The Acorn Group has been named as the highest placed managing agent in a league table of managers of new ‘build to rent’ developments in London.

The Molior report which closely monitors private rented sector developments across all 33 London boroughs places Acorn fifth in the  table.

It is behind two build to rent specialists, Get Living London and Fizzy Living, plus two housing associations, London & Quadrant Housing Trust and Genesis.

The four all let and manage their own units, whereas Acorns lets and manages the units on behalf of the owners.

Its build to rent management portfolio is of a size that puts it ahead of JLL, Foxtons and Hamptons.

Current clients include London & Quadrant, Criterion Capital (Miflats), Realstar Group, Purelake and The Aitch Group.

Paul Deveney, main board director and head of PRS at the Acorn Group, said: “As a group we have been operating in the private rented sector since 1989, investing heavily in this side of our business, where today we manage a portfolio of over 5,000 units for private and corporate entities.

“In 2012 we created a dedicated PRS (Build to Rent) division, as we recognised the potential, as well as the investment that was coming into the sector.

“My team handles anything from 50 unit sites through to 500 units and works with clients from development stage through to lease up and eventual management of the asset, with particular focus on the ongoing performance of the block, i.e. tenant retention, void management, rent arears and income growth.

“Whilst we are delighted with the Molior figures, this only shows half of the story, as we also manage a number of build to rent schemes outside London and we also have over 1,500 units in our pipeline, nearing completion and ready to come to the market.”

The Acorn Group operates across London, the south-east and Kent, and incorporates Acorn, Langford Russell, John Payne, Start, Unique and MAP.