Advice on privacy matters when buying a property in London
Insight
The Brief
An existing client reached out to us at the start of the summer regarding the off-market purchase of a large London townhouse situated on a tranquil tree-lined road in Kensington. Our client is an incredibly private person and has entrusted the firm to discreetly guide and advise on sensitive reputational matters for a number of years.
Executing the Brief
Our client’s core team (including the appointed buying agent) were already operating under NDAs, but the sellers’ agent was yet to sign one and had returned comments on the proposed form, which our client asked us to run through with them. Armed with instructions we were able to pick up the phone to the sellers’ agent to quickly settle the outstanding points ahead of returning a slightly revised NDA, which the sellers’ agent was then happy to sign. Our client’s details were disclosed, and we were in receipt of the sales pack by the end of the day.
Initial conversations with our client centred around options as to ownership structures and in relation to the manner in which information would be recorded by the Land Registry on the registered title for the property. We settled on a route forward and it was now full speed ahead on our due diligence.
Our client has ambitious renovation plans for the property which will require planning permission from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. We explained that whilst planning applications place a significant amount of information about a property in the public domain, there are steps that can be taken to limit the exposure of sensitive personal information, such as appointing a planning consultant to make the application under their name.
Given the sensitivities of our client, we inserted comprehensive confidentiality provisions into the contract and also placed an obligation on the sellers to take steps to clear their social media of some specific significant videos and images which included the property, and to ensure that their agent permanently removed all of its marketing material from the public domain ahead of completion.
The debrief
The purchase completed within five weeks of us receiving the sales pack, and our client is now exploring renovation options with the advice of our planning team and a trusted local planning consultant whom we were delighted to introduce.
Please refer to our article Protecting the privacy and security of your home, written by our reputation management and privacy law specialists Thomas Rudkin and Oliver Lock, which further considers options available when it comes to privacy and property. Whilst there is plenty to shout about on social media in 2024, we still see a steady number of transactions that go through under the radar.
We are always happy to discuss the conveyancing process and how to manage a transaction.
This publication is a general summary of the law. It should not replace legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.
