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.

Almost ONE THIRD of the UK have had a parcel go missing from outside their home

In the digital age of today, online shopping has well and surpassed the high street. With online shopping comes deliveries, and with a rise in deliveries, an unfortunate trend has emerged; one of criminal opportunists known as ‘Porch Pirates’ - a term coined in the US and becoming increasingly popular in the UK, which refers to the theft of parcels from porches and doorsteps.  Diving deeper into this worrying trend, home security specialists, SimpliSafe, has found just how many Brits are falling victim to

Future Regeneration Welcomes a New Director of Operations

We’re delighted to announce a new addition to the Future Group team; Louis Hart, Director of Operations for our Future Regeneration division. Louis grew up in Hertfordshire and demonstrated an impressive work ethic from the tender age of 13, starting with the classic paper round. Louis held several positions over a decade before, including work as an electrician at the site of the London Olympics and for a 16-storey office building overlooking the Thames.  Another decade passed and, with many years of exp

Deacon rebrands as Gallagher

Gallagher’s specialist residential property broking business, Deacon, was rebranded as Gallagher on 5 December. Deacon became part of Gallagher when it was acquired by the firm in 2013 and employs a team of over 50 insurance professionals.   Deacon was established in 1989 and specialises in buildings insurance for residential blocks of flats and buy-to-let properties. From two flats in a converted house to more than 200 in a purpose built block, including estates and listed buildings, standard and non-sta

Removals from England to Wales surge

Compare My Move’s data shows there was a surge in the number of moves from England to Wales in 2021, increasing by 48% compared to 2020.  We took a sample of 100,000 Compare My Move removals and found England to Wales moves increased significantly post-pandemic compared to pre-covid times. Our data shows that this trend peaked in 2021 with more people than ever before seeking a new life across the border. Migration from England to Wales has steadily grown since 2012 but 2021 is predicted to be the biggest

Opportunity knocks for agents if they adopt ‘systems, processes and tech’

The key to growth for letting agents is to offer more services while cutting the time spent on unprofitable admin, according to business optimisation specialist, Sally Lawson. Lawson, a former president of the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) and founder of estate and lettings industry coaching firm Agent Rainmaker, believes that too many letting agents concentrate on lettings and management instead of being business owners. Speaking at the PayProp Connect conference at One Moorgate Place

FirstPort renews prestigious international certifications

FirstPort has renewed its commitment to improving and strengthening its environmental performance and process systems’ management, being awarded ISO 14001 and 9001 certifications for the second consecutive year. In 2021, FirstPort became the first organisation in the industry to receive the internationally-recognised certifications, which have now been successfully renewed, following an extensive auditing process. The IS0 14001 certification looks at how an organisation’s activities affect the environment

Bond Wolfe secures £1.15 million sale of modern block of fully let Black Country apartments

A modern block of fully let apartments in the Black Country has been sold for £1.15 million in a deal sealed by property experts Bond Wolfe. The property at 27 Sutton Road in Walsall contains nine two-bedroomed apartments spread across three floors and producing a total of £70,200 in rent per annum. The apartments in the freehold property all have high specification finishes, including ensuite bathrooms and allocated car parking spaces to the rear. Bond Wolfe handled the sale on behalf of Dinamead Ltd, a

Capital Letters partners with EVO Digital as it steps up efforts to tackle the homelessness crisis

Not-for-profit company Capital Letters has made a major move in its work to tackle the homelessness crisis by partnering with unique property maintenance company EVO Digital Technologies (EVO) to digitalise its repairs, maintenance and compliance services through a unique tenant-driven platform. By automating a large part of the administration process related to the management of the repairs service through EVO, tenants will benefit from an excellent and responsive service and Capital Letters can reinvest

Switching penalties outweighed by the benefits of fair and free fibre

I wrote a few weeks ago about the £1.4bn windfall coming the way of fat cat broadband providers happy to hit their customers with above-inflation contract price increases of 20% or more. Is this linked to the provision of faster broadband speeds? Well, no. Customers will carry on receiving the same service at a higher cost, including those who currently get nothing close to the hyperfast speeds offered by gigabit-capable broadband. Worse still, customers wishing to cancel these contracts and switch elsewh

4 tips to help prevent flooding in apartment buildings

You may think that flooding only affects those in low-lying or coastal areas, but the reality is that it’s also common in a lot of built up areas too. As well as natural water sources like lakes and rivers overflowing, blocked street drains and extreme rain can also cause flooding, which affects those living in cities and towns.  When apartment buildings experience flooding, the results can be disastrous for both residents and property owners. Luckily, there are several things that you can do to both redu

The Hill Group is awarded Gold membership by The 5% Club

We are proud to announce The Hill Group has been awarded Gold accredited membership, for the second consecutive year, via The 5% Club’s 2022-23 Employer Audit Scheme. The 5% Club is a dynamic movement of employers, all of whom are inspired to take positive action for increased, inclusive, and accessible workplace training for all. With a membership which now exceeds 750 companies, The 5% Club represents over 1.6 million employees, 93,500 of whom are in “earn and learn” schemes. The Employer Audit is a uni

Nirvana Group Holdings Acquires Nirvana Maintenance and Urban Maintenance Group

Nirvana Group Holdings (NGH) has acquired Nirvana Maintenance and Urban Maintenance Group, to continue its expansion into the North West. Nirvana Maintenance provides a full suite of services for residential property managers, including fire safety, M&E, general maintenance/multi-skilled, grounds maintenance and cleaning services. To date, Nirvana Maintenance has maintained 80+ client portfolios across London and the South. By acquiring Manchester-based Urban Maintenance Group, NGH now intends to deliver

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