There is more to a property sale than putting it on the market and liaising with the buyers and sellers, as this two-year deal for an industrial unit in South London shows

Posted on 12 February 2026

When a property finally completes, it can look like an effortless win to the outside world. To the seller and buyer, it can be the start of a new chapter. But one group of people can be forgotten when the ‘sold’ sign goes up. Behind the sale can be months – or years – of relentless, complex and largely invisible work by chartered surveyors and their agency teams. 

A two-year deal to dispose of a fire damaged unit on Belvedere Business Park in Belvedere, Bexley, South London, shows how these professionals work. The light industrial unit ticks a lot of boxes – it is a freehold property in a good location with transport links that include easy access to the M25 motorway and close to Belvedere mainline railway station. But when the unit came onto the market it was severely fire damaged. 

‘Selling the unit was not a straightforward deal from the outset,’ explains Kevin Bright at Hindwoods, which led the sale. ‘It had been fire-damaged, and London Fire Brigade were involved at the time of the incident. That alone creates layers of complication; there are questions about structural integrity, safety reports, insurance, reinstatement costs and how to present that honestly but positively to the market.’

Keeping everyone happy

A good agent must absorb the complexity, translate it into clear information for potential buyers and then keep those buyers confident enough to stay at the table rather than walk away at the first sign of risk. ‘That requires technical understanding and sound judgement,’ says Kevin. It also requires patience to keep going, and to keep going back over the same ground with different stakeholders. 

The physical damage to the building was only one aspect of Unit 9, Belvedere Business Park. Receivers had been appointed, which meant the involvement of an additional party with their own duties and timetables. Instead of dealing with a single motivated owner, the property agent had to operate in a world of formal reporting, lender expectations and legal constraints. ‘Every update, every negotiation point, and every strategic recommendation has to be carefully justified and documented,’ says Kevin. 

While a simple sale might involve a handful of calls and viewings, a distressed receiver-led transaction such as this one generates months of emails, progress reports, valuation discussions and risk assessments. ‘The surveyor becomes part dealmaker, part project manager, part crisis-handler.’ 

The final curve ball for the team at Hindwoods was an issue of titles to the land – that on its own can be enough to detail many transactions. Sorting it out means digging through historic records, liaising with solicitors, checking plans, and resolving discrepancies between what is on paper and what exists on the ground. While lawyers solve the legal issue, it is often the chartered surveyor who spots it early, pushes for a solution and manages expectations so the deal goes ahead.

The role of the hidden agent

To the outside world, a two?year deal on a difficult industrial unit might just look ‘slow’. To those inside it, it is evidence of persistence, expertise, and professional resilience.

The clearest sign of the agent’s hidden effort in the sale of Unit 9 Belvedere Business Park, is that Hindwoods kept the same buyer engaged for almost the entire two?year journey. In a market full of alternatives, persuading a buyer to stay committed to a fire?damaged, title?complicated, receiver?controlled asset is no small feat. ‘It involved regular communication and honest but constructive messaging when fresh issues emerge,’ says Kevin. The deal to sell Belvedere is now complete.