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London, SE11
2.3/5, 7 Reviews
29% Recommended
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100% sales fee satisfaction
50% letting fee satisfaction
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"Gazumped by Acorn Kennington..."
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1 Star Review
Steven
Graham
By : 'parod'
Services : Sales(Prospective Vendor/Buyer)
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : SE1
Oct 21, 2013
People found this helpful9
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.
What agent could do to change your mind?
Be true to their word.
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Performance Statistics
| Services | Valuation | Fees | Min Price of property reviewed | Max Price of property reviewed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 50% | 100% | £0 | £0 |
| Lettings | 0% | 50% | £0 | £0 |
Address
Acorn Group Estate Agents
325 Kennington Road, London, Greater London
SE11 4QE
0207 820 6090
Services offered
- Sales
- Lettings
- Block Management
- Surveys
- Conveyancing
- Mortgage Advice
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Acorn Group Estate Agents Branches (View All 31)
Five ...
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5 Star Review
Adam
By : 'Henry'
Services : Sales( As a Vendor )
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : SE17
Dec 20, 2021
People found this helpful0
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 experience following a total... Read Full Review
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Henry Grant said about Acorn Group Estate Agents
Services : Sales( As a Vendor )Date: 20th Dec 2021
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 experience following a total flop from one of the neighbouring estate agents. I would have no hesitation recommending Acorn.
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Awful experience from start ...
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1 Star Review
By : 'Abby'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : SE17
Sep 14, 2021
People found this helpful1
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 cancelling flat viewings last minute, not to ... Read Full Review
Comments (0)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 cancelling flat viewings last minute, not to mention generally unprofessional emails - taking way too long to reply, rushed replies with spelling mistakes, and no punctuation.
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Abby Jade Sarfas said about Acorn Group Estate Agents
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )Date: 14th Sep 2021
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 cancelling flat viewings last minute, not to mention generally unprofessional emails - taking way too long to reply, rushed replies with spelling mistakes, and no punctuation.
However, all this I can deal with and unfortunately expect from agents in London. The reason for this review is our recent experience trying to get our deposit money back. Acorn took 31 business days to return this - rather than the pre-contracted 10 - and only after dozens of emails and even a phone call when four emails in succession had been ignored.
I don't believe we would have gotten our money back if we had not chased this for the past six weeks. We did not receive to all back however, Acorn have kept an amount to cover some damage incurred by the contractor arranged to fix the aforementioned blocked pipe. They were unable to provide us with the contractors report, so are blaming the industrial damage on us.
I wouldn't rent from them again if there were no other options.
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Apart from their habit of ...
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1 Star Review
By : 'kennington'
Services : Letting( Admin )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : SE11
Feb 17, 2018
People found this helpful3
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... Read Full Review
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kennington said about Acorn Group Estate Agents
Services : Letting( Admin )Date: 17th Feb 2018
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....
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James was very helpful and ...
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5 Star Review
James
By : 'Dirac'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : Yes
Postcode : SW4
Jan 17, 2018
People found this helpful0
James was very helpful and got our application through blisteringly quickly. He explained the process very clearly and I was very... Read Full Review
Comments on Agent Fees
Industry standard
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Dirac said about Acorn Group Estate Agents
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )Date: 17th Jan 2018
James was very helpful and got our application through blisteringly quickly. He explained the process very clearly and I was very satisfied.
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From start to end of using ...
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1 Star Review
Matt
By : 'BJ'
Services : Sales( As a Vendor )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : SW2
Dec 15, 2014
People found this helpful3
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 house would be taken off them market ... 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.
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BJ said about Acorn Group Estate Agents
Services : Sales( As a Vendor )Date: 15th Dec 2014
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 house would be taken off them market 'at the sellers request', which in itself was very unprofessional. The house then fell through after having paid out a decent amount of money in survey fees as an extension on the property had been done without planning permission which is a basic piece of information which any estate agents should be aware of when selling a property. I was also coerced into having to used them to sell my property in a location they didn't properly cover at the apparent 'request of the seller' otherwise they would put their property back on the market, again very unprofessional. For this reason when it came to selling my property at a time when there were very highly subscribed block open days, they only managed to get less than 5 people over on 2 separate open days, which forced me to drop the price of my property as I needed a quick sale. Once I did get an accepted offer on my property, the buyers consistently hounded the agents and myself for ridiculous requests and should have been far better managed by the agents as to what is reasonable to ask of people when buying a house. I would never use this agent again to buy or sell a property.
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Gazumped by Acorn Kennington ...
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1 Star Review
Steven
Graham
By : 'parod'
Services : Sales( Prospective Vendor/Buyer )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : SE1
Oct 21, 2013
People found this helpful9
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 ... Read Full Review
What agent could do to change your mind?
Be true to their word.
Comments (0)Gazumped by Acorn Kennington Branch!
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parod said about Acorn Group Estate Agents
Services : Sales( Prospective Vendor/Buyer )Date: 21st Oct 2013
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.
The UK's Largest Customer Review Website for the Property Industry
We rented with Acorn for our ...
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2 Star Review
By : 'Gamis'
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )
Would you recommend ? : No
Postcode : SE17
Aug 5, 2013
People found this helpful0
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 advance (due to her being from the... Read Full Review
Comments (0)We rented with Acorn for our property last year; generally speaking we have had a very poor experience.
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Gamis said about Acorn Group Estate Agents
Services : Letting( As a Tenant )Date: 5th Aug 2013
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 advance (due to her being from the EU) when she underlined that was impossible they agreed six months.
I can't speak for resolution of repairs as our extremely kind landlord dealt with those for us directly, but our worst experience came at the end. Upon deciding to move out (several months after our agreed break clause) we were told we couldn't- it eventually transpired that they had lost our contract and had no idea what our break clause was.
When moving out, they repeatedly cancelled our appointments for inspections until we had already moved out and the landlord had already begun building work; we had to beg to get our deposit back.
Viewing acorn agents showing others around before we moved out, I noticed they had no knowledge at all about the property. For me, this sums up Acorn. They don't care. Even making the possible mistake of calling to enquire regarding property for next year, I even had a member of staff laugh in my face and tell me my budget (a budget already higher than what we paid last year) was too little for ANY property in the area. Curious, since several other estate agents have plenty. Thankfully, this means we have been saved from another year. Cheers, Adorn.
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