reassured by the process and the fact that the agent removed the property from their website the minute our offer was accepted, so we instructed solicitors, paying £400 in advance to them and ordered a £350 survey for the property. In addition we paid a £130 mortgage application fee.
Two days after we paid, we got a call from some junior at Acorn saying 'unfortunately the property is under offer'. I replied that I knew that as we were the ones having made the offer. The caller said a manager would call me back. Later we received a call from Acorn's Steven Morton saying that the seller had received another offer and that therefore another sealed bid was expected from us, giving a few hours to think about it. I asked why it was possible as the previous sealed bid had a deadline and the agent simply said that by law every offer had to be taken to the seller, meaning they had chosen to ignore their own sealed bid procedure (while at the same time asking us to submit another one...)
We increased our offer by a little to the absolute limit we could afford, but it was rejected by the seller (Neil Arun Nijhawan) who decided to go with the higher offer, apparently a buy to let investor according to Acorn.
My wife is now in tears at having being gazumped again and as she is Japanese, doesn't understand why people would go back on their word like that, something that would be highly dishonourable in her country. I had to explain to her that as far as property in concerned in the UK, it is unregulated and sales are not binding until contracts exchanges, meaning cowboy agents and greedy sellers can do whatever they want, especially in the current market.
My wife and I had an offer accepted on a property listed by Acorn. The sale went to sealed bids as were many offers. We submitted our offer, at nearly £30k over the asking price, and it was accepted by the seller. The agent made a big show of calling my wife and I to congratulate us and a letter came in the mail confirming our offer was accepted.
We liked that it went to sealed bids as we had been gazumped on another property (with a different agent) one month before and I didn't want my 4-month pregnant wife to go through the stress of being gazumped again. Although I knew that sealed bids didn't make the offer and acceptance legally binding, I was reassured by the process and the fact that the agent removed the property from their website the minute our offer was accepted, so we instructed solicitors, paying £400 in advance to them and ordered a £350 survey for the property. In addition we paid a £130 mortgage application fee.
Two days after we paid, we got a call from some junior at Acorn saying 'unfortunately the property is under offer'. I replied that I knew that as we were the ones having made the offer. The caller said a manager would call me back. Later we received a call from Acorn's Steven Morton saying that the seller had received another offer and that therefore another sealed bid was expected from us, giving a few hours to think about it. I asked why it was possible as the previous sealed bid had a deadline and the agent simply said that by law every offer had to be taken to the seller, meaning they had chosen to ignore their own sealed bid procedure (while at the same time asking us to submit another one...)
We increased our offer by a little to the absolute limit we could afford, but it was rejected by the seller (Neil Arun Nijhawan) who decided to go with the higher offer, apparently a buy to let investor according to Acorn.
My wife is now in tears at having being gazumped again and as she is Japanese, doesn't understand why people would go back on their word like that, something that would be highly dishonourable in her country. I had to explain to her that as far as property in concerned in the UK, it is unregulated and sales are not binding until contracts exchanges, meaning cowboy agents and greedy sellers can do whatever they want, especially in the current market.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Be true to their word.Attached Filesnbsp;
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Agent Response / Add a Comment
You can use this form to reply to the above review or a displayed comment on the above review.
Browse popular links for estate agents, letting agents and properties nearby
Latest Reviews
20th Dec 2021
reviewed by 'Henry'
17th Feb 2018
reviewed by 'kennington'
17th Jan 2018
reviewed by 'Dirac'
15th Dec 2014
reviewed by 'BJ'
22nd Oct 2013
reviewed by 'parod'
Opening Hours
Address
Acorn Group Estate Agents
325 Kennington Road
Kennington,London
Greater London
SE11 4QE
0207 820 6090
Performance statistics
| Services | Valuation Accuracy | Fees Satisfaction | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 50% | 100% | £0 | £0 |
| Lettings | 0% | 50% | £0 | £0 |
Review statistics
| From Landlords | From Tenants | From Vendors | From Buyers | Other | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Areas covered
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
- Home Builder
Advertise on
Members of
Rankings
Overall
Overall
Latest Properties
No Properties
Dec 20,2021
Dec 20,2021
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Adam and Sophie have done a fantastic job of selling my flat. They managed to get offers in the first weekend and have been excellent during the period leading up to exchange. Adam's experience has shone through and made the process super efficient. A refreshing ...
read full review
read full review
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Sep 14,2021
Sep 14,2021
1
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Awful experience from start to finish. All agents we dealt with were unprofessional, from taking weeks to arrange contractors to fix things (at one point we were washing dishes in the bath for a week following a blocked pipe in the kitchen) to making and ...
read full review
read full review
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Feb 17,2018
Feb 17,2018
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Apart from their habit of spamming all the houses in the area even when they have no junk mail signs, they have let me down on three occasions.Always promise - don't deliver.......
read full review
read full review
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Jan 17,2018
Jan 17,2018
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
James was very helpful and got our application through blisteringly quickly. He explained the process very clearly and I was very satisfied....
read full review
read full review
Comment on agent fees
Industry standard
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Dec 15,2014
Dec 15,2014
3
people found
this helpful
this helpful
From start to end of using Acorn I was completely dejected with their service. To start with I was meant to be purchasing a property through them, after going through sealed bids and being accepted, they suddenly kept on requesting additional money to ensure the ...
read full review
read full review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Need to manage people's expectations better. Don't ever appear to be doing something unprofessionally as the customer will immediately distrust you.Attached Filesnbsp;
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Oct 22,2013
Oct 22,2013
9
people found
this helpful
this helpful
Gazumped by Acorn Kennington Branch!
My wife and I had an offer accepted on a property listed by Acorn. The sale went to sealed bids as were many offers. We submitted our offer, at nearly £30k over the asking price, and it was accepted by ...
read full review
read full review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Be true to their word.Attached Filesnbsp;
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
Aug 05,2013
Aug 05,2013
0
people found
this helpful
this helpful
We rented with Acorn for our property last year; generally speaking we have had a very poor experience.
When viewing property they would be consistently late, nor particularly polite. When renting they attempted to get one of us to pay the entire year's rent in ...
read full review
read full review
Was this helpful?
Yes
Yes
No fees information available
Kindly note that legally, letting agents need to publish information about their tenancy fees, government-approved redress schemes and client money protection schemes on their website and on third party websites (on which agents are listed). For properties to lease/rent in England, agents need to keep this information up to date and precise on allAgents or specify within the property description.
Complaints Procedure
No procedure available.
