Mystery surrounds top agents quitting firm's landmark branch

Estate Agent Today understands that three senior figures have departed from a key central London branch of Knight Frank.

Each of them was a partner in the company and they formed the senior management at the agency's Kensington office: it is not known why they left.

They are believed to be Tom Tangney, who had been in the industry for over 35 years and had been at Knight Frank for 20 years; Pete Bevan, who had been closely involved in high value PCL sales for some years; and office head Sami Robertson, who was regarded as a key contact in the agency for some Far East clients. 

Knight Frank recently lost central London legend Daniel Daggers, known in the industry as Mr Super Prime, who was the subject of media speculation with regard to posts of properties on Instagram. He had sold £3.85 billion of properties including a £95m mansion at London’s St James's Park, bought by a US billionaire, and an unmodernised off-market house sale in central London worth £45m.

Knight Frank has provided EAT with a lengthy statement about the three Kensington departures, which we have published below; it does not mention any of the three departures by name.

Tim Hyatt, Head of London Residential at Knight Frank, says: “We have the strongest leadership across our London residential business that we have ever had. Our best in class team has had a strong start to the year, responding well and capitalising on the positive market sentiment post-election. Of course, it is unfortunate that we have had a significant change in the management team in our Kensington office, a very important post, but only one of our 30 offices across London.

“This is a great opportunity to ensure we have the strongest management and hire the best talent in the market. We firmly believe in recruiting or moving talent from within and in parallel to this, always looking for the very best external candidates within the market who have indicated they would like to join our award-winning team.

“Immediately after the department head for Kensington left the firm, James Pace, proprietary partner and head of the Chelsea office, moved to lead the Kensington sales team. James has been in the Knight Frank Partnership since 2006 and opened the Chelsea office in 2007, building a highly successful team and an unrivalled track record in the Chelsea and wider prime central London market.

“Supporting James, William Allen also joins the Kensington sales team as partner following 10 years at Strutt & Parker in their prime sales team, specialising in the Kensington and Holland Park markets. Tom Van Straubenzee, who jointly runs Knight Frank’s Private Office, will also take up a strategic position working closely with James, William and the existing team moving forward, assisting both vendors and buyers.

“In Chelsea, Charles Olver was promoted to Department Head for sales, taking over from James Pace. Charles has been with the firm for over ten years, based in the Knightsbridge office where he has been a Prime Central London negotiator.

“James is a true asset to our team, with over 25 years of experience and an exceptional track record earned during his time running the Chelsea office. Together with William’s local market knowledge and strong client relationships, they will bring a renewed energy and direction to the Kensington office. Charles is a highly respected agent in Knightsbridge and we look forward to him bringing his enthusiasm and understanding of the PCL market to his new role in Chelsea.

“Kensington is a crucial part of the Knight Frank network of offices and we expect it to remain as such well into the future.”