Spicerhaart CEO Paul Smith (main picture) is stepping down from the role to become chairman of the independent agency group which includes seven brands including Haart and Felicity J Lord.

His era at the Colchester-based company has featured huge growth, taking it from a small operation to a nationwide giant employing over 2,000 staff and some 200 branches. He founded the firm in 1989 with his father Alick when they opened three branches of Spicer McColl in East Anglia. 

It is now one of the largest estate agency firms in the UK with a presence via its various brands in most towns and cities and a separate mortgages division established in 1990 called Just Mortgages.

But Smith’s biggest coup, and one that hugely enlarged the company in one go, was the purchase of the Woolwich Building Society’s estate agency business in 1999, which was then renamed Haart.

Growth

But as well as significant growth and profits including most recently during the post-Covid boom, the group has been dogged by controversy in recent years, with allegations of discrimination and racism from former employees against other staff.

In 2021, Spicerhaart confirmed via an internal memo that two employees left the business after choosing to resign rather than go through an internal disciplinary process over alleged discrimination. And last year, Propertymark confirmed it was investigating a case of racism within the ranks of Spicerhaart following a complaint made by a member of the public.

Spicerhaart was also forced to deny last year that its lettings staff were being pressured to sell insurance products.

The Neg was contacted by an employee from the office of one of Spicerhaart’s brands in London saying that he and colleagues were being driven to offer insurance products to customers.