Davidson-Hall & Co
Services
Our Services
Sales
The very best is always in demand. The very best is what we deal with at Davidson-Hall & Co.
The very best is sought by the most discerning and demanding of clients. These are the people we work with at Davidson-Hall & Co.
Selling your home can be a really stressful business. Sound advice from a wise head is needed to avoid any potential problems as well as making sure you get the best out of a constantly changing and challenging market.
As there are more than 180 estate agents operating in the Royal Borough of Kensington, Chelsea and Belgravia, choosing an agent may be a difficult decision.
The latest technologies and internet marketing? Yes we have them all, but they are just marketing tools. Like the finest tailors of Savile Row, we know that such things can never replace the old fashioned personal values and the outstanding quality of service.
With us the sale of your home will always be in safe hands; one of our senior staff will always be closely involved, just a phone call or e mail away, wherever you may be in the world. We will make the sale of your home as stress-free as possible and we will do all the hard work for you.
If you require an even greater degree of privacy and prefer that your home to be marketed totally discretely, our “Off Market” property service may be appropriate. Only a small number of vetted and pre-qualified buyers will ever be made aware of its availability.
Letting and Management
Getting this wrong can cause huge problems.....
We are a leading player in a very demanding and competitive market place, covering Prime Central London – primarily Belgravia, Chelsea, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, and St. James’s.
We rent property in the best streets in London on a daily basis, Cadogan Place, Eaton Square, Eaton Place, Cadogan Square, Lennox Gardens to list but a few. These are “our” streets. These are the places in which our clients live already, or aspire to live.
Top quality tenants expect all the comforts afforded by five star hotels so it is important that property made available to rent comes up to the standard of design, decoration and furnishing demanded by the business or corporate tenant.
Business and city tenants alike know that from Davidson-Hall & Co. they can expect the provision of the very best and that we will offer the very best that London has to offer.
We offer clients a full property management, maintenance and rent collection service
LEASE EXTENSION/FREEHOLD ACQUISITION
Leasehold property has existed for over a hundred years on the large private estates in Prime Central London.
These include The Grosvenor Estate in Belgravia and Mayfair, The Cadogan Estate in Knightsbridge and Chelsea, The Wellcome Trust in Knightsbridge and South Kensington and The Portman Estate in Marylebone. There are several other major estates throughout Central London.
A great deal of residential property in prime Central London is leasehold. Most apartments will be leasehold.
Legislation now allows lessees, in certain circumstances, to negotiate to purchase a 90 year extension of their original lease, assuming it was originally granted for a term of more than 21 years and subject to a two year ownership qualification period or to negotiate the purchase of their freehold, collectively with other leaseholders in a building.
Where a house is held on a lease, the act provides the right to buy the freehold, subject to the qualifications stated above and to a number of more technicalcriteria being met - The legislation does not apply to all circumstances and there are various statutory provisions distinguishing the different rules for houses, individual flats and blocks of flats.
Estimating the cost of extending a lease or buying your freehold is a highly technical matter. These claims involve both legal and valuation issues and generally the advice of both a solicitor and specialist surveyor is required.
Your lawyer can advise you on your legal rights and will deal with researching your title and the preparation of the various statutory notices that may be required. The choice of solicitor can be especially important when a sale has been agreed to a buyer who wishes to extend a lease or acquire the freehold or in cases where you are proposing to acquire a property on a short lease.
In such cases special clauses are needed in the sale contract and there is a good deal of legal work to be done over and above what is usual. We are pleased to be able to recommend a number of solicitors firms who are expert in these areas and who we know can be relied upon to see the job through to a successful conclusion.
A specialist lease extension surveyor will also advise you and in the case of lease extensions will provide a statutory valuation for the notice served on the freeholder at the start of the process. This is the sum you are offering for a 90 year extension (the sum eventually agreed will almost always be more than the initial offer). The surveyor then acts as a negotiator in seeking to agree the best price with the freeholder and his agents. In those rare occasions where the matter is referred to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal, the surveyor will then act as an expert witness in presenting evidence on your behalf at a hearing. This eventuality is very rare when dealing with the large estates as on the whole they take a very commercial view on such matter.
SHORTER LEASES
In a society obsessed by freehold ownership, no matter how large the mortgage (and, in some cases, how many people share the freehold), short leases are scorned by many. But before the Second World War they were commonplace - you could buy a lease to suit your pocket. In other words, renting on a grand scale, as in a Jane Austen novel.
It’s a bit different today and the numbers are certainly bigger but demand for Prime and Ultra-Prime property on shorter leases is increasing apace, as city high-flyers realize that acquiring an apartment on a short lease can be an excellent and cost effective entry to the prime market, delivering today the property the buyer really wants, on a sort of staged payment basis, allowing them to buy a longer lease at a moment of their choosing in the future.
Estimating the cost of extending a lease or buying your freehold is a highly technical matter. These claims involve both legal and valuation issues and generally the advice of both a solicitor and specialist surveyor is required. Appropriate finance is also a necessity; we have excellent contacts to whom we can introduce you.
Your lawyer will advise you on your legal rights and deal with researching your title as well as the preparation of the various statutory notices that may be required. The choice of solicitor can be especially important when a sale has been agreed to a buyer who wishes to extend a lease or acquire the freehold or in cases where you are proposing to acquire a property on a short lease.
In such cases special clauses are needed in the sale contract and there is a good deal of legal work to be done over and above what is usual. We are pleased to be able to recommend a number of solicitors firms who are expert in these areas and who we know can be relied upon to see the job through to a successful conclusion.
A specialist lease extension surveyor will also advise you and in the case of lease extensions will provide a statutory valuation for the notice served on the freeholder at the start of the process.
Of course the role of the estate agent is crucial, whether one is buying or selling. Shorter leases are one of our specialist areas. This is where our expert knowledge can really make a difference and will add value as well as giving peace of mind - what is a stress-free transaction worth to you ?
The Purchasing Service
Finding a suitable property in the most desirable areas of Prime Central London or finding the right Highland Estate can be immensely difficult and immensely time consuming.
Our dedicated Purchasing and Property Search Service is available to assist clients.
We know who to talk to in order to produce the very best for our customers and people know to talk to us. The very best properties will be acquired for clients before they are offered on the open market. Let us do the searching for you, with the benefit of our detailed knowledge of the area and our constant awareness of new properties arriving on the market. Using our purchasing service will ensure you get a head start in the market.
Our off market property ranges from quite modest apartments in prime Central London locations, quaint country piles, equestrian or Highland sporting estates through to the most magnificent trophy houses in London’s finest settings.
Town or Country - castle or cosy cottage, whatever your dream home is, if it exists, we can find it and we can secure it for you. The Purchasing Service is here to help.
The Davidson-Hall & Co Purchasing Service - for those who seek something surpassing the ordinary.
Consultancy
Since 1991 Davidson-Hall & Co have provided consultancy services to clients in the property sector. These clients have included Housing Associations, who we have advised on build-to-let schemes, companies in the financial sector, large corporate estate agency firms, independent estate agents and letting agents, house builders, property developers, private equity houses and also hedge funds.
We have also acted as advisors to charities and Trusts, on the sale of significant property assets.
Our main areas of expertise can be summarised as franchising, business development, operational support, business expansion, mergers and acquisitions, troubleshooting and corporate restructuring /recovery.
We also provide very discrete wealth management and property strategy advice an ad hoc and ongoing basis to a number of ultra-high net worth clients, domiciled around the world.
We have advised large private equity houses who own and trade mortgage debts, with growing portfolios of distressed assets on their books. We have provided innovative and effective solutions to such requirements and anticipate this area of our activity expanding as the aftermarth of the COVID pandemic will see some extraordinary opportunites, perhaps even "Once in a Lifetime" opportunities for those having both ability to execute and the right advice
More recently we have given advice and operational support to top Plc Estate Agency firms as they have face up to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the post-COVID landscape.
We have also advised on M & A activity in the Estate Agency sector and can act as Business Transfer Agents.
Our expertise has been sought by political parties and by influential lobby groups; we have assisted with the preparation of policy and position papers and our advice has assisted in drafting legislation.
With our extensive network of influential contacts across the globe, we are also instrumental in deal-brokering in other areas, through the introductions we are able to make.
We also provide interim management solutions to the property sector.
Please contact us, in complete confidence, to discuss your requirements.
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