Dear Mr Walker,

We are very sorry that you have felt it necessarily to voice your concerns via a review site rather than go through our official complaints procedure. However, I will try and answer your points.

When your daughters group registered with Acorn Properties in March 2014 (it was your daughter’s friend who registered for the group), they asked to view several properties all with varying start dates. On our electronic data capture form (can be screen printed and emailed), the only special criteria requested was to be near public transport, within a certain area and within a certain budget. They viewed six properties located within their chosen area with one of our negotiators and decided upon an apartment. As we did not rent your daughters previous property to her (this was through another agent or private landlord) we do not know the end date of this tenancy. We ask the preferred start date when we register applicants and match properties to their criteria - there is nothing in our system to indicate that your daughter or her friends wanted a later tenancy start date. In addition, on this particular application form it is was stated that the potential tenant was not currently in rented accommodation (we can provide a screen shot to you directly of this).

If this had been raised as an issue in April 2014, when all the paperwork was in progress, it’s possible we could have found alternative accommodation for your daughter and her friends, but this wasn’t raised as an issue until nearer the start date of the tenancy (less than one week prior). At your request, although there was a pre-agreement in place signed by all potential tenants in March 2014 with the agreed start dates, we contacted and asked if the landlord would consider moving the tenancy back one month to which he then declined. The agreement to take the tenancy beginning in July had been agreed in March 2014 somewhat three months earlier.

Our tenancy agreements are provided by a leading training provider, Training For Professionals, who’s agreements have been checked by the Office of Fair Trading. There were specific clauses that at your request and with the landlords permission were removed/ amended however some the landlord declined to take out.

Your initial queries in April 2014 were dealt with by Mr John Henderson, Managing Director and then by myself in June 2014. On my email to you on the 11th June 2014, I hopefully answered all of your concerns and provided all the documentation that is given to tenants explaining our procedures, fees (which in addition to the agreement to rent and invoice) are outlined on our website following the Advertising Standards Agency guidelines.

Following another query from you in relation to our payment system I explained on the 4th July 2014, that the reason the payments system is not like a typical shopping cart checkout (and therefore one click) is because the first page collects the information that we require to tie a payment to the correct tenant/ guarantor/ property and to ensure that the relevant information attaining to payment of damage deposit is collected. This is required in order for us to issue the correct prescribed information for a tenancy, which is now required by law. In an attempt to clarify the position I also gave you a link the Deposit Protection Service website (where the tenants deposit is held).

The second page is the information required by the card processor (secure trading) and the final page is where you enter your card details. Neither of these are customisable by Acorn and are required to securely take your payment.

With regards to the Fees section, the holding fee paid by tenants upon deciding to take a property, becomes an administration fee on the invoice. The holding fee is a reservation charge so we know that tenants are serious about signing for a particular property. We do not then charge an additional administration fee.

Throughout our correspondence over the months, both via email and verbally, we have tried to answer all of your concerns promptly and with clarity. We have also taken all of your comments on board and taken any criticism constructively, especially if there are areas we could improve our service as a result.

We do have a formal complaints procedure where you will receive written correspondence from our company and are entitled to use the Ombudsman Service we are associated with if not satisfied. As you have been made aware we are a member of The National Approved Letting Scheme and have to follow guidelines and practices when it comes to complaints. In this instance we have not received any correspondence from NALS or The Ombudsman in relation to your concerns, but were made aware that you have chosen to discuss the matter on a public review site. We feel therefore it appropriate that we address this with transparency.

If you would like to make a formal complaint in writing, please email [email protected]

Kind regards

Louise Greetham (formally Butcher)

Dear Mr Walker,

We are very sorry that you have felt it necessarily to voice your concerns via a review site rather than go through our official complaints procedure. However, I will try and answer your points.

When your daughters group registered with Acorn Properties in March 2014 (it was your daughter’s friend who registered for the group), they asked to view several properties all with varying start dates. On our electronic data capture form (can be screen printed and emailed to you), the only special criteria requested was to be near public transport, within a certain area and within a certain budget. They viewed six properties located within their chosen area with one of our negotiators and decided upon an apartment. As we did not rent your daughters previous property to her (this was through another agent or private landlord) we do not know the end date of this tenancy. We ask the preferred start date when we register applicants and match properties to their criteria - there is nothing in our system to indicate that your daughter or her friends wanted a later tenancy start date. In addition, on this particular application form it is was stated that the potential tenant was not currently in rented accommodation (we can provide a screen shot to you directly of this).

If this had been raised as an issue in April 2014, when all the paperwork was in progress, it’s possible we could have found alternative accommodation for your daughter and her friends, but this wasn’t raised as an issue until nearer the start date of the tenancy (less than one week prior). At your request, although there was a pre-agreement in place signed by all potential tenants in March 2014 with the agreed start dates, we contacted and asked if the landlord would consider moving the tenancy back one month to which he then declined. The agreement to take the tenancy beginning in July had been agreed in March 2014 somewhat three months earlier.

Our tenancy agreements are provided by a leading training provider, Training For Professionals, who’s agreements have been checked by the Office of Fair Trading. There were specific clauses that at your request and with the landlords permission were removed/ amended however some the landlord declined to take out.

Your initial queries in April 2014 were dealt with by Mr John Henderson, Managing Director and then by myself in June 2014. On my email to you on the 11th June 2014, I hopefully answered all of your concerns and provided all the documentation that is given to tenants explaining our procedures, fees (which in addition to the agreement to rent and invoice) are outlined on our website following the Advertising Standards Agency guidelines.

Following another query from you in relation to our payment system I explained on the 4th July 2014, that the reason the payments system is not like a typical shopping cart checkout (and therefore one click) is because the first page collects the information that we require to tie a payment to the correct tenant/ guarantor/ property and to ensure that the relevant information attaining to payment of damage deposit is collected. This is required in order for us to issue the correct prescribed information for a tenancy, which is now required by law. In an attempt to clarify the position I also gave you a link the Deposit Protection Service website (where the tenants deposit is held).

The second page is the information required by the card processor (secure trading) and the final page is where you enter your card details. Neither of these are customisable by Acorn and are required to securely take your payment.

With regards to the Fees section, the holding fee paid by tenants upon deciding to take a property, becomes an administration fee on the invoice. The holding fee is a reservation charge so we know that tenants are serious about signing for a particular property. We do not then charge an additional administration fee.

Throughout our correspondence over the months, both via email and verbally, we have tried to answer all of your concerns promptly and with clarity. We have also taken all of your comments on board and taken any criticism constructively, especially if there are areas we could improve our service as a result.

We do have a formal complaints procedure where you will receive written correspondence from our company and are entitled to use the Ombudsman Service we are associated with if not satisfied. As you have been made aware we are a member of The National Approved Letting Scheme and have to follow guidelines and practices when it comes to complaints. In this instance we have not received any correspondence from NALS or The Ombudsman in relation to your concerns, but were made aware that you have chosen to discuss the matter on a public review site. We feel therefore it appropriate that we address this with transparency.

If you would like to make a formal complaint in writing, please email [email protected]

Kind regards

Louise Greetham (formally Butcher)