We are thrilled to announce that we have won “Best Property Finder, London UK” and “Best Property Finder UK” in the Luxury Collection International Property Awards in association with Bloomberg and Google. We had only entered the award for Best Property Finder London, but as a regional winner we were then entered into the competition for the whole of the UK and were delighted to hear that we had won overall! We are continually striving for excellence and invest heavily in staff development and ensuring that our people continue to learn so that we are always at the top of our game.

The Directors have believed for a long time that our truly bespoke approach, finding property off-market if necessary sets us apart from everyone else.  Last year 68% of our Clients fell for properties which we sourced just for them.  These were all properties which were not on the market and which our Clients wouldn’t have found for themselves. In this market, with everyone nervous about whether prices are going to stay strong, “off-market” has become the new buzzword in property because vendors and developers want to try to charge a very high price – sometimes more than double the true worth of a property, and sometimes uninformed overseas investors in particular, will be prepared to pay these highly inflated prices.  And so agents have started ‘offering things discretely to a select few’ as they put it, which usually means, offering things to a few nutters who might be prepared to pay well-over the odds.

We’ve been sourcing property off-market for decades, but we do so by identifying properties which would work perfectly for our Clients and then taking the time to get to know the owners of these truly great properties and persuading them to let us show our Clients and then negotiating a fair price reflective of the market price – not a crazy price, at least from the buyers point of view!

Anyway, I digress.  It is great to hear our Clients say good things about us and lovely to receive some public recognition.  So to all our Clients, thank you, for making our job such a pleasure to do – we hope to work with you again soon!

Finding a property with outside space in central London can sometimes seem quite a feat (especially if property finding isn’t your raison d’etre, as it is for us London buyer’s agents here at Manse & Garret Property Search!)

With summer approaching the number of buyers eager for outside space increases; competition is fierce and flats with good roof terraces are very quick to go under offer, often sold to keen buyers enticed by the idea of entertaining friends and family on a warm summer evening surrounded by the bright lights of London.

Speaking as a London Buyer’s Agent, I am particularly referring to roof terraces, rather than the humble patio garden, as they are quite the in thing in property and quite understandably so. Patio gardens, often on the lower ground floor, overlooked by neighbours and more often than not lacking in natural light find it hard to live up to The Roof Terrace which is much more likely to provide breath-taking views of London, great entertaining space, and an excellent opportunity to sunbathe, if that’s your thing.

Flats with patio gardens are usually on the lower ground and ground floors; less popular with buyers, especially the security conscious, and so tend to be 10-20% cheaper than a flat on the same road, but higher up. A flat on an upper floor with a good roof terrace, however, is likely to be worth about 10-20% more than a flat on the same road without outside space and will sell much more quickly, and if you are a property investor, it is worth noting that a property with a roof terrace is much more likely to be rented out more quickly and produce a better yield.

If you’d like to find a property with a roof terrace to rival Vista at the Trafalgar and Kensington Roof Gardens then give the best London Buyer’s Agents, Manse & Garret Property Search a call today.

Technorati Tags: London Buyer's Agents, London Flats, London property, London property finders, London search agents, outside space, summer

Tags: London Buyer's Agents, London Flats, London property, London property finders, London search agents, outside space, summer

Musings of the Mayfair London Property Finders

A tenant has successully complained about  her Lettings Agents for failing to ensure the Landlord of her flat was registered under an appropriate Tenancy deposit scheme, before handing over her deposit.  This meant that the Tenant has had to pursue the Landlord, so far unsuccessfully, to return her deposit

The agents, Global Realty who have 2 offices in London have been ordered to pay the Tenant’s deposit plus £200 for aggravation by the Property Ombudsman, Christopher Hamer.

Whilst the Ombudsman agreed with the agents that the Landlords actions were not the fault of the agents,  in failing to properly protect the deposit, the agents had disadvantaged the Tenants and led to a situation which could have been avoidable.

In our capacity as residential property finders dealing with both sales and lettings, our contracts include a requirement for Lettings Agents to lodge the deposit with an appropriate scheme and prove they have done so, regardless of the rental value.  At present only rents under £25,000 per year are covered however we insist that Agents acting for our Clients lodge all deposits with such schemes.

After all, no-matter if you’ve paid £6,000 in deposit or £60,000 – all Tenants want their deposits back don’t they?!  

For more information contact the best London Property Finders here

or look online here.

Technorati Tags: London property finders, Mayfair Lettings Agents, Mayfair Property Finders, Property Ombudsman, Tenacy Deposit Scheme

Tags: London property finders, Mayfair Lettings Agents, Mayfair Property Finders, Property Ombudsman, Tenacy Deposit Scheme