No. 001 — ABOUT

We started above a bike shop on Charlotte Road.

In 2014 there were two of us, one desk, and a rule we’ve kept since: never take on more homes than we can visit in a week. Twelve years later there are six of us and the rule hasn’t changed.

Why the list is short

Most agencies grow by taking on more stock. It’s the obvious move: more listings, more chances, more board fees. It also means the person selling your home has thirty-nine others to think about on the same Tuesday.

We went the other way. Each of our agents handles seven properties at a time. That’s enough to know the floorplan from memory, to have met the neighbours, and to answer a buyer’s question on the phone without checking. It’s a smaller business than it could be. It’s a better one to be sold by.

We turn work down most months. Sometimes it’s outside our five neighbourhoods. Sometimes the price expectation is a long way from reality and we’d rather say so than take the instruction and let it sit.

The UrbanLane office on Charlotte Road, Shoreditch, seen from the street

41 Charlotte Road, Shoreditch

Say the number

We give you our honest valuation at the first meeting, not the flattering one that wins the instruction and gets reduced six weeks later.

Photograph it properly

Every home gets a professional architectural shoot and a measured floorplan, whether it’s a £680,000 flat or a £4m townhouse. It’s not an upsell.

Call on Friday

A named agent calls you every Friday during a live instruction. No news is still a call. Most complaints about agents are really complaints about silence.