Actor Gary Lucy, of Hollyoaks and Footballers’ Wives fame, is well on his way to becoming a property magnate. He talks to Johnny Turner about his experiences in the property market
Neither punctual nor late, Gary Lucy strides into the Islington restaurant from a clear, icy night. He looks both like and unlike his TV self; almost impossibly tidy, as if he has been scrubbed. The only possible reaction to seeing him is to smile and give a slight wave. He radiates friendliness and good manners.
We are here to talk about property, something about which he knows quite a bit, but other subjects close to his heart get a look-in too: a new-found fondness for LA, his family, favourite episodes of Friends, his girlfriend Natasha, possible upcoming work. And it is a sign of an in-check ego that he speaks of each of these as if he is the lucky party in the association.
This outlook, a good balance of optimism and caution, has served him well, in both his career and his property investments. With his first high-profile role, as Luke in Hollyoaks, Gary had a sudden surfeit of both money and attention – a recipe for going off the rails, as anyone who’s ever read Heat magazine will know. But he kept his head was lucky to get some good advice from a fellow actor early on, advice which led him straight to bricks and mortar.
‘At first I spent it as I earnt it,’ he says. ‘Then James Redmond sat me down and said, I want you to meet this financial advisor.’
Gary was 17 when he bought a £140,000 London flat on a 95 per cent mortgage. ‘I wish I’d put down more. I sold three years later and made a nice profit.’
After he had bought and sold a couple of properties ‘in the usual way’, Gary noticed something: ‘My friends were buying quicker and they told me how. It seemed too good to be true.’
The ‘how’ turned out to be an association with a broker, through which he has bought his last three properties. And he credits this method of property purchase with both minimising the initial outlay required and streamlining the process of buying, making it possible for him to now own more properties than he would have been able to do otherwise. As a result, an increasing public profile coincided with a growing collection of bricks-and-mortar investments.
Having done himself credit as an actor through the groundbreaking storyline of his character Luke’s rape trauma, Gary left Hollyoaks and soon resurfaced on our screens in the over-the-top Footballers’ Wives as Kyle Pascoe, an agreeable but somewhat dim midfielder with a penchant for garish shirts. Kyle’s troubles would have made Job complain – and his weakness for booze and betting meant his financial house was anything but in order. In contrast, the actor behind the character continued to buy and sell property, building up what is now quite a portfolio for a private landlord: six properties, including the three-bedroom apartment in Repton Park in Chigwell in which he currently lives.
The life of an actor, with its travel and general unpredictability, seems unsuited somehow to managing rental properties. So surely he has a management company oversee them? ‘Not if I can manage it,’ he says. ‘My Mum and Dad help me with two of them and three are with agents.’ He has learnt during his time as a landlord, however: a period early on during which a property was empty for four months made him conscious that an investment property needs to be managed well.
He is certainly sold on newly built properties. ‘I’ve had more trouble with the old properties I’ve owned than the new ones. You’re not as likely to get called out for boiler troubles and things like that. New homes are easier to manage.’
Another aspect of his property plan that is unlikely to change with future purchases is the use of his broker, Charles De Mont Property Services. The company negotiates higher than average discounts with UK developers, thereby making it possible to obtain substantial deals for its clients.
One attractive aspect of Charles De Mont and other such brokers, says Gary, is the set fee is quite astonishingly low. ‘You pay the £10,000 fee and they have already negotiated a deal with whichever developer.’ This fee is all that is required of the purchaser to obtain the 15 per cent deposit and up to three per cent stamp duty, regardless of the purchase price. (Those buying properties over half a million pounds will have to stump up the additional one per cent stamp duty.) Through the company’s leverage it is able not only to simplify the process for its customers but also pass on considerable saving.
Prospective purchasers need to keep in mind, however, that exchange of contracts will be required within 21 days of reservation; the buyer, in other words, needs to be able to move quickly and have his ducks in a row with regard to funds, whether he is using cash or a mortgage for the outstanding 85 per cent of Gary’s first experience with his broker was the purchase of a newly built town house in Camden. ‘That was a trial run – I didn’t believe it. I was badgered by my mates. But it all worked.’
With a Kyle-less Footballers’ Wives having just returned with more cartoon camp, Gary now seems interested in broadening his repertoire of characters. Following last autumn’s tense ITV drama She’s Gone, in which he played Ray Winstone’s son, he will feature this summer in a three-part series for the same network. ‘It will involve me in a more dark, edgy role,’ he says.
Meanwhile, his off-camera life is sure to involve more involvement with the property market. And one day he would like to embark upon another type of close-to-home investment: ‘I’d like to set up a business where my Mum and Dad could get involved.’
Charles De Mont Property Services
020 7580 7585
cdemont.com