London House News

As mentioned last month, we are now pleased to confirm that we have been joined by a further two new Franchise Owners. Both have purchased existing offices from retiring Franchisees.

Liz Collins has joined us as the Franchise Owner for Manchester. Liz is a BSc graduate in criminology and until recently has been working in the NHS and on a voluntary basis at her local prison. Liz has purchased her area from Trevor Williams, who had been with us for 15 years. Liz will cover the Manchester postcode area.

  

Meanwhile, Mark Holmes has joined us as Franchise Owner for Fordingbridge (Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, Dorset, Salisbury). Mark joins us with all round business experience having been Managing Director of his own distribution company for many years. Mark has bought his area from Jim and John Davies who have decided to spend more time working in their accountancy practice. Mark has a large area and will cover the BH, DT, SP, SO and PO postcodes.

Welcome to you both.

Many thanks to Trevor, Jim and John for their past support and we wish them well for the future.

Finally, the latest edition of The Score was sent out just before Christmas. Please  let us know if you have not received your copy, or please use the link in this blog to access.

You asked us

"I have a couple of cases where it is believed that the subject has moved overseas. Can you help?" 

Nearly always, yes. Some years ago we rebranded to London House International to reflect the increasing volumes of work we are doing abroad. In the sixteen years since we were established we have built up a large and reliable network of overseas agents who carry appropriate accreditations and are members of our trade associations. 

International work can sometimes be difficult and complicated and we need to appreciate different cultures, language and legal systems. We will always obtain quotations for you and advise you of the best course of action. Sometimes our own managers will travel overseas to carry out the more complex enquiries and this can be more cost effective. Please telephone for free advice and no obligation quotations.

Focus on......Property Visits

On occasions we are asked by our clients to visit a property and provide information relating to it. Typically our clients - banks,solicitors, landlords - ask us to provide a range of information and the purpose of our visit could be to find out any manner of detail. For instance, our clients may ask us to : 

1. Confirm the details on an Ordnance Survey Map
2. Report on its condition
3. Confirm what the property is used for
4. Find out who is living/working there (as opposed to tracing somebody)
5. Advise them what is actually on the site
6. Ascertain if the property has been divided into flats
7. Confirm if it is owner occupied or if it has been let/sublet
8. Provide an up to date valuation

It's more than a house

We were asked to visit a two storey property that was located behind a small retail outlet. Our clients needed to know who was living in the property and what was the state of repair. When we arrived at the address we were met with evidence of damage to the door that was open. On entering the property we noticed that the floorboards had been removed and the flooring replaced with soil. Between the floor and ceiling were wires set in rows. Lots of them. All over the walls were numerous electrical sockets and cabling. When we went upstairs we had to remove squatters, but exactly the same modifications had been made as downstairs. It had clearly been used as a cannabis factory, and was not a pleasant sight. Needles, waste and filth were very much evident.

Having taken further instruction we returned the next day to begin a clear up exercise for our client and again had to remove squatters, before securing all accesses to the address. 

We later ascertained that the police had raided the address some days before our visit following a tip off from a neighbour, and had removed a considerable number of cannabis plants as well as connected paraphernalia.