North west London estate agent Benham & Reeves has been taken over by fellow estate agent chain Dexters.

Benham & Reeves sales operation, which has been in the area for nearly 60 years, has offices in Hampstead, Highgate. West Hampstead and Dartmouth Park all of which will now be rebranded as Dexters.

In a statement, Andy Shepherd, CEO of Dexters, said: “Dexters confirms the acquisition of the sales business of Benham & Reeves, the north London estate agent. It is business as usual for now, with the same strong team in place. The four offices will rebrand to Dexters in due course.”

Dexters, which began as a single branch in Twickenham in 1993, has 28 offices in central London, including West Hampstead, Tufnell Park and St Johns Wood.

Once the rebranding is complete and after a cooling off period, Benham & Reeves Residential Lettings (BRLets) will be able to use the full Benham & Reeves name for sales alongside the existing lettings business.

The two companies have shared the Benham & Reeves name for the last 60 years, but have operated entirely separately after the two branches of the company split several decades ago with Benhams Ltd (Benham & Reeves) handling sales and Benham & Reeves Residential Lettings restricted to handling only lettings.

In a statement on the BRLets website, Anita Mehra, Managing Director of Benham & Reeves Residential Lettings, said: “I am delighted to have acquired the rights to use the Benham & Reeves name for sales as well as lettings

She added: “We will not be carrying out sales in our Hampstead and Highgate branches until the Dexters rebranding is complete and after a two-year cooling off period.”