SBT Issue 436

Page 26

Town & Country property services in Hove For this month’s property section, SBT hears from Director of Town and Country in Hove, Stephen Chipp, who give us some insight into the company’s background, journey into the Sussex business community and some of the challenges they’ve overcome in their decades of operation. Formed in 1991 by Andrew MacGregorProperty Boyle, Town and Country has become a well-established letting and property management business, priding itself on excellent customer service in its 30 years of operation. Our company works with local, national and overseas clients, fully managing over 95% of their letting portfolio, as well as acting as a Managing Agent of converted buildings in the Brighton and Hove area, instructed by freeholders and Right to Manage companies. Despite having three decades of experience under its belt, Town and

26 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk

Country’s road to success hasn’t been without challenge or struggle, especially over the past two years. Sadly the company’s Founder, Andrew passed away in September 2017 and current Directors – his wife, Susan and myself – have had to endure the cruel task of not only coming to terms with the death of our husband and friend, but also ensuring that the business did not suffer as a result. This was made even more difficult when – shortly prior to his death – the bank used by the company informed us that they would be closing their business banking ‘arm’. While this wouldn’t usually be a problem, it’s fair to say that you can never plan for a death and despite knowing for

two years that Andrew was ill, shares had not been transferred over to the remaining Directors – essential for opening new business banking! We as a firm have a huge amount of gratitude for our previous bank for holding an extraordinary meeting to allow us the use of their facilities until the issue was resolved, but also for our clients, who were incredibly sympathetic following Andrew’s death. Town and Country was also in the midst of a rebranding exercise prior to Andrew’s passing, which he was very excited about, as the firm was originally a franchise operation from the Town and Country Building Society. We felt it was time to update our general branding


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