Defunct online lettings agency had three possible buyers before closure

It’s been revealed that Upad, the lettings agency which closed at short notice in October last year, had three prospective buyers waiting in the wings shortly before.

However, no deal could be agreed with any of them, and the company had to shut because of the ill-health of its founder, James Davis.

Upad closed some three months ago; the first most people knew of this was a notice on its website one weekend which read: “We regret to inform you that Upad is no longer accepting new business. We would like to thank all our customers for their support over the last ten years.”

Now it transpires that James Davis had been in talks with three companies to buy the agency, which he founded in 2008 and which had around 30 staff plus a substantial inventory - he was letting around 1,000 units a week on behalf of clients.

“I was excited by the possibility of any of the three because it would be a great proposition, over and above saving the staff and so on” Davis tells Properganda PR in a podcast on its website, made available exclusive to Letting Agent Today readers.

He declined to name the three but interviewer Russell Quirk said any of them would be household names to those involved in the agency industry.

When none of the three deals came to fruition, Davis walked away at relatively short notice because of his poor health. 

In 2018 Davis had been diagnosed with a serious heart condition.

“I had no symptoms, I knew nothing of what was coming up. This literally came out of the blue, 100 per cent, and slapped me in the face on a Friday afternoon. It changed my world around where basically I was lucky to be alive being told this was a ticking clock before I dropped dead” Davis says in the podcast.

Davis was informed that if he did not have surgery before Christmas he would probably die.

The podcast is a fascinating listen, not only for a description of why the online agency was set up but also for an insight into the stress of operating a business.

It’s here.