We had terrible time going through letting process from which we finally pulled out. At first negotiator was pleasant and very helpful, once we agreed things started to fall apart. First I was sent s “Statement of Account” which included massive £294 end of tenancy cleaning fee, when challenged why I should pay it upfront, first and immediate response was company policy. I said I really don't care about your company policy as agreement will be between me and landlord and demanded proper reason at which point they said “as an exception they would remove it but it has to be paid at end of tenancy” as though they are doing great help to me! After that they asked for few documents (Bank Statements, Address proof and Photo Ids), I am ok with Address proof and Photo ID but am not sure why they need bank statements as they do get reference check done. I, however, sent bank statements masking all other information except previous rent payments and salary payments into the account. I was surprised when they came back asking for bank statements for my wife who is not at all financially liable to pay rent. When challenged I was give absurd reason like to we have to make sure that tenant is capable of paying rent and that we are required to monitor money laundering!!! I said to them that if a person is put down as a tenant who is NOT financially liable then there is no reason why she should provide a bank statement to prove that she is capable of paying rent, as well that money laundering monitoring is done by FCA, Bank, Police and HMRC and should be least thing a LETTING AGENT should be worried about! I would agree with money laundering if I am buying a property but when renting wouldn't be bothered. Finally they agreed that they don't need bank statements of my wife and again they put it across as an exception! After all these painful email exchanges when I asked for a draft copy of Tenancy agreement, I was sent an agreement with no details except some bank account details!!! Luckily, I didn't transfer money into that account! I replied to email that I need all the details filled up in agreement, I was sent another draft will all the details in, shockingly this time account number was different in the agreement!!! As I went through the agreement, I found that break clause of “2 Months After 12” had been worded manipulatively with restrictions on date on which I could give notice. I challenged this but got same reply that it is “company standard”, I said break clause is a special clause and as such you cannot have a standard wording as it depends on circumstances. We never reached an agreement on wording as landlord was happy with manipulative wordings. Later I suggested a shorter term without any break clause for which agent agreed. I asked agent to send an update tenancy agreement and details of when and where we will sign agreement. All this happened on Thursday and we were to sign contract on Saturday. I waited for more than a day but received no phone call or email from Agent or ACORN which happens to be parent company of Langford Russell. On Saturday I received an email around 13:00 with inventory done!!! I was shocked and replied that I haven't even signed agreement and finalised contract. I was later sent an agreement around 17:00!!! Got a feeling that Langford Russell/ACORN has habit of forcing things to last minute so that people will agree/accept to their ridiculous policies in desperate situations!!! Another shocking thing was check-in/inventory was done in January well before we even started our hunt for house!!! It has Gas and Electric meter reading as of 17th January but my moving in date was from 15th Feb!!! Nearly one month old readings, looked like Landlord/agent were trying to push the charges onto new tenants, really shocking. Letting agent didn't even bother to follow up on agreement procedure, I had to follow up myself on Monday. After all these painful communication, we felt that agent is biased towards landlord and we may end up with more problems if we sign up the agreement and pulled out on Tuesday. To summarize, Langford Russells's/Acorn • Is certainly not a tenant friendly Letting agent • Colleagues there don't sense of responsibility and are often ignorant of procedures. • Communication is very bad as replies to email can take at least 8 hrs on an average and they never call you when they say they will, there is always a delay of at least a day or more • They can charge you for unnecessary things please beware. • If they reply company policy demand for proper and detailed reason often people working there don't know anything but two words “company policy” • Don't give them information which they don't need like bank statements as these can be used by these people to launder money themselves. • NOT RECOMMENDED! DEAL AT YOUR OWN RISK