Sell House Fast
King’s Cross, London

Selling King’s Cross property to a direct buyer

A direct cash sale through LDN Properties can be a practical alternative for King’s Cross homeowners. We are typically happy to consider flats and houses across the EC1R, N1 and N1C postcode area, regardless of lease length, condition, share of freehold or current cladding status. Selling directly through us removes the chain and the open-market viewings, with no agency fees and usually only one in-person visit needed before we put forward our final offer.

We have been buying property directly across London since 2003 and are members of The Property Ombudsman (membership D12463), which provides independent oversight of our quick property buying service. You can read more about how our buying process works, the typical timings for a direct sale and the costs involved when selling directly compared with using an estate agent or auction. To discuss your King’s Cross property, please call 020 7183 3022 or request a no-obligation offer online.

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.

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 King’s Cross property market

The property landscape in King’s Cross divides between two quite different markets. The historic streets to the west and south, including King’s Cross Road, Pentonville Road, Gray’s Inn Road and the streets around Cromer Street and Argyle Square, are dominated by Georgian and Victorian terraced houses, the majority of which have been converted into flats. To the north of the railway lands, the King’s Cross Central regeneration scheme has delivered a substantial number of new-build apartments since around 2014, including buildings such as Plimsoll, Tapestry, Gasholders London and the Granary Square frontages.

This mix brings several considerations that are worth understanding when selling. Many leases on the older conversion flats granted during the post-war period are now sitting between 60 and 90 years remaining, and anything below 80 years brings the property into marriage value territory under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. The newer blocks in the regeneration zone tend to carry substantial service charges and a number have required an EWS1 form before mortgage lenders will proceed. Our guide to selling a short lease flat sets out the options in detail.

Recent Land Registry transactions in the N1C and N1 portions of King’s Cross typically show one-bedroom flats in the historic streets selling between £500,000 and £650,000, two-bedroom flats between £700,000 and £1.1 million, and new-build flats in the regeneration zone trading at a premium, with two-bedroom apartments at Gasholders commonly above £1.5 million. Period houses are rare in the immediate area and tend to clear above £2 million when they do come to market.

Transport links and local amenities

King’s Cross is served by King’s Cross St Pancras tube station, which is one of the busiest stations in the country and the only point on the network where six Underground lines meet – Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria, Hammersmith & City, Circle and Metropolitan. The station sits in Travelcard Zone 1 and provides direct connections to all major central-London destinations. The adjacent St Pancras International is the London terminus for Eurostar services to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.

King’s Cross mainline station serves the East Coast Main Line with services to Cambridge, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh, while St Pancras provides Thameslink services through central London to Gatwick Airport and Brighton. Local bus routes serving the area include the 17, 30, 46, 73, 91, 205, 214 and 390.

Notable local landmarks include the British Library on Euston Road, Coal Drops Yard, Granary Square, the Regent’s Canal and Camley Street Natural Park. Central Saint Martins (part of the University of the Arts London) occupies the Granary Building, and the area is also home to the headquarters of Google’s UK operations and the Francis Crick Institute.

About King’s Cross

King’s Cross is a neighbourhood in the south-east of the London borough of Camden, sitting within the N1C and N1 postcode areas and bordered by Somers Town to the west, St Pancras to the south-west and Camden Town to the north-west. The London Borough of Islington forms the eastern boundary. The name derives from a short-lived monument to King George IV that stood at the road junction between 1830 and 1845, the area having previously been known as Battle Bridge. Most of the historic residential streets were developed between the 1820s and 1860s as part of the wider Bedford Estate expansion north of the New Road.

Substantial parts of the area fall within the Kings Cross Conservation Area, designated by Camden Council to protect both the surviving Georgian and Victorian street pattern and the industrial railway heritage. The conservation designation places restrictions on external alterations, window replacements and roof additions, and a number of streets also fall under Article 4 directions which remove some permitted development rights. The Granary Building, the Gasholders, the Midland Grand Hotel frontage of St Pancras and King’s Cross station itself are all individually listed. The regeneration of the former railway lands north of the station, masterplanned by Allies and Morrison, has been one of the largest urban renewal schemes in central London this century.