Black Brick Property Solutions LLP

Managing Partners: Camilla Dell (Managing Partner) and Caspar Harvard-Walls (Partner)

Number of partners: 2 Partners, 2 buying consultants, one Property Manager, one Head of Sales (total 6 fee earners). All London based.

FIRM OVERVIEW: Black Brick was founded in January 2007, by Managing Partner Camilla Dell who saw an opportunity to create a truly independent, market leading residential property buying agency. Initially the firm started as a property search and acquisition company but rapidly expanded and its services now include property buying, investing, managed sales, property management, rental search and a vacant property care service.

Since inception, the firm has grown from being a two-strong team, to one of the leading independent buying agencies in London and the Home Counties. Black Brick is based in Mayfair and has an eight-strong team of property consultant professionals, carefully handpicked from across the industry for their depth of experience, specialist insight, valuable network of contacts and proven negotiation skills.

Collectively, the firm has accumulated more than eighty years’ experience and sourced well in excess of £1 billion of property in the dynamic London and Home Counties property markets, encompassing a range of very different market conditions.

The firm has won many prestigious awards over the years including being ranked 4th in Prime Resi Britain’s top 50 residential buying agencies, ranked in E-private client top Residential Property Buyers 2021, Wealth Adviser Best Property Adviser Winner 2019 and Best Buying Agency of the Year at The Times and Sunday Times Estate Agency of the Year Awards for 3 years in a row.

MAIN AREAS OF PRACTICE:

Property Search & Acquisition: 

Whether clients are looking to purchase a home, second home or an investment property, Black Brick's property search service is the ideal solution, ensuring clients are well advised and end up securing the right property on the very best possible terms. Black Brick looks after clients with budgets starting from £500,000 in Central London and £2 million in the Home Counties.

https://www.black-brick.com/services/buying

Managed Sale Service: 

Black Brick assists clients that are looking to sell their property through the firm's dedicated sales service. The firm oversees the entire sales process, from initial market advice through to managing the move, in complete confidence if required.

https://www.black-brick.com/services/managed-sales

Rental Search: 

Re-locating to London, in between selling and buying and looking for an interim solution – or visiting London for a short period of time – Black Brick can help find clients the ideal rental place for them to rest their head. Without the headaches.

https://www.black-brick.com/services/rental-search Property

Management: 

Black Brick's highly-experienced Property Management Service is tailored to meet the needs of private landlords, corporate landlords and trustees. From finding high-quality tenants through to managing repairs and upkeep, Black Brick can help ensure client's property investment keeps performing.

https://www.black-brick.com/services/property-management

Vacant Care: 

Leaving their property vacant for several weeks or months can be a worrying time for homeowners. Black Brick’s Vacant Care service can ease clients' minds by helping to ensure that their property stays safe and secure and is ready for them to move back into at any time. Black Brick's service will help maintain clients' properties, carry out regular inspections to ensure clients comply with their insurance company’s requirements, and make their house feel like a home ready for their return.

https://www.black-brick.com/services/vacant-care-service 

Recent Works: 

2020 Black Brick secured almost £60 million of property for its clients. 19% of properties sourced were off market and on average the firm saved its clients almost 7.1% from the asking price.

Standout deals included: South Hill Park Gardens, Belsize Park, NW8 - https://www.black-brick.com/expertise/case-studies/south-hill-park-gardens/. Acquired for a client looking for a family home. With fierce competition for family homes in prime residential neighbourhoods, ensuring early access to possible options was going to be crucial. Black Brick secured the house for £4.95 million.

Clarges, Mayfair, W1 - https://www.black-brick.com/expertise/case-studies/clarges/. Acquired for our U.S. client who was looking to purchase an apartment in Mayfair on an ‘off-plan’ basis, with a minimum of three years between exchange and completion, as well as a staged payment schedule, to allow him the time to fund the transaction. While the negotiations were far from straightforward, we eventually agreed terms, namely that the purchase price was fixed at £10.5m to be paid within the three years.

Long and Waterson, Shoreditch, E2 - https://www.black-brick.com/expertise/case-studies/long-and-waterson/. Acquired for our long-term investment client who was looking to invest a total of £20 million into the London property market for a combination of rental yield and long-term capital appreciation. Our advice was to split the budget across multiple properties in order to give diversification to the portfolio and to purchase in bulk – 6 units or more in one single transaction to qualify for commercial rates of stamp duty. We negotiated the purchase of 6 apartments in January 2020 for a combined purchase price of £4,750,000 achieving almost a 16% discount from the original asking price and an estimated average net return on equity of 6.6% over a projected 5-year hold period. Over the course of the following weeks and months we carefully monitored market conditions and as we approached the end of lockdown and the property industry was able to return to work, we successfully re-negotiated the purchase down to £4,075,000. We de-risked the purchase by removing one of the more expensive 3-bedroom units and replacing it with a one-bedroom unit. We also managed to increase the overall discount to 20% from the original asking prices

Contacts:  

Camilla Dell, Managing Partner

E: [email protected]

T: +44 (0) 203 141 9860

Caspar Harvard-Walls, Partner

E: [email protected]

T: +44(0) 203 141 9864

OFFICES:  

15 Bruton Place

London

W1J 6LU