Ex-Countrywide chief joins board of central London estate agency

Estate Agent Today can reveal that Bob Scarff, the head of Countrywide’s estate agency business until last May, has become a non-executive director of leading London agency James Pendleton.

Scarff, who worked at Countrywide for 38 years, will join the board immediately.

James Pendleton - which has won numerous Times and Sunday Times Agency of the Year awards and Negotiator awards - is an independently-run business with 11 branches covering south and south west London. It was set up in 2003 by the founders Lee James and Lucy Pendleton and specialises in sales, lettings, land, new homes, investments, financial services, development consultancy and property management. 

“When I became a consultant, I said it would only be with forward-thinking ambitious businesses. James Pendleton is exactly that. I also said I would only work with people that shared my passion for customer service. Lucy and Lee Pendleton tick that box too. I'm really looking forward to working with the whole James Pendleton team” says Scarff.

A statement from Lee James and Lucy Pendleton says Scarff’s vast wealth of industry experience would be his biggest asset.

“We know Bob will add increased value to the sterling work at James Pendleton along with being able to work and consult with the brilliant team. Bob really understands what the culture of a company is all about. At James Pendleton we pride our business on the high calibre of people who work with us and appreciate the effort they put in daily to make the company London’s number one award-winning agency” they say.

Scarff started his career as a trainee negotiator at Taylors estate agents in 1978 when the company was under private ownership, and went on to become the managing director of Countrywide’s 800-plus branch network.  

After a period out of active industry involvement following his departure from Countrywide, Scarff has recently become an outspoken commentator on the residential industry in recent months. He has criticised the concentration on ‘retail’ activities by Countrywide - recently describing it as “preposterous” - and has called on challenger portal OnTheMarket to drop its one-other-portal-only policy. 

Earlier this year Scarff also became a non-executive director of butters john bee which has 17 branches throughout Staffordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands.