Our History | Harringtons Lettings Brighton & Hove

Mark Harrington and Patrick Kneath met when Mark was running a property company for a third party. They decided to start a letting agency, even in the instance of a recession, which is when The Property Partnership was born. A property management company under TPCM Limited and an acquisition company. In April 1993 they rented a desk in an office on Church Road in Hove and started business. Mark Harrington worked from home and dealt with all of the
management and acquisitions side of the business. It was an exciting time starting a business but extremely difficult within the first year but it went from strength to strength.

Mark Harrington and Patrick Kneath decided to go in different directions, which is when Mark took over The Property Partnership solely. Mark moved the office from the small rented desk to a much bigger office with two floors on Church Road. It was an exciting time for Mark having taken on the business solely but also very daunting. Business was growing quite substantial and new staff were employed to help the growth of the business.

Mark decided that the business needed a change and decided to expand it further. Mark decided to change the name to Harringtons Lettings to have a more personal association with the business. Mark was driving the business forward and as well as obtaining new landlords. Mark later decided to look for a new shop front but wanted to find the right shop, in the right position to ensure his landlords got the best exposure.

The acquisitions department also became a business of it's own and remained at the office on Church Road. Mark also run the property consultants and management limited that managed over 100 buildings throughout the Brighton and Hove area for property management separate to letting business.

Harringtons Lettings set up shop on Western Road in Hove as it was important for Harringtons to have its own identity on the high street. It was a big risk and investment at the time having to fully refurbish the shop that had been left empty. After a few months of renovations, the new ground floor and basement office on Western Road was opened and we entered a new business era. The business employed more staff and the portfolio started to increase dramatically.

The management and acquisitions department stayed at Church Road having expanded further on their own.

Mark started to look to expand the company further and decided to take over Mishon Mackay’s portfolio. This was an exciting opportunity which allowed us to employ new staff as the business was thriving. We started using Rightmove and listed all of our properties on their website.

This expanded the portfolio to outside Brighton and Hove area including a lot of properties in Sussex.

The letting business had become established in Brighton and Hove as being one of the top independent letting agents in the area. The internet was becoming even more important as the years went on with technology being innovated all the time.

The acquisitions side of the business was booming and Mark was helping investment landlords buy a substantial amount of property. The property consultants and management limited subsequently changed their name to iInsure 365. They were invited to bid for new insurance for the Brighton and Hove Albion football stadium. The business was now solely based in the Western Road branch. Business was thriving and the lettings was forever increasing.

We were invited to bid for the new stadium at Brighton and Hove Football Club.

Harringtons Lettings business was growing so much that they needed all the space at Western Road. Mark subsequently purchased a retail shop in the Hangleton area that was converted once planning was approved into a new office. The insurance and acquisitions department was moved to Hangleton to give Harringtons Lettings more space.

At this time it was agreed to invest heavily in more technology. The market had started to change quite significantly and walk in business was not so important as it had been previously. The internet was forever growing. Having a presence on the internet was much more important than having a shop front.

Mark decided to run the New York Marathon in this year and persuaded some of the staff to join him. It was a fantastic event although painful for Mark's feet and many of his staff.

Mark Harrington had since 2015 noticed the drop off in the market for walk in business. He did a two year survey to make sure that this was correct and noted that not one person that walked into Western Road ever took a property. It was decided to concentrate much more heavily on the internet advertising and presence. It was clear that tenants were securing properties through the internet rather than from walking into a letting agents. It was therefore decided to vacate Western Road even though we had been there in excess of 12 years. All of the businesses amalgamated into Hangleton so everybody was under one umbrella.

We celebrated 25 years of business by attending the Rockinghorse Summer Ball. It was a fantastic night out celebrating our 25 years being the property industry and fun was had by all of the staff.

The move from Hove to Hangleton has allowed everyone to focus on marketing. It was decided to re-brand and therefore we launched our brand new website. We have purchased new high end technology to include a 360 degree camera in order to enable us to create 3D virtual tours and floorplans while on-site. One of the first in the lettings industry to have this. All of the business are now completely separated being Harringtons Lettings, Harringtons Acquisitions and iInsure 365 who deal with all the insurance.

Our History - Hove Lettings Agent

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