Why some homeowners look beyond the open market
Homeowners contact LDN Properties for a direct sale for a range of reasons. We have been buying property directly across London since 2003 and there are a few recurring situations where this route makes sense.
Probate sales are one of the situations we deal with most regularly. Where a flat or house has been in family ownership for many years and the inheritors are based outside London, the practical demands of preparing the property for the open market — clearance, repairs, viewings, chain coordination — can be slow and expensive to manage at distance. A direct cash sale removes those demands and provides a fixed completion date for the executors and beneficiaries.
Other reasons bring sellers to us in similar numbers. Divorce, relocation for work, financial difficulty, downsizing and ill-health all involve circumstances where a known completion date carries more weight than chasing the top of the open market. Landlords exiting buy-to-let, particularly where there is a sitting tenant in place, is another common reason.
Properties that need refurbishment and flats with shorter leases also come up regularly. In both cases the open market tends to discount the price heavily, and a direct sale can be the cleaner option; our short-lease guide covers the lease situation in more detail.
The Dartmouth Park property market
The property landscape in Dartmouth Park is shaped largely by Victorian residential development from the 1860s through to the 1890s, laid out as the estate of the Earls of Dartmouth was built up on the slopes between Highgate Road and Highgate West Hill. Streets such as Dartmouth Park Road, Dartmouth Park Hill, Dartmouth Park Avenue, Brookfield Park, Chetwynd Road and Bertram Street remain among the most recognisable, with terraced and semi-detached houses largely intact. Many of the larger houses have been converted into flats over the past century, and the area also contains a smaller stock of post-war infill schemes around the edges and a handful of mansion blocks.
This mix of building types brings several considerations that are worth understanding when selling. Leases on Victorian conversions granted in the post-war decades are often sitting between 60 and 95 years remaining, and anything below 80 years brings the property into marriage value territory under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. Our guide to selling a short lease flat sets out the options in detail. Section 20 major works notices on converted houses with multiple leaseholders can also surface during conveyancing, and parts of the area sit within the Dartmouth Park Conservation Area, which limits external alterations.
Recent Land Registry transactions across the NW5 postcode typically show one-bedroom converted flats clearing between £450,000 and £600,000 depending on aspect and floor, two-bedroom flats commonly between £600,000 and £850,000, and Victorian terraced or semi-detached houses generally trading between £1.2 million and £2.5 million when in original condition, with refurbished examples on the better streets reaching higher figures.
