REDD, the London-Monaco luxury property company, is expanding its Property Management services in London, providing landlords and private owners with an innovative range of App based services, alongside luxury brand tie-ins and other ‘Members Club’ services, covering property management, building maintenance and lifestyle; tailored for young affluent tenants who are letting homes in luxury apartment buildings, private houses, rental portfolios and build-to-rent schemes.
One of the reasons that REDD is bringing a fresh new approach to London’s Property Management sector, embracing new technology, services and interior design looks, is to enable property owners to be meet the needs of affluent young executives, couples, families and overseas students. These ‘millennials’, in their 20s and 30s, now comprise a large proportion of private tenants in Mayfair, St James’s, Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Marylebone. By utilising and developing Prop Tech, this means higher rents, improved tenant retention and lower voids, therefore enhancing the investment value.
Figures from the City of Westminster show that 46% of property in Mayfair and St James’s now consists of privately rented dwellings, with 33% comprising owner occupied homes and 21% social housing. In neighbouring Belgravia and Knightsbridge 39% of homes are private rented, 46% are owner occupied and 4% are social rent properties. 
Data from Dataloft/Wetherell shows that almost 60% of Mayfair and St James’s residents are aged below 44 with almost 45% of residents now aged between 25 to 44; over 60% are now born overseas and 55% of young bachelors or bachelorettes choose to privately rent rather than buy. This can be compared to the 1950s when Mayfair and St James’s were both dominated by owner occupier residents aged between 50 to 70. The neighbouring addresses of Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Marylebone have undergone similar changes.
REDD say that these demographic and lifestyle changes in London’s best addresses are driving the need for a rethink and fresh approach to developing, dressing and managing rental property. To deliver this, alongside the usual 24-hour property maintenance and emergency line, REDD has launched an innovative purpose-designed REDD App for tenants enabling them to control every aspect of their tenancy from their phone or tablet, with services including contacting a shared concierge, ordering lifestyle services, a local events calendar, as well as paying rents and bills. 
Via the REDD App tenants will be able to access services including cleaning, refreshing bed linen and home deliveries. As part of the App offering REDD are also launching the ‘REDD Members Club’ where tenants will gain access to exclusive deals in local restaurants, bars and other lifestyle businesses.
REDD have already agreed brand partnerships with Secret Spa, Bloom & Wild, Body Corporate, Brockley Paws, Heat and Eat Lean and Mint. Over the coming months REDD plan to expand their brand partnership offering for tenants, introducing other brands including luxury motorcar, department store, retail boutique and lifestyle firms, all of which will be accessible via the new REDD App.
REDD’s private owner and landlord clients will also be able to benefit from the App, getting updates on items such as client accounts, service charge collection, cost reports, staff management, building insurance and reactive maintenance.
Russell Smithers, Managing Director of the REDD operation in London said,“Our Property Management business provides Private House Management, Block Management, and Rental Portfolio Management services as standard, but brings this all together in our App to provide improved customer communication and user experience.
“This is becoming an expectation of the younger generation of affluent tenants. Our ‘REDD Members Club’ also adds value to tenants lifestyles by giving them exclusive deals and offers in local premises where they live. Prime Property Management is more than simply running a property well, you need to deliver a lifestyle for occupants whereby they can effortlessly enjoy a location without any previous knowledge of it. This is particularly relevant for the diverse overseas market that we see growing in the prime rental sector.” 
Another key unique-selling-point of the REDD offering is that alongside Property Management the firm offers clients Development Management services, the combination of development and management facilitating a fully integrated luxury lettings industry service for the firm’s existing investors and new clients.
The company’s Development Management arm enables landlords and investors to engageREDD for pre-construction and construction consultancy, or full development management provision in order to acquire, design and deliver build-to-rent, build-to-sell or private homes, complete with interior design and dressing services. The resulting turn-key dressed homes are designed and tailored by REDD to appeal to the new generation of younger tenants and owners now living in addresses such as Mayfair, St James’s and Belgravia.
Over the last six months, on behalf of clients, REDD have been expanding and managing a £100m portfolio of residential properties in Prime Central London, many of which REDD has been engaged to both refurbish and interior design, along with the ongoing property management of the dressed rental units. The refurbished rental units have let rapidly to affluent young tenants at extremely good rental values.
One of the reasons for the success of this Development and Property Management work is the unique background of Russell Smithers, the Managing Director of REDD’s operations in London. Whilst most people in his role come from a financial or surveying background, Russell Smithers has a design background, having qualified as an RIBA Architect and then worked for an international architectural practice and then a development management consultancy. 
So before starting REDD’s London business Russell Smithers worked for over 12-years designing and delivering a variety of luxury development projects and private client houses across London and abroad. This ensures that he is not just fluent in financial cashflow issues; he understands the latest design trends and the minute details of actually designing, building and dressing these properties.
It was Russell Smithers who advised REDD’s investor clients that their Prime Central London rental units needed to have a youthful look, in order to appeal to new generation of tenants now living in these areas. The figures speak for themselves, the majority of current tenants of the properties developed and managed by REDD are in their 20s or early 30s and include young professionals and overseas students from UHNW families.
After their initial success in Mayfair REDD is now expanding its Property Management operations and building its client base with more landlords and private property owners in St James’s, Belgravia, Knightsbridge, Chelsea, Kensington and Marylebone.
REDD, founded by Executive Chairman Jacopo Marzocco, became operational in 2016 and is now active in both Monaco and London. REDD undertakes direct investment and development, as well as providing Development Management and Property Management for private investors and clients.
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