‘One hundred per cent of our revenue comes from clients — we will never accept any fees from anyone else,’ says Richard Rogerson. ‘I want clients to always have a sense that when they come to us, if we recommend anybody to them, it is because that person or that institution is very good at what they do, and they’re a right fit for the client.’
Previously both partners at law firm Macfarlanes, today the husband-and-wife duo run RFR — what they like to call the ‘property private office’ — after Sophie spotted a gap in the market in 2010: one for a firm that offered an ‘end-to-end service, like Macfarlanes did’. (Richard joined in 2012.)
Their mission? To deliver a service on par with the best of the City’s law firms, delivering ‘intelligent, creative and seamless advice on all residential property matters’.
‘You can trust us in that, because I’ve delivered a service at that level for my whole career,’ says Richard. It was this ethos that helped bring onboard Lord North Street founder William Drake, who credited their ‘natural instinct to protect clients’.
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Together, they now run a team of eighteen (half being former lawyers from the likes of Allen & Overy, Farrer, and Clyde & Co) to advise on the ‘myriad’ issues of property ownership: from search and acquisition to interior design, and advising on all the issues that follow, including the troublesome basement being dug next door, a litigious issue, a project gone awry, or spreading damp amid confusion over the freehold or leasehold arrangements.
‘We just understand the issue and pull together the right professional team to get them the answers they need, understand what steps we’re going to take and implement them for the client,’ says Richard.
With an eye for detail and quality, the team’s legal background helps. ‘They’ve learned to be advisers, not just deal-doers,’ he adds.
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