Situations behind a direct sale
A direct cash sale through LDN Properties is often a practical alternative to the open market. We have been buying property directly across London since 2003 and there are a handful of situations that come up regularly.
Properties that need significant work are one of the more common reasons homeowners look at a direct sale. Estate agents typically advise spending on repairs and presentation before listing — a route that can run to tens of thousands of pounds and several months — and many sellers would prefer to sell the property as it stands. We are typically happy to consider properties in their current condition, including those with structural issues, damp, dated services or significant cosmetic work outstanding.
Problem properties sit in a similar bracket: non-standard construction, cladding under review, lapsed planning, boundary disputes or other issues that tend to put off open-market buyers and their mortgage lenders. We are typically happy to consider these alongside straightforward stock.
Personal circumstances make up the balance of the reasons we hear — probate, divorce, relocation, financial difficulty, downsizing and ill-health. Flats with shorter leases also come up regularly, particularly where a formal extension would be expensive; our short-lease guide covers that situation in more detail.
The Fitzrovia property market
The property landscape in Fitzrovia is shaped by Georgian and early Victorian development between the 1720s and the 1840s, when the Fitzroy and Bedford estates laid out the streets running off Tottenham Court Road and Cleveland Street. Fitzroy Square, Charlotte Street, Cleveland Street, Goodge Street, Great Titchfield Street, Whitfield Street and Rathbone Place form the principal residential and mixed-use streets, with many of the original terraces converted into flats over the past century. Alongside these period terraces sit later Victorian mansion blocks, mid-twentieth-century office-to-residential conversions and a smaller stock of modern apartment buildings around the edges.
This mix of building types brings several considerations that are worth understanding when selling. A significant proportion of Fitzrovia falls within the East Marylebone and Charlotte Street Conservation Areas, and many individual buildings carry Grade I or Grade II listed status, which can require formal listed-building consent for internal works affecting historic fabric. Leases on Georgian conversion flats granted during the post-war decades are now often sitting between 60 and 95 years remaining, and anything below 80 years brings the property into marriage value territory. Our guide to selling a short lease flat sets out the options in detail. Section 20 major works and EWS1 cladding requirements may also surface on larger blocks.
Recent Land Registry transactions across the W1T, W1F and WC1B postcodes typically show studio flats clearing between £450,000 and £500,000, one-bedroom flats between £650,000 and £900,000 depending on aspect and floor, two-bedroom flats commonly between £1 million and £1.5 million, and larger Georgian terraced houses generally trading above £3 million when they come to market. Pricing varies considerably depending on listed status, lease length and proximity to Fitzroy Square.
