William H Brown
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Latest property news
Unauthorised To Let board lands Essex agent with £3,000 fine
An estate agency in Colchester has been fined more than £3,000 by the local authority after contesting an earlier prosecution that it had placed an authorised To Let board on a block of flats. Saxons, which has an office on the town’s historic high street, originally had charges brought against it in April this year, along with three other agents, for displaying unauthorised boards around the town. The other agents were William H Brown, Spicerhaart and David Martin who admitted the charges and were each fined £500 plus costs. But Saxons’ Senior Property Manager Jeff Hamblion denied that their board on a block of flats in the Hythe Hill area to the east of the town centre had been placed incorrectly, claiming that “some drunk, or someone else” had moved it from a legitimate location. The case against them has only now been heard. To Let board Saxons lost and must now pay a £1,000 fine and costs totalling £2,047. It has also been revealed that the company, along with the other agents, had been warned by Council planning enforcement officers on “a number of occasions about their advertisement boards yet still continued to erect boards without the necessary consent”,…
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Latest property news
Sequence buys up its second independent agent in four weeks
Connells subsidiary Sequence has begun an aggressive push to buy up independent agents and has announced its second purchase this month via its main high street brand, William H Brown. Following the purchase of Enfield, North London agent Barnfields at the beginning of August, William H Brown has now bought a second agent, Cory & Co in the Essex port town of Harwich (pictured, right). Like Barnfields, Cory & Co is an independent family-run agency but unlike it, Cory & Co’s founder is retiring and the business is being absorbed into the local William H Brown branch. Norman Cory (pictured, left) established Cory & Co in 1981 trading in the Harwich, Dovercourt and surrounding villages and is also a leading light in the local town and keen Rotarian. William H Brown will transfer its lettings, property management and remaining sales deals into its existing branch along with three members of staff. Sequence “This acquisition strengthens our position in the local market and fits our targeted approach of building our managed property portfolio,” says Mike Rowley, Acquisitions Director for Sequence (pictured, right). “There is huge demand for rental property in Harwich and its surrounding areas and we’re looking forward to welcoming…
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Latest property news
Picture of the week: It’s like a Tardis outside
PICTURE OF THE WEEK. No agent would say taking pictures of properties is easy. Bad weather, poor light, impossible angles, uncooperative vendors, untidy rooms. They can all conspire to make presenting many homes a challenge. And then there are the problems of marketing new homes. Developers are super keen to have them sold as soon as possible, and ideally before they’re finished to keep their balance sheets healthy. This was the problem faced by an agent in Kings Lynn who, on arrival on site, found a huge portable toilet in front of the property and, given the day’s busy schedule and its weight, had no choice but to snap – we assume. The resulting photograph did not go unnoticed online. A local fitness trainer and, presumably house hunter too, spotted the photo on Rightmove and alerted The Negotiator via Twitter. For those who can see past the oddly Tardis-like urinal parked in the drive, agent William H Brown is selling a brand new three bedroom semi for £177,500, part of a development of 14 similar homes near in the northern outskirts of Kings Lynn marketed squarely at first time buyers.
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