FT House & Home 28

8 ★ FTWeekend 28 November/29 November 2015 28 November/29 November 2015 ★ FTWeekend 9 House Home House Home Postcode pricing Sloane 2010-Aug 2015 68 Square 18 £2,271,317 £6,369,138 X Number of sales 97 SW3 2 Back in the £XXX Average sale price £2,695,718 SW1W 8 SW3 3 Peter Jones Chelsea Green department SW3 3 store 42 SW3 4 Saatchi £5,616,674 Gallery swing of it 73 SW3 6 £3,101,193 King’s Road SW3 5 UK property law: buying off plan 123 155 UK property | King’s Road in west London may £1,240,293 I’m buying an apartment in a new £1,781,943 development. It isn’t yet built and the SW10 0 developer won’t give me a definite date for have lost its 1960s pop vibe but big developments completion. How can I be certain when I World’s End Place River Thames 500m will need to have my finance in place? are breathing new life into the area. By Lily Le Brun Source: Savills Research: Land Registry The contract will usually allow the developer some flexibility by linking legal completion (the day you hand over the bulk of the price Clapham or Battersea south of the river and become the owner of the property) to t is fitting that Thomas Arne com- The wildness that once set London Thames are popular for those seeking completion of the development. Typically, posed “Rule, Britannia!” at 215 swinging has dissipated. “Saturday on substantial houses in which to raise a i / BUYING GUIDE the developer will be able to trigger legal King’s Road, given the number of the King’s Road was like a street party,” family,says Knight Frank’sPace. completion by serving notice on you. If the British stereotypes and subcultures recalls Verite Reily Collins, who has So what has been responsible for ris- There are several coveted fee-paying developer is offering you a third-party I spawned and disseminated from lived in the area for almost five decades. ing values? Much of the King’sRoad area schools within walking distance of the warranty, such as the 10-year guarantee this well-known west London street. At “If you wanted to parade up and down, is a conservation area and, as a result, King’s Road, including Francis Holland, from the National House Building Council, it Garden House and Sussex House School intervals over the past century it has by golly you had to dress up in the right there are few opportunities to construct will also have to comply with the Consumer been the territory and unofficial cat- gear. I’ve just been down there today, new buildings. However, over the past There were 1,750 crimes reported in Code for Home Builders. That will give you a walk of bohemian artists, dolly birds, and it is so boring.” 20 years Cadogan Estates — the prop- Kensington and Chelsea in October 2015, range of safeguards, including an obligation compared with 1,815 in neighbouring dandies, mods, punks and Sloane Rang- For someone who remembers the erty company that owns 93 acres of Lon- Hammersmith and Fulham for the developer to give you a reasonable ers. Even James Bond lived in “a com- stand-off in the King’s Road between don, including most of the King’s Road estimate of when the flat will be ready. fortableflatintheplanetree’dsquareoff Christian, the pet lion bought from Har- — has been buying leases from strug- Sloane Square underground station is on What if construction takes longer than rods in 1969 — who was being driven in the District and Circle lines. Victoria train the King’sRoad”. gling businesses and trying to improve station is 20 minutes’ walk away expected? Can I walk away? Not unless the Chelsea’s main artery remains a desti- the back of an open-top Rolls-Royce — its residential and commercial stock. contract says you can or you can show the nation for shoppers and tourists. The and a leopard being walked by a model, Models wearing swimsuits outside Guys ’N’ Dolls restaurant in the King’s Road, Chelsea, 1967 — Trinity Mirror/Alamy Christmas lights on the King’s Road — Roger Cracknell/Alamy One of its first significant projects in delay is serious enough to allow you to bring independent fashion boutiques and this is an understandable sentiment. the 2000s was the redevelopment of the What you can buy for . the contract to an end, which is difficult with their unorthodox names — Granny The King’s Road, however, has always former army barracks in Duke of York £1m A two-bedroom flat in World’s End property contracts. In 2013, the Court of Takes A Trip, The Chelsea Drugstore, had a quieter side. Uneven rows of private side streets or squares, he adds, are available at a lower price and appeal For some buyers, a desire to be near in World’s End sold for £200,000. ‘Cadogan and Grosvenor Square, which is now the Saatchi £5m A five-bedroom, Grade II-listed Appeal settled a dispute over an off-plan sale Sex — have disappeared, replaced with Georgian and early Victorian family noting that the majority of his to a wealthy elite. One such three- Sloane Square, with its Tube station, Today, they cost more than 10 times Gallery. In January this year, the estate townhouse on Sydney Street contract, deciding that the developer was in branches of popular high-street chains. houses, some painted in quaint pastel clients intend to live in the houses they bedroom, 1,376 sq ft flat is on sale for enticing shops and Parisian-style bars, that amount. A large four-bedroom estates have put money into announced a partnership with French £10m A five-bedroom, period townhouse breach only once it had failed to finish the Peter Jones department store is its colours, lead off the road all the way buy, rather than keep them as a buy- £2.25m with Foxtons. Meanwhile, a supersedes the wish to have a house house with a garden on Paultons Square improving their residential hotelier Jean-Louis Costes to open a on Wellington Square build within a “reasonable” time. To give dependable eastern cornerstone, and down its two-mile length. Tucked in to-let investment. three-bedroomtownhousewith1,547sq away from the crowds and noise. This is ison sale for £5.45m with Knight Frank. boutique hotel, One Sloane Gardens, ina For more property listings, please visit yourself certainty, you should negotiate a Sloane Street, which connects Sloane between these meandering side streets Although they often rival such period ft of living space on First Street, close to especially true of those from mainland Yet in line with other prime central and retail offerings’ Victorian building that formerly housed ftpropertylistings.com “long-stop date”, after which you can choose Square with Knightsbridge, is lined with are peaceful garden squares. Some open houses for square footage, flats above the King’s Road, is being marketed by Europe who work in finance, says Noel London areas, transactions in Chelsea abookmakerandgreasy-spooncafé. to pull out if the apartment is not ready. high-end international fashion brands. directly on to the King’s Road, such as the shops on the King’s Road itself Savills for £3.85m. de Keyzer of Savills Chelsea. In this part have fallen over the past year. Prices are “In the 1970s and 1980s the King’s The developer wants a large deposit, which Wellington Square, Markham Square of the King’s Road, he estimates that a rising at a slower rate than at any time Road got rather scruffy,”says de Keyzer. it says will be non-refundable if I don’t and Royal Avenue. 3,000 sq ft flat in one of the red-brick since 2009. Last December’s increase in “But the Cadogan and Grosvenor estates their country estates, but most of the complete. Is that legal? Possibly not. A There are several good schools Victorian mansion blocks that predomi- stamp duty has had a particularly nega- have ploughed a lot of money into shops have remained the same, and deposit of up to 10 per cent is normal and nearby, and children raised in the area nate will typically cost£7.5m to £8m. tive impact on sales of properties worth improving their residential and retail there is still a strong sense of being part the court can order it to be returned. Sums often stay to bring up their own The value of property along the King’s more than £5m. “It has focused people’s offerings, which has attracted wealthy of a village-like community. larger than that may be treated as penalties, families. Residents speak of the village- Road tends to fall the further it is from minds as to whether it is really worth internationalbuyersandtenants.” Bannister knows most of her custom- which may not be enforceable. If you are like atmosphere, especially around Sloane Square (the road’s western con- moving,”says de Keyzer. The number of UK buyers outstrips ers by name; many of whom are locals covered by the Consumer Code, you must picturesque squares such as Chelsea clusion is even known as World’s End). However, Kensington and Chelsea that of other nationalities. According to who have been returning for the past 30 be given a reservation agreement. Any Green, with its independent restaurants Yet price rises here are in line with still outperformed the rest of prime cen- Savills, they represent almost half of years. The business receives more tour- reservation fee must be reimbursed if the and food shops.

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