Hampshire-based estate agency Clarke Mews’s sales operation has ceased trading and closed its three branches in West End, Botley and Netley, making all staff redundant, after selling its sales and lettings books to Charters Estate Agents.

Insolvency specialist Portland Leonard Curtis assisted in the sale of the lettings book owned by Clarke Mews Lettings, which remains solvent, and the property sales book owned by the parent company, CMS Southampton, which has now been placed into liquidation.

The firm had struggled with staff recruitment and retention, leading to high staff turnover, since new owners took over the business in 2018.

Although property prices have been on the rise since 2018, part of this increase is due to the lack of supply of properties for sale, attributed initially to the uncertainty of how Brexit would impact the economy.

Estate agency

Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit which effectively shut down all of the Clarke Mews branches and slowed down the number of successful transactions being concluded.

This was followed by lockdown restrictions, which led to increased costs and much lower sales volumes. Fear around the recent and future anticipated cost of living increases and interest rate rises led to more problems for the firm and in June asked Portland Leonard Curtis for help.

The owners concluded that the business was no longer viable and decided the best option was to cease trading.”

Portland Leonard Curtis marketed and co-ordinated the sale of the lettings and property sale pipeline, which resulted in a sale of both to Charters Estate Agents.

Andrew Rumsey (pictured), client director at Portland Leonard Curtis, says: “Clarke Mews had a long-standing reputation in the local area and, whilst circumstances in recent years have meant that the business has struggled, the interest in acquiring the pipeline was still strong, resulting in the successful sale to Charters Estate Agents.”

Charters Estate Agents were approached for comment.