Featured Articles

Get the answers to your questions and stay up to date about apartment building management with our featured articles and NOTB guides, on topics such as service charges, right to manage, buying your freehold, major works, building insurance and other issues about blocks of flats.

PMR Appoint Evie Hepburn as their Associate Director

Property Management Recruitment, is proud to announce the promotion of Evie Hepburn to the position of Associate Director. Evie has been with the company since 2015, when it was a small team of five employees. Since then, the company has grown and evolved to become one of the most dynamic and client-focused recruitment agencies in the property sector, and Evie has played a significant role in this success. In her new role, Evie will continue to lead the company's efforts to evolve and improve how it appro

William takes the reins at thriving property business

Property management firm Common Ground Estate and Property Management has promoted William Beauchamp to become General Manager of the business. William joined the Common Ground team two years ago as a foundation level property manager and has since completed Associate and Member level professional exams with the Institute of Residential Property Management. His new role will involve managing 16 staff in the rapidly growing company as well as being responsible for day-to-day administration where he will be

Passionate Assistant Quantity Surveyor at Chase New Homes marks International Women's Day 2023

In celebration of International Women’s Day on Wednesday 8th March, Amy Green, Assistant Quantity Surveyor at Chase New Homes, explains more about her role in the construction industry including, what’s influenced her choice of career, what she hopes to achieve in the year ahead and her advice for other women hoping to have a career within this field. Since she was young, Amy has been surrounded by many family members who worked in the construction industry, however, her inspiration came mostly from her d

£2.4 million sought for fully let portfolio of 11 apartments in Birmingham city centre

Eleven fully let apartments in Birmingham city centre have come on to the market with Bond Wolfe for offers based on £2.4 million. The residential investment portfolio, spread across six blocks mainly in the highly sought after district of the Jewellery Quarter, is currently bringing in rents of nearly £125,000 a year. James Brady, commercial property agent at Bond Wolfe, explained that a freehold block of two apartments was included as part of the sale, which was subject to all existing tenancies. He sai

Rapleys launches new 'for profit' consultancy service for prospective registered providers

Rapleys has launched a new service to help prospective providers of affordable housing to register as ‘with profits’ providers with the regulator.  Following a change in legislation that allows private companies to form “for profit” housing associations, a number of companies have set up to do so. However, it’s a complex process and can take several years to complete. Companies that want to set up in this way have to demonstrate to the regulator that a company has appropriate policies and procedures and c

Agents warned over CMP compliance

The UK boss of automated rental payment platform, PayProp, has warned that letting agents can expect hefty fines if they fail to comply with complex Client Money Protection (CMP) rules. Managing Director Neil Cobbold said, “The worry has always been that when a new policy is implemented across the PRS, there is little enforcement to catch those that flout the rules. “But with over £3m in penalty notices issued across London last year, it is clear that any honeymoon period for CMP compliance is well and tr

What you need to know about asbestos

In these extraordinary times, there are clearly additional considerations that need to be made when appointing contractors to carry out essential maintenance works. If you are responsible for a block, it is vital that you review all of your contractor’s procedures and safe working methods in respect of risk management. Though it is, of course, highly important that you continue to take these precautions, Fire is not the only risk that contractors and Property Managers should consider when maintenance work

Remediation Contribution Orders under the Building Safety Act 2022: Batish v Inspired Sutton Ltd – a promising start for leaseholders?

Section 124 of the Building Safety Act 2022 introduced a new jurisdiction to the First-tier Tribunal (‘FtT’). It enables an ‘interested person’ – a defined term in the Act that includes (amongst others) landlords or leaseholders – to apply for a ‘Remediation Contribution Order’ (‘RCO’).  A RCO is an order that the FtT can make requiring a specified company to make payments to another party for the purpose of meeting costs incurred (or to be incurred in the future) in remedying relevant defects in a buildi

Can’t pay, won’t pay!

Service charges are vital to funding the upkeep of your blocks and keeping them in their best condition. However, sooner or later, you may come across a leaseholder who is unwilling or unable to pay theirs. Here's how to deal with this tricky situation. What is the leaseholder's objection? First, you should establish why the leaseholder will not pay the service charge. Is it that they can't pay due to financial reasons, or is it that they are unwilling to pay because the demand is not in accordance with r

Big UK Fire-Safety Tax Just for Developers Unfair, says Bloomberg Intelligence

Large UK homebuilders (Persimmon, Barratt, Taylor Wimpey, Bellway and Berkeley) are likely to be disproportionately hit by hefty taxes (80% of the industry levy) for fixing apartment-building safety issues, on top of costs to fix their own legacy projects. Dents to profit and capital returns are likely to ensue, just as the housing market decelerates. Iwona Hovenko, Real Estate Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence commented: “Multiple levies on UK homebuilders to fix fire-safety issues in tall residential bu

50 tenants plus chasing every rental property as demand outstrips supply

Over 50 potential tenants are chasing every two bedroom property that comes on the market, according to Solihull’s leading independent estate agent. Gabrielle Argue, head of lettings at DM & Co. Homes, said: “Demand is seriously outstripping supply in Solihull, south Birmingham and the north Warwickshire area. “We are seeing huge demand for two bedroom houses and apartments under £1,100 per calendar month. DM & Co. Homes regularly has over 50 potential tenants registering for one particular property as so

Why RMC directors need to be compliant

In law, a Residents’ Management Company (RMC) is for the most part a limited company like any other. As such, the requirements of company law equally apply, and it will usually be the RMC’s directors who face the immediate responsibility to comply with various company secretarial requirements. These include a need to: File the annual confirmation statement, containing details of share transfers during the year Submit annual accounts (typically dormant company accounts or micro-entity accounts) Process

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