Featured Articles

The new people focused, passion led brand provides temporary, contract and permanent staff for your on-site teams. They also offer outsourced solutions to enable you to focus your time and energy on managing your buildings whilst they take care of your workforce.   Accord aims to shake up the traditional approach to on-site recruitment and management by implementing creative new recruitment processes supported by modern technology and the company’s vision for challenging convention.  Zoe Southwell, Associ

QUESTION  "I have a leasehold flat on the first floor with a loft space. I want to convert this into another room / loft conversion but the freeholder who lives downstairs on the ground floor will not give their permission as they think the process will be too noisy.  Is there anything else I can do if this is their only reasoning for not giving consent? Any advice would be appreciated.   ANSWER It is not clear if the loft space above your flat forms part of your demise or not.  If not, then the freeholde

21st September 2022 saw all motive8’s fully managed facilities embrace National Fitness Day. The day saw a total of 75 residents take part in the pull-up challenge with a leaderboard created across the portfolio using the motive8 wellbeing app. Many more residents took part but chose not to join the leaderboard. Staff and Personal Trainers were also encouraged to set the benchmark for residents to beat, which provided some great friendly competition. Group Exercise Sessions  Group exercise taster sessions

We are extremely excited to be continuing our partnership with CHAS and are renewing our CHAS Accreditation for another year! We at Keytek® Locksmiths are constantly evaluating how we work and the standards we work at. We use CHAS as a way to continuously develop our Health and Safety procedures to ensure we are staying compliant with the Safety Schemes in Procurement (SSIP) Core Criteria and the UK’s Health and Safety Legislation. We believe it’s important to be a part of CHAS as a national Locksmith ser

We are delighted to announce that JPC reached an agreement with Hodders Law Limited and Administrators, Quantuma Advisory Limited on Friday 23rd September 2022, to assist them by providing former private client, real estate and dispute resolution clients with continuity of service in respect of their on-going matters.  Unfortunately, Hodders Law Limited (Hodders) was placed into Administration on Friday 23rd September 2022 and as such has ceased operations. Hodders is known for advising businesses and hig

It’s always a good time to upgrade your block’s out of date lighting, but NOW is definitely the time to upgrade any fluorescent light fixtures. Following Stage 2 of the Single Lighting Regulation and the updated Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, from February 2023 fluorescent lamps and fittings will no longer be available to buy.  The plan is for all fluorescent lights to be removed from the shelves by September 2023, so our advice to property managers is to re-evaluate all your blocks

Energy Crisis: A phrase we have been hearing repeatedly for the past few months. If you’re feeling anxious, Future Group hopes to help with some practical energy-saving techniques for individuals and Block Managers. In this article, Jordan Begg, Managing Director at Future Lighting, shares techniques for your home or block to help you minimise energy wastage and keep your bills to a minimum. With energy bills skyrocketing, many of us are feeling apprehensive about Autumn-Winter 2022. As we’re entering the

One of the UK’s leading build-to-rent providers, Sigma Capital Group Limited, which markets its homes under the private rental brand, Simple Life has announced the findings of a study to compare the energy consumption of four of its core properties against four other eras of homes. The findings revealed that current Simple Life homes are 25% cheaper to run in comparison to properties built between 2007-2011, and as much as 74% cheaper than older homes. With a new energy price cap effective from the 1st Oc

Property management specialist Common Ground has moved to a new office as it continues its impressive growth. Staff and managers celebrated the switch to the new base in Chiltern House, Station Road, Henley-on-Thames last week having moved from a previous location outside the town. Alan Draper, Managing Director of Common Ground, said: “The staff requested a town centre location so they can go into town on their lunch break.   “Our office requirements have changed due to our new hybrid working model with

Residential property management company Mainstay, part of the FirstPort group, has strengthened its property portfolio by taking on the operational management of Hallam Towers – a brand new luxury redevelopment in the suburbs of Sheffield.   The newly built Hallam Towers apartments, which sits on the site of the former Hallam Tower Hotel, features 101 apartment units over 14 floors, consisting of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, as well as seven townhouses. The sought-after development boasts a ra

The Chancellor has slashed Stamp Duty for home buyers providing a much-needed boost for property sales. But although the move was welcomed as a stimulus to the market, it received a mixed response from some property industry insiders. The cut, effective in England and Northern Ireland comes into force today and raises the threshold of how much a property has to cost before Stamp Duty is paid to £250,000. This rises to £425,000 for first time buyers. ‘And we’re going to increase the value of property on wh

PDC Law assisted the appellant in a recent Upper Tribunal decision of Wynee v Yates and Livingstone [2021] UKUT 0278(LC). The case  provides useful guidance on the common scenarios faced by landlords and management companies when undertaking ‘major works’ projects, namely where the scope of works and even the contractor itself may change during course of the works. How do such changes affect the landlord or management company’s compliance with the statutory consultation requirements under Section 20 of th