Leicester estate agent snaps up city rival

A Leicestershire estate and letting agents has acquired a rival business in a deal financed by Barclays.

Whitegates, which has offices in Loughborough, Mountsorrel and Leicester city centre, has acquired city-based Taylors Property Services.

The deal has seen Whitegates obtain five additional offices including Leicester, Loughborough, Syston, Sileby and Broughton Astley.

Whitegates was established in 2012 by Mitul Gadhia at his home in Rothley, Leicestershire. Mitul was new to the industry having spent his career in financial services working as a senior branch manager for Nationwide Building Society.

In 2013, the 27-year-old opened his first commercial office in Loughborough under the Martin & Co brand. This was quickly followed by the opening of a second office in Mountsorrel in 2014.

In 2016, Ghadia established the Whitegates brand with the opening of an office on Halford Street in Leicester City Centre. At the time, the company was managing around 100 letting properties.
Today the business manages over 600 properties on behalf of landlords and is currently marketing over 300 properties on the sales market. The company employs 40 staff and has a turnover of around £2m.

Gadhia said: “The acquisition of Taylors Property Services provided the ideal opportunity for us to further grow our business. Whilst there may be a slight cooling off in the London property market, the market here in Leicestershire is fairly steady and provides a strong market both in terms of house sales and a growing demand for rental properties.

“In addition, the Help to Buy and shared ownerships schemes are offering other opportunities for people to enter the housing market.”

Amit Sonpal, area business manager at Barclays said: “Mitul has established a strong business which prides itself on offering excellent customer service. The business is growing rapidly and I’m delighted that we have been able to support him with the latest exciting phase of his business growth.”