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.

Four Cost-Effective Ways to Make Your Home a Cosy Haven of Green Living

Homeowners up and down the country are future-proofing their homes in a response to the cost-of-living crisis.  The social media movement features several inventive, eco-friendly home improvements from wall insulation to rain barrels which are saving Britons a few precious pennies as well as the planet.  This fits with recent findings from Halifax which show that over a fifth of people making home improvements are doing so to improve energy efficiency. This is increasingly important as energy bills soar a

Outsourcing v Recruitment: Finding the Perfect Balance

Those across the property sector have for decades outsourced certain functions of their business in order to streamline their internal teams and reap the benefits of lower costs, improved efficiencies, and greater flexibility.  Whether it be bookkeeping and payroll or property maintenance and IT support, this adoption of remote ‘expertise’ became increasingly relied upon during – and since - the Covid pandemic as businesses across the industry were forced to move their operations to a virtual world.  And

Licence to Alter

WHAT IS LICENCE? Under most residential leases a tenant is required to obtain consent from the landlord and/or the management company before making any alterations to his/her property. It's a simple process which is also known as “An Application for a Licence for Alterations”.    Whether or not consent (a licence to alter) is required will be determined by (i) the scope of works and (ii) what the lease says.  In most leases, the landlord will place a restriction on the extent of alteration, extension or o

Clarity’s still lacking on Remediation Orders

2022 has certainly provided a dizzyingly rapid series of political, social and economic changes.  Within the last quarter alone, the country has a new Prime Minister, Chancellor and seen the re-appointment of Michael Gove at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). Alongside these, the energy crisis, rising interest rates and volatility in the markets continue to add strain to businesses and households.  The year has also brought significant change through the introduction of new

The future of retirement: Study reveals how over-55s view housing after retirement

A study by FirstPort looking at the future of retirement living reveals that one in three (30%) people over 55 would consider having a housemate in later life to save money and avoid living alone.   Proving that best friends are forever, almost a third (31%) of the 2,000 over 55-year-olds polled said they would be open to moving in with a friend in retirement, with more than one in six (18%) admitting that they’d rather live with friends than family. An adventurous 4% said they’d consider renting with a c

Preventing domestic abuse on my block

Domestic abuse affects many people. If you need help, you can seek support from the helplines listed  at the bottom.  Managing a block of flats is much more than looking after the bricks and mortar. This is home to many and provides feelings of safety and security. Sadly however, home is often the most dangerous place for people experiencing domestic abuse.  Domestic abuse is widespread and dangerous. In England and Wales, the police take on average 100 calls per hour related to domestic abuse, and two wo

ESG property consultancy LifeProven launches Real Estate Wellbeing Metric to ensure Social Impact can be accurately measured alongside Environmental

LifeProven, the newly expanded and repositioned ESG consultancy for the built environment, has launched the ‘Real Estate Wellbeing Metric’ with major BTR Operator VervLife, providing the industry’s first solution to accurately measure the ‘S’ benefit of real estate in ESG.  The metric will provide VervLife and other clients such as Dandi Living, Vinci, Segro with data-driven insights as how their buildings best be designed and operated to maximise the wellbeing of their occupants, both mitigating the risk

deverellsmith release UK Multifamily Salary Guide 2023

The data allows business leaders across the Build to Rent sector to make well-informed decisions when paying employees. deverellsmith, the London based recruitment talent solutions partner for the property industry, announced that it has released the UK’s first Multifamily Salary Guide in partnership with SAY. Build to Rent is one of the fastest growing sectors within real estate, yet one of the newest to market. Compared to other areas which have a deep talent pool of experienced professionals to source

One Property Recruitment welcome new additions to the team

OPR (One Property Recruitment) welcome to the team Joe Peat specialising in Facilities Management and Health and Safety, Imogen Mattick who strengthens the Service Charge/Finance team and Harry Moore who is a welcome addition to the Block Management Department.

2022 - A rollercoaster in business and in life!

It’s been a hell of a year here at Fraser Allen Estate Management. So much has been good and positive yet one cannot ignore the less than positive moments as well.  If there’s one thing we are at Fraser Allen it is honest and authentic – we will all be upfront and honest about how things are going both as a team and also as individuals within a team. For a modern, ethical business we believe it’s the best way to be! Even though sometimes that’s a difficult choice to make.  With that in mind, we’ll start w

MRI Software research reveals two-thirds of employees want ‘hotel-style’ amenities at the office

Employees today want more ‘hotel-style’ amenities such as areas for socialising, state-of-the-art infrastructure, outdoor spaces, onsite cafes, air conditioning, and flexible work facilities to entice them back to the office – and stay, according to new global research released today by MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software. MRI Software Market Insights: The Workplace Report reveals almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents say such hotel-style features impact their decision on whether to wor

Three people have sadly died and a dozen still missing after explosion in a Jersey apartment building

At least three people have sadly died and around a dozen people are believed to still be missing after an explosion in an apartment building in Jersey, reported by police.  The explosion happened at around 4am on Saturday 10th December, less than eight hours after firefighters had been called to the site after concerns from residents, it was confirmed. Reports from police said that the site remained “highly unsafe” with “pockets of fire” discovered hours after the “very, very significant” explosion. In a

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