Jamie Willsdon

Our NOTB Guides will provide various informative guides to help leaseholders, property managers, residents associations', surveyors and anyone else in need of some guidance across the residential leasehold industry. This guide has been provided by Future Group and will guide you through EV charging points for leasehold blocks.  To read this guide please click here.

Next year, the government is to target its drive for take-up of home EV chargepoints at renters and leaseholders. The newly positioned EVHS scheme will fund 75% of installation costs, so property managers should plan ahead for charging infrastructure in their blocks while the money is available, says Jamie Willsdon. Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in the UK are really taking off now. Despite the pandemic, last year saw the biggest annual increase in the number of registrations, with more than 175,000 ele

Welcome to the club….inspired by big retailers’ loyalty schemes, Future Group has launched Club Future.   “The aim is to give something back to the clients on our books who have continued to work with us through the pandemic  - and to have a bit a fun in these troubled times,” says Group MD Jamie Willsdon.   Clients will receive an exclusive membership card that entitles them to priority service, quicker call-outs and entry into prize draws and other giveaways. It could mean a ticket to Ascot, a bottle of

The EV revolution is unstoppable but some older charge points are already becoming obsolete. Jamie Willsdon from Future Fuel has the solution. In the new build sector developers of residential blocks, particularly in the build-to-rent market, have been installing electric vehicle (EV) charge points as standard for several years.  Early solutions specified and installed by developers in the last five years are now typically being overseen by property managers who are increasingly coming to us with their pr

Since 2002, leaseholders have had the legal right to take responsibility for managing their block under the Right to Manage. They are free to engage the services of a property manager of their choice or to self-manage their development. So far so good, but as Urban Owners point out in their online guide to RTM, with control comes responsibility. Once the RTM company has been set up, the directors must take on a number of obligations on behalf of their fellow flat owners. These responsibilities include: -

The Reeds Development is a stunning residential scheme of 130 luxury apartments located close to Watford Junction Station.   THE BRIEF: Despite the very  high standard of the development, residents at The Reeds and their property managers had become increasingly concerned that the lighting had become outdated and now posed a potential risk to health and safety. Maintenance costs were exorbitant and the failing system was no longer fit for purpose. The client was also holding a quotation running into thou

Wondering why the energy bills for the blocks you manage are so high? Could lighting be the problem, asks Jamie Willsdon. Have you ever taken a closer look at the way the energy bills for the blocks you manage are split? If not, you could be in for a shock. More than 70% of the charges for a typical residential block could be accounted for by the lighting alone. Many blocks around the country have outdated lighting systems and a good proportion of these have communal lighting turned on all day and night,

Where LED lighting is concerned, all warranties are not created equal. There are as many different guarantees on the market as there are manufacturers out there. With bold claims being made that these lights will virtually last a lifetime, you could be forgiven for thinking that the warranties they come with will be equally durable. But, as block managers are finding to their cost, this is not necessarily the case. Two particular issues are of concern to end users when it comes to LED lighting. First, how

How hard do you imagine it would be to find your way out of your block in the dark if the lights had failed? Emergency lighting saves lives. Anyone living in a flat hopes they will never need to rely on it but when a major incident does occur, effective, well maintained lighting and signage is vital. In an article on emergency lighting regulation published earlier this year, I wrote: “Imagine how much more serious the worst-case scenario could become if your system is poorly maintained and doesn’t work pr

Emergency lighting, like terrorism insurance or the airbag in your car, is something that we all hope we will never need. Thankfully, in most blocks it is infrequently – if ever – used, so this aspect of block lighting isn’t always uppermost in block managers or their residents’ minds. An understandable but potentially dangerous attitude and one that, as lighting consultants, we are working to change. If there were to be a major incident at your block and residents were plunged into darkness the emergency

With the trend towards building luxury apartment blocks showing no sign of slowing down, in future more and more flat owners and renters are likely to be parking their cars in underground car parks. If you manage a block with one of these on-site, it may not always be uppermost in your mind. Rather than being considered an integral part of the common areas, all too often car parks are simply regarded as a convenient add-on for residents. This attitude may be exacerbated by the fact that car parks often

Service Charges are a key area of friction between residents and property managers, and paying for unexpected repairs or maintenance can be a thorny issue for flat owners. Most well-managed blocks have reserves to call on when major refurbishment or repairs are needed, but for those unable to build up suitable funds – and obsolete equipment urgently needs replacing – residents are expected to put their hands in their pockets and split the cost. Imagine this scenario. You live in a small block of six flats