Acorn Estate Agents
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BR20SW - Some Good, Some Not so Good
FACTS I stayed at 54 Durham, BR20SW from 31-Aug-2018 to 30-Jul-2019 and the property was let by Langford Russel and managed by Acorn Property Management. The owner, a Doctor had moved to Canada for a year and the property was let on a fully furnished basis. POSITIVE FACTS =============== 1. They did respond to all mails that were sent to them at various points in time. 2.They delivered some of our important mail/post even after we had vacated the property 3.They accepted an extra key and a pair of cushions much after vacating and settlement of all dues and which had accidentally come with us to our new house. 4.They delivered some of our stuff we had left behind in the house, well after we moved and the Dr owner had come back. 5.They carried out around 3 inspections of the property during our stay, took photographs and clearly communicated and emailed that the property is well kept and sent photographs to the Dr Owner in Canada and to us. 6. Convenient location near Bromley South and well mannered and polite staff. NOT SO POSITIVES ================ 1. No detailed overview of the property was provided and they did not know how to operate underfloor heating or what some buttons / switches etc were for. For everything they would have to check with the landlord and responses were very slow 2.During the move in process they collected £252 for checkout charges, £150 for the agreement, £192 for referencing and £570 for EOT Exit Cleaning and their staff stated that "the deposit of £2019 would be fully refunded as they have collected the exit cleaning charges etc in advaance" - I wish they would train their staff not to make such statements 3. They did not have any idea where the thames water meter was located and I had to find it on my own 3. When I had some issue with the elctric meter readings and just had some basic queries, they actually got the meter changed !! which messed up a few other things like my readings !!!! 4.My wife, my son and I had 3 severe falls from the staircase of the house as the carpet was worn out and edges were smooth / rounded. We reported this to them many times but they took no action. Even though it was a serious health and safety issue 5. About 3 weeks before the checkout they did an inspection and said that the property is very well maintained and they will refund the £570 end of tenancy cleaning charges and they ACTUALLY REFUNDED it. -- However this was a PHONE conversation and unfortunately my wife did not record it on email 6. One week before checkout they called and said that the refund was a mistake and asked me to pay it back - which I promptly did --> CLEARLY SHOWS fundamentals of property management 101 are missing in their process manual 7. We checked out on 30-July as agreed and delivered posssesion to them. --> Mistake - should have taken photos of everything and sent it to them.... PLEASE DO SO IF YOU EVER ENGAGE ACORN is my recommendation 8. Their end of tenancy Inventory check was carried out on 6th AUG after 6 days and in the report they stated that one Kitchen Dish Water extractor drier stand is missing. This was totally surpising as we had clearly left it behind. Our guess is that the cleaning agency hired by them threw it out. 9. The Dr Owner landlord carried out an inspection on 15 Aug - full 15 days after vacation of the property and had a different version of the property status and garden status and stated that there is a LEAK from the upstairs bathroom which is visible on the ceiling of the kitchen.... NOW ACORN INSPECTORS CARRIED OUT THREE INSPECTIONS and NEVER REPORTED THIS...EVEN THE EOT Checkout report NEVER REPORTED THIS.... 7. They finally deducted £640 from my deposit for a) a Kitchen ceiling spots which were no where mentioned on the EOT report b) for a kitchen dish stand which was actually there when I left and which was thrown away the EOT cleaning agency hired by then and c) for an overgrown garden bamboo shoots when it was not over grown when i vacated... Lots of my friends stated that nothing is due from me ( and even they stated that a few days before vacating ) but since I did not want to go through the hassle of arguments and paperwork...i just let it pass My recommendation is, if you hire ACORN, please create a MAIL TRAIL proof of every conversation, chat, phone call with them and please take photos of every nook and corner and share it with them and please be present when their EOT cleaning agency does any cleaning.... Ofcourse, they also have a lot of positives which i have listed in the beginning....