Focus On.......Property Visits

We are often 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

An Open and Shut Case

One of our solicitor clients asked us to attend at a property that they had repossessed using another agent. The property was advertised for sale and the estate agent had visited to make sure everything was okay. He found that his keys would not give him access.It seemed that the doors may have been screwed shut from the inside.The curtains were closed but he thought he saw them "twitch". We were asked to visit and find out what was going on.

On attending at the address we had a look around the front of the property and whilst the curtains were indeed closed, we saw that one of the lower floor windows was closed to but not shut properly or locked. On opening the window and the curtains we found that the living room was full of someone's personal possessions.

We then spoke to a neighbour, who was not aware of the repossession, and told us that the former occupant was still living there. She gave us access through a shared locked gate to the rear we saw that one of the windows had been broken. He had therefore broken back into his former property and was coming and going through the front window, while telling our client he was having to live at a local hotel.

 

Focus on.....Commercial Property Repossessions

We do many repossessions during the course of our work but some of you may not know that we do commercial repossessions as well as residential. Our work in this sector is varied with us repossessing many types of property from farms, shops and warehouses to hotels, pubs, guest houses and even a whole industrial estate.
 

As with a residential property repossession we attend with a bailiff and when he has executed his warrant we take over. We take meter readings and liaise with the utility companies, drain down systems, change locks and make the property secure according to our clients instructions. A full schedule of anything left in the property is taken along with photographs. If required we also arrange for clearance of the site and then undertake weekly security visits. 

Lets Chat

One of our clients asked us to confirm the residential address of a debtor and to undertake enquiries into any assets that they may have. They had understood that he owned a property overseas. 

Our local manager began making enquiries in the area and was able to confirm that the debtor was still living at the address provided by our client - he was clearly avoiding them. Continuing the enquiries she took a stroll past the address one morning and the subject was in the front garden. She decided to strike up a casual conversation and they were soon chatting away. With the subject none the wiser, she came away from the conversation with not only first hand verification that he lived at the address but also with details of his various properties overseas and the websites through which he rented them out. A positive result for our client which wouldn't have been possible if our managers never left their desks.

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.