Foxtons Group plc is a British estate agency company dealing with both lettings and sales. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

History

Foxtons was founded by Jon Hunt in 1981 in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a wikt:cosmopolitan, cosmopolitan and multiculturalism, multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, as a two-person estate agency. 2001 saw the launch of promotionally branded

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

s, bearing the Foxtons logo. Foxtons was acquired by

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm

BC Partners BC Partners LLP is a British international investment firm with over $40 billion of assets under management across private equity, credit and real estate in Europe and North America. Its global headquarters are in London. The firm invests across ...

in 2007 for £390 million. In December 2009, private equity firm BC Partners lost control of Foxtons, less than three years after buying it, after creditors reorganised the real estate broker's debt. On 27 August 2013, Foxtons unveiled its flotation on the

to raise £55m from private investors. On 1 July 2014, Michael Brown stepped down as CEO, citing personal reasons for his decision. Previous COO, Nic Budden took on the role of CEO. In May 2022, Nic Budden stepped down as CEO and Peter Rollings took over as interim CEO; it was announced that Guy Gittins would take up the post on a permanent basis in September 2022.

Controversies

In March 2006, the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

ran an undercover report and revealed many questionable actions taken by Foxtons employees such as faking signatures and purposefully overvaluing properties. In May 2013, BBC Watchdog reported that Foxtons imposes tenancy agreements which demand in the small print that tenants must use utilities supplier Spark Energy Ltd. The BBC stated Foxtons are paid commission by Spark Energy Ltd.

Operations

Foxtons has over 50 offices. It is a member of

The Property Ombudsman The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme is an ombudsman in the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast ...

, The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) (Licensed Member), The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) (Licensed Member), and the National Approved Letting Scheme. Foxtons is also a founding member of the Safe Agent Fully Endorsed client money protection scheme (SAFE) as well as Tenancy Deposit Scheme.

References

External links

{{Authority control Property companies based in London Real estate companies established in 1981 Property services companies of the United Kingdom Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies in the FTSE SmallCap Index