How we work

It is often said that moving house is the third most traumatic personal experience after death and divorce. This being the case it is surprising the number of people who expect a property transaction to be almost entirely problem free. The UK national average for collapsed sales is approximately 35%. At Ashdown we aim to mitigate this risk as far as possible by dedicating the necessary time, training and resource to minimise deal failure.

It's a minefield out there

Despite recent legislative efforts Estate Agency is still a largely unregulated profession. Since October 2008, agents have had to belong to an approved redress scheme for consumers, most commonly The Property Ombudsman Scheme (TPOS) and since July 2009 it has been mandatory for agents to register their practices with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Nonetheless, governance over property transactions remains at the discretion of the buyer and the seller.

Lead by example

To a large extent, everyone involved in a property transaction still has to rely upon the honesty and integrity of everyone else. Sadly in recent times, the volatility of property prices has affected some people's moral judgement. A number of bad practices have become widespread that blights the reputation of the whole profession. While we can't expect the world to change overnight and recognise the inability of legislation alone to compel individuals to behave decently, we can at least aim to set high standards of conduct by which we and our clients operate.