Thu, Jan 21, 2010

Demand for rental properties in London is reviving as residential rents start to rise – and an Irish-owned London-based property management company is planning to expand

THE IRISH directors of a London property management company have completed a management buyout of the business, Findlay Property.

The company, founded in 2003, is now wholly Irish owned and managed. Directors Simon McDonnell, John Walsh and Jean-Paul Van Cauwelaert own 100 per cent of the company after buying the remaining shares for an undisclosed figure.

Findlay specialises in managing residential property in central London for non-resident landlords. Its services include finding buy-to-let properties, lettings, property management and refurbishing properties. It now manages over 120 properties.“The company aims to expand the property management side of the business, providing services to its large Irish client-base,” director Simon McDonnell said this week.

The company is also looking to acquire new clients from South East Asia, who have been investing heavily in the residential sector in central London.

“ I am genuinely excited at the prospects for the coming year,” said McDonnell. “Despite the doom and gloom pervading many quarters, we are very confident that the central London market will weather the storm and our clients will come out the other side smiling.”

He said that the company’s growth in the recession had been wholly driven by referrals from Irish clients.

The company has recently had cautious enquiries from people interested in re-entering and re-investing in the London market this year.

Findlay’s clients range from investors with just one property to people with a number of units.

Most of its properties are in east central London, where there is strong capital growth, good infrastructure and new transport links.

According to the latest survey of the lettings market in the UK from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, rents are expected to rise for the first time since July last year.

The drop-off in properties coming on to the rental market was cited as the main reason for the change. The survey states that demand for rental property is strongest in London.

Residential rents in London performed well in the latter months of 2009. The Residential Landlords Association, which represents more than 6,000 landlords in England and Wales, reports that rents increased by 0.7 per cent in December, bringing the average monthly rent in London to £1,651.

LINK TO ARTICLE

© 2010 The Irish Times