LSL Property Services
LSL Property Services is the parent company of e.surv Chartered Surveyors, Your Move and Reeds Rains, and forms the second-largest estate agent chain in the United Kingdom.[1]
LSL was created following the management buy out of Your Move and e.surv Chartered Surveyors from Aviva (formerly Norwich Union) in July 2004. The original estate agency and surveying and valuations businesses were created following a series of acquisitions undertaken by General Accident between 1985 and 1988. These businesses were originally re-branded as General Accident Property Services and General Accident Valuation Services and became Your Move and e.surv Chartered Surveyors in November 1999.
Simon Embley
Simon Embley has served as the Group Chief Executive Officer of LSL Property Services Plc since 2004, having previously been Managing Director of Your Move.[2] From 2001 to 2004 Simon Embley was the Managing Director of Your Move, where he oversaw its turnaround from a loss-making business to a successful business. Embley’s previous experience included establishing Norwich Union’s pensions business in Poland, serving as Executive Director of LSL Property Services Plc, serving as non-executive Director of Zoopla Property Group Limited and serving as a Director of Norwich Union Wealth Management.
Your Move
Your Move Estate Agents is the UK's largest estate agency brand in the UK, with approximately 300 branches.[citation needed] Your Move's services include residential property services, lettings, and mortgage and remortgage services. Your Move was originally set up in the late 1980s by well known UK insurers, General Accident. By 1989, GA Property Services, latterly trading as General Accident Property Services (GAPS), owned 69 estate agencies and in 1995, the surveying division of GAPS became a separate company - GA Valuation and Survey (GAVS). In November 1999, following the General Accident and Commercial Union merger, GAPS rebranded to Your Move and GAVS rebranded to e.surv. [3]
Reeds Rains
Reeds Rains is an estate agency operating in the UK. The firm has its origins in two companies; Samuel Rains and Son and Reeds.
Samuel Rains and Sons was established by its namesake; Samuel Rains in Manchester in 1868. The office moved to The Crescent, Cheadle in 1946 after World War Two. The firm was strongly established as a family business and by the time the company celebrated is Centenary in 1968, Rains' three great-grandchildren were partners in the firm. Michael Gass joined the company as a fourth partner and at this point Samuel Rains and Sons boasted a chain of five branches. By the time of the merger with Reeds, the company operated twenty five branches.[4]
The firm of Reeds had its roots in a firm established in Preston in 1870 by a George Wrightson. After his death in 1890, his assistant Edward Reeds took over the business. As with Samuel Rains and Sons, the company was a family business and after the World War One, Harold and George Reeds (Edward's sons) joined the company. They sold the firm to Basil Crosley in 1956 and by 1972 Crosley had expanded the business to comprise four partners including his own son John. The name of the company was changed to Reeds and further branches were acquired through a merger with the firm of Petty and Co in 1976. By the time of their merger with Samuel Rains and Sons, Reeds operated sixteen branches.[4]
The two firms merged in 1982 and the large logistical task of renaming the offices and replacing over five hundred for sale boards was complete within two weeks. The name of the merged firm was decided by the flip of a coin. The business grew rapidly, and used innovative marketing techniques such as television advertising on local ITV station Granada.[4]
In 1986 the fifty-two strong chain was purchased by the financial services company; Prudential, for £24 million.[5][4] The History of Reeds Rains - YouTube. The Reeds Rains name was re-established following a £3.4 million management buyout in 1991[5][4] and the firm set about expanding once again, including the purchase of Britannia Building Society's estate agency in November 1998.[5]
Reeds Rains was purchased by LSL in 2005.[6] Reeds Rains form part of the fourth-largest chains of Estate Agents in the United Kingdom by number of offices.[1] The 2008 credit crisis took its toll on the parent company, with LSL reported to have closed 12 offices between January and May 2008,[7] in contrast to 2006, when house prices were on the rise and individual franchises in the chain were faring better.[8]
The company currently operates about 140 branches across the United Kingdom.[9] with some branches operating in a franchise format.[10]
References
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- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 [1] The History of Reeds Rains - Youtube.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Lawson, David (1999). Swiss Financial Giant Backs UK Residential Agents. Property Week, April 1999.
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