The LPP Platinum Property search team is a privately owned buying agency which focuses exclusively on clients searching for homes and investments in London. We have been helping private clients, family trusts and companies acquire properties since 1993.
Our clients use us because they want to handover the time-consuming and often fruitless process of searching for a property on their own. They choose us to search for them because they value our market expertise, experience in negotiation and because we can find off-market properties that they would not otherwise get to see. By retaining our services our clients know that their search is being handled efficiently and effectively and that no opportunity is being missed.
Edward Redstone who leads the Platinum search team overseas all activities of the team who all give a personal and professional service which aims to make the process of finding a new property as stress free as possible for our clients.
Our Services
We Advise
Since selling agents work only for the vendors, and are paid to get the highest price, regardless of whether a property is good,bad or indifferent, buyers need independent advice.
Our clients come to us for our experience in London and we go to great lengths to understand what they really want to buy.
We tell it how it is – what is possible and what is not. We will also speak up if a client’s head is turned by a property that they should pass on.
We Search
This is the easy part. With many decades of experience, we have the contacts and knowledge to find your perfect property.
You get total market coverage whether you are searching for a Knightsbridge apartment, family house, or pied-à-terre. Typically, 95% of what we see are un-buyable for a variety of reasons including position, price, condition or sanity of the vendor.
These are a few of the reasons why you need a knowledgeable, trusted advisor to filter out the unsuitable. Remember, you will be our only client looking for your property type, so you get to see them all.
Knowing what not to buy is as important as what to buy.
Our role is to filter until we arrive at a hard kernel of the best. – Saul Empson
Through our contacts and knowledge, we make our clients aware of properties that they would not otherwise hear about. Very often, the best London properties are sold privately, without going to market. Our aim is to ensure that our clients don’t miss out. Equally important at present is judging the moment where a previously overpriced property can be bought competitively.
We do due diligenceSearch
Many think they’ve found their perfect house or apartment and just buy it – do they really know what they’re getting? The agent told them the price is right but why believe them?
LPP’s buying team has its own due diligence framework to analyse strengths, weaknesses and opportunities . There will maybe be a survey and a solicitor’s report on title, but we try to fill all the gaps so there are no surprises.
Solicitors often have no picture of how the actual property compares to what is seen on paper. We work as a team with them looking well beyond the obvious.
Having identified a London property that our clients might like to buy, we then hold the proposition up to the cold light of day for in-depth scrutiny, to make sure that there are no unforeseen factors that could affect it.
We then prepare a written report that will cover such diverse issues as nearby amenities, comparable sales evidence and background to the area.
The aim here is to try and pick up the issues that fall between the solicitor’s report on title and the surveyor’s structural report. We also put some objectivity behind the value of the London property.
Finding London houses or apartments is just the tip of the iceberg.
We report on;
- Guidance on location, including schools and communications
- Awareness of potential problems: eyesores, flight paths, character of the neighbourhood and relevant environmental issues
- On value and comparable evidence
- The best lawyers, surveyors, planning consultants and architects
We are skilled at price negotiation
Finding a London property is one thing. Securing it at the right price is another. We buy the best London properties on the best terms.
Whilst our clients are often skilled negotiators themselves, they find that this part of our service is as valuable as the finding of the property. We are familiar with all the potential pitfalls, and we conduct a “due diligence” process to steer each client through to a successful conclusion.
We want to avoid the “the stiff-legged terrier syndrome” whereby the negotiations can reach an insoluble impasse over a small detail such as a washing machine or cooker; we want our clients to have a balanced overview of the deal and steer the vendor away from getting bogged down in minutiae.
It’s not always only about price. We get the vendors to see our clients as the preferred buyers and we make sure they have a good relationship with our clients throughout the negotiations.
London selling agents want to deal with the best-qualified buyer that they can, not just the highest bid. We work very hard to ensure that they view our clients as the preferred buyers.
Remember, the selling agent works solely for the vendor and is ultimately not responsible for the interests of buyers – It’s vital to have the very best team working for you.
We can introduce a top London-based professional team – lawyers, surveyors, planning consultants, land agents, architects, and so on – on a best of breed basis. We are the lynchpin and work with all of them together, acting as the interface.
- The best lawyers, surveyors, planning consultants and architects
We Complete
Many London property buyers do not go to the property they have purchased on the day of completion. What if it has burnt down, flooded or is occupied by squatters?
We always attend London properties on or just before the day of completion to make sure all is in order. If there have been inclusions in the deal such as carpets and curtains, furniture or garden machinery, we make sure they have not been removed.
Once we are happy that the London property is as it should be we telephone the solicitors and instruct them to release the completion money – but not until we are completely satisfied.
Rental search in London
Finding a property to rent in London is rarely straightforward. The LPP search team can also find you a property to rent in London following exactly the same policy as we use for our buying service.
We avoid taking on too many clients, allowing us to work exclusively for clients. We will not take on a client brief overlaps with another.