Case Study: Camden, North London

The Story

Our clients had already started their search when they engaged us, and they knew where they wanted to be – Islington. The architectural style of Victorian/Georgian houses in the area tends to be tall and narrow, which they liked aesthetically. However, despite the houses being c.2,000 sq ft, the houses didn’t leave them with a feeling of space and openness. We decided we needed to present them with something wider, and were able to get early access to a very rare style of house in De Beauvoir, which was much closer to what they had pictured, but the garden was too small. After discussing the likelihood of finding anything substantially different to the styles of house we had found in the Islington area, we adjusted the search location and headed to Camden – still within walking distance of the barristers’ chambers our client worked at. After viewing a few options to introduce them to the different architectural styles of this area, a c.2,000 sq ft house over only three floors (rather than being over four or five floors, as they were in Islington) became available. After a very difficult negotiation with the seller, we secured it and it was off the market. The house was perfect: it needed extending and renovating, but it was arranged as two flats, so the clients could live in the upper flat whilst extending and renovating the ground floor. And, because it was split into two flats, they were able to claim Multiple Dwellings Relief, which saved them £50,000 off their stamp duty bill!