Property Question

[Felix]

Hi all

For a property in Hampstead - a house that had a number of tenants who didn't change from the 1930's to the 1970's according to the electoral rolls - would there anywhere to find out what firm of letting agents was managing the house during that time? I presume it would have gone through letting agents? The house was divided into three or four flats.

For the history of actual ownership, do we go through the Land Registry? I did a quick search and saw that there are some local deeds registers at the LMA that go up to 1940. Would they be worth enquiring about?

Thanks muchly.

[JudithM]

My grandma lived in the same, rented, house in north London from 1921 to 1962. She paid her rent directly to the landlord - no letting agent involved. Similarly one of her sisters rented a room in a shared house from the 1920s to her death in the 70s. As the longest established tenant she collected rent from the others and passed it all on directly to the owner of the house.
I think the Land Registry would only have records of owners since the house was registered, I doubt that would go back to the period you are looking at. Don't know about the LMA records - perhaps they are documents deposited by solicitors?

[Felix]

Hi.

I know this particular house was sold in 1977. It sold again recently for one and a half million. Years ago, the rent could well have been paid to the owner as you say.

Hadn't thought that the LMA documents could have been deposited by solicitors

There's another big block of flats in Hendon I'd like to find out about too. It was built in the 1930's and I know the flats there must have gone through some sort of letting agent. It's all very interesting.

Thanks!

[SmallTownGirl]

Could either property have been owned by the local council/authority, and rented from them?

[Felix]

That's a very good question. The posh house in Hampstead I would be pretty sure was always privately owned. Certainly has been since the 1970's. But the block of flats in Hendon could have been built by the council, maybe.

If you did rent a council flat, how did you pay your rent back in the 30s and 40s? Did someone from the council come to collect it or did you go to an office?

Thanks

[margaretmarch]

That's a very good question. The posh house in Hampstead I would be pretty sure was always privately owned. Certainly has been since the 1970's. But the block of flats in Hendon could have been built by the council, maybe.

If you did rent a council flat, how did you pay your rent back in the 30s and 40s? Did someone from the council come to collect it or did you go to an office?

Thanks

Could have been either. Depends on the council and the locality. In Manchester they had a system whereby you could pay in at the local Post Office.

Margaret

[Felix]

Thank you

[PhotoFamily]

I had someone do building research based on insurance records. Don't know if you can find 'em for property in Hampstead, tho

[Felix]

That's interesting. Hadn't thought of that either. Thanks :o

[clematised]

Try putting the address into the National Archives site as there may be documents there.

Edna

[Felix]

Thanks. Will do

[Olde Crone Holden]

I lived in rented property in London in the 60s and 70s and my landlord owned literally hundreds of properties. He sometimes collected the rent himself (accompanied by a big dog, lol) or the Rent Man collected it. No agency involved. I think letting agencies are a relatively new concept.

What is it exactly that you are hoping to discover?

OC

[PhotoFamily]

I'm not sure what Felix is looking for, but in my case it turned out that my poor-as-church-mice direct ancestors were in a building owned by their well-off great-uncle! I don't think that was by chance.

[Felix]

Hoping to discover some family background geographically - which is good for an ignorant Aussie like me. It really helps to know about their economic circumstances and their day-to-day lives. Which includes their housing arrangements.

And I do have a relative who was a letting agent in London from the 30s on. The family was also involved in real estate in Dorset so I'm wondering how that might all fit together. The scenario of the big dog and the poor-as-church-mice ancestors sounds pretty right.

Thanks both :o

[Olde Crone Holden]

Thinking back, at least one property I rented was found through a small ad in the paper, which was very common at the time. ISTR going to a solicitor's office to hook up the deal.

I think the early letting agents actually worked for a specific landlord, rather than many different ones. Someone like, for instance, the Duke of Portland, would not have concerned himself with the day to day business of letting property and would have had several agents to do it for him, employed by his estate.

You could see if there are any Rates Books still available for the period. I believe back then it was the owner of the property who paid the rates (directly) rather than the tenant.

OC

[Felix]

That is so interesting because before my relative was a letting agent, he was a porter at a very posh block of flats in London. There were about half a dozen similar blocks side by side and I found them in a 1933 newspaper article under "leasehold properties. Six high-class blocks comprising in all 92 self-contained residential flats, the rentals of which are from 160 pounds per annum, inclusive of rates...." I wonder if he went from being a porter to working as a letting agent for the landlord or something similar. That is certainly something to follow up.

Thanks muchly :o

[Olde Crone Holden]

That sounds extremely likely to me, Felix.

For your interest, pre war, the largest landlord in the country was the monarchy, closely followed by the Church of England. Most of the rest was owned by the landed gentry and owner occupiers were very few and far between - about 15% I think.

My great grandfather who died in 1947 owned several small properties (8?) and the rents on these provided him with a pension. He did not own his own house, a substantial Victorian villa!

OC

[angelina]

Maybe he progressed from being a letting agent to an estate agent - have you tried googling his name+estate agents and seeing if anything turns up.
if he was self employed maybe he was registered with 'companies house' but i dont know how far back their information goes.

just found another site called 'companycheck.co.uk' which may help but again i dont know how far their info goes.

[Olde Crone Holden]

If he was a porter, he would have lived in and the "letting agent" title would have been an additional duty to portering probably - why would you give up free accommodation and a job for life to become self employed in the 1930s which were a time of severe economic deprssion in the UK.

I'm jumping to conclusions, but does the "Letting Agent" title appear on a marriage cert, perhaps? If so, this would be a way of bigging up what might be seen by the new in-laws as a rather humble occupation of porter, lol. I have lots of marriage certs where the groom's occupation has a much more grandiose description than the actual fact. That's not to say your man wasn't the landlord's letting agent, just that he was probably still a porter as well. Even three large blocks of flats wouldn't produce enough employment for a full time dedicated letting agent.

OC

[Felix]

Thank you. Will make note and go check them out. :o