Carter Jonas was instructed by the London Borough of Southwark to assist in a program to purchase 60 residential leasehold properties located throughout the borough to improve council housing stock volumes.

The council identified properties that met their criteria; a mixture of openly marketed properties and off-market properties where the leaseholders had approached the council directly. Once suitable properties had been identified, Carter Jonas undertook a ‘Red Book’ valuation for each one and provided the council with a suggested purchase price that represented market value.  

Following an inspection of each property, Carter Jonas was able to report on the visible condition and, most importantly, provide advice as to whether the asking prices were realistic. There were several properties where Carter Jonas found strong comparable evidence to suggest the asking price was unsupported and substantially over market value.  

The instruction also required Carter Jonas to undertake negotiations with the selling agents or property owners, if requested by the council.  

Throughout the 10-month project, Carter Jonas undertook 77 valuations. The average time from initial instruction to providing the report was nine calendar days, which significantly outperformed the instruction requirement of 21 days. For properties where there was considerable interest from other parties, Carter Jonas was able to act even faster, producing several reports in as little as three days to ensure the council did not miss the opportunity to make an offer.