Leamington estate agent had the last laugh in race row sale

The headlines made it impossible for the man to sell, until he turned to Yash Pal Tara – Leamington’s only Asian estate agent – who then sold the property within a matter of weeks to an Indian family.

Mr Tara, said: “It was a very different time back then, attitudes were different to now, but it did make me smile that the property was sold by an Asian and bought by an Asian family.”

The founder of Tara and Co, in Clemens Street, said that although attitudes have changed since the 1970s, the way people buy, rent and sell properties has not.

“As an estate agent we are there when people are making big life changing decisions – buying, selling or even moving to a new rental property is often a big upheaval and an emotional time.

“Being sympathetic, understanding and helpful is a huge part of what we’ve done over the past 40 years.”

Arriving as an estate management graduate from India in 1962 with the equivalent of £63 today, Mr Tara lived in a house in Avenue Road, Leamington, with 20 others.

After jobs in a carpet warehouse on the Willes Road, as well as a machine operator at Abex plastics in Warwick, Mr Tara returned to his first passion of property and estate management.

He founded Unique Enterprise about 10 years after first arriving in the UK and has never looked back.

The company changed its name in 2001 after his son Vik came on board the family business.

Mr Tara said the business not only houses the majority of University of Warwick students in the town, but also has a thriving rental and sales business, and is pioneering new technology for the entire property management industry.

And although renters still expect good standards in accommodation that they did 40 years ago, how they search and find property has changed drastically.

Mr Tara, who has two children and three grandchildren, recalls queues of students camping outside the door overnight in order to get the best properties first.

“Now everybody just looks on the website to see if they like the property or not, times move on and at least it saves people sleeping on the street overnight.”