Southern Homemove, which was set-up earlier this year, has closed five Davis Tate branches, with more potentially set to follow, just six months after acquiring the business from LSL.
Southern Homemove, which was only registered with Companies House in March this year, with its HQ listed in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, purchased 23 of LSL’s branches run by Goodfellows, Hawes & Co, Lauristons and Davis Tate, which covers the property market across Berkshire and Oxfordshire.
LSL announced soon after the deal was agreed with Southern Homemove in May that its remaining estate agency network of 183 branches would become franchises.
An update statement to the City from LSL on 10 May read: “As part of the steps taken to affect franchise agreements, these companies have been acquired by a new franchisee, Southern Homemove Limited, in return for a long-term royalties franchise agreement and de minimis consideration for assets transferred”.
EYE understands that following consultation with colleagues, Southern Homemove made the decision to close five David Tate branches, with the remaining seven offices under review.
The company has confirmed that five Davis Tate offices were closed last Monday – in Burghfield, Shinfield, Sonning Common, Didcot and Wantage.
EYE has been told that Southern Homemove has already entered into discussions with affected colleagues and that they are “being offered opportunities elsewhere in the company”, although redundancies cannot be ruled out.
We are not aware of plans to close any of the offices operated by Goodfellows, Hawes & Co, or Lauristons. None of the directors we approached were available for comment.
