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.

How to make a small room look and feel bigger

Home proud people are being encouraged to make changes to help small rooms in their homes look and feel bigger. Experts from Online-Bedrooms.co.uk have put together their top tips to create the illusion of space in snug rooms.. The average size of a home in the UK and across the world has shrunk and many of us will have at least one room in our home that is smaller than the rest. Decorating it can be a challenge. The experts suggest keeping the room feeling light and airy by using light colours and materi

Cradley Heath housing development site with planning permission to go under the hammer in Bond Wolfe’s September auction

The site of a proposed housing development in Cradley Heath, with a price tag starting at £450,000, will be among the star commercial lots tempting bidders at Bond Wolfe’s next auction on Thursday 15 September. Planning permission has been granted for 13 two-bedroomed apartments and two three-bedroomed houses on the one acre site. This freehold residential development opportunity is adjacent to the Compton Grange care home and borders Whitehall Road and St Annes Road in Cradley Heath. It is listed for auc

Should we rethink the way we are managing waste in Construction?

Our industry has long been criticised for its negative impact on the environment. From the emissions created by large building sites, to the mountains of unused or damaged materials produced daily, it is no wonder people are calling for a rethink in the way we're managing waste in construction. In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at how the majority of the industry currently goes about it and highlight some of the differences between large and small-scale projects. It's becoming more and more crit

Principle’s team members volunteer to help keep Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games on track

Team members at Principle Estate Management were involved in the hugely successful Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games which relied on thousands of volunteers to make it a success. The property management specialists with offices in Birmingham and London has a vision to “positively impact the everyday lives of our communities”, and staff are actively encouraged to take part in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Operations director Stephanie Jobson said: “We offer an extra day of leave per ye

Rental stock crisis - More than a quarter of landlords who are evicting tenants are doing so to sell up

A survey carried out by Landlord Action, housing law specialist and part of the Hamilton Fraser Group, has revealed that 26 per cent ¹ of landlords who have issued a Section 21 notice of eviction to their tenants in the last 12 months have done so because they plan to sell their property. Similarly, 24 per cent of those who plan to evict their tenants in the next 12-18 months, say they will do so because the increasing legislative burden means they have decided to sell. The survey asked landlords whether

Recruitment issues - property industry needs to do more to appeal to the TikTok generation

The Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC) claims that the way people communicate along with their expectations from employment is changing.  As a result, the recruitment process must be altered to better appeal to today’s TikTok generation which typically values quick and direct online information, flexible working, sustainable credentials and more incentives.   The AIIC argues that today’s generation is used to video and online content that is easy to digest. Recruitment issues can be overco

Commonwealth Games tax reminder

Homeowners who rented out properties during the Commonwealth Games are being reminded by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of their tax responsibilities.   Visitors from across the world flocked to Birmingham and the West Midlands region, making it their home for the 10-day festival of sport that ended on 8 August 2022.   Those who rented out properties during the Games as a short-term let may need to tell HMRC about any income they have received, by filing a Self Assessment tax return.   To help ensure homeo

B-hive Block Management Partners chosen by former Vice Chair of IRPM and current Director of The Property Institute for her new block management venture

B-hive Block Management Partners has been chosen by the former Vice Chair of the IRPM and current Director of The Property Institute (TPI), Samantha Massey, to launch her own block and estate management venture, SAMAS Property Management. Sam is a fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the cofounder of Doyenne, ambassadors pioneering for women in the residential property market. Sam is no stranger to ground-breaking efforts in block and estate management and the launch of her new

The Oxford Weekender 2023

New dates have today been released for an event which is a highlight of the property management industry calendar – the Oxford weekender. The next residential weekend conference offered by Property Management Legal Services, in partnership with the Institute of Residential Property Management (now part of The Property Institute), has been confirmed as taking place from March 31-April 2, 2023. Once again the prestigious event will return to the tranquil surroundings of St Hugh’s College, Oxford. Next year

David Jervis takes charge of Burrington Estates new homes business

Burrington Estates (New Homes) Ltd has appointed David Jervis to the position of Group Managing Director as the original company founders Mark Edworthy and Paul Scantlebury step away from the day-to-day running of the business. David joined Burrington Estates three years ago to lead the launch of the company’s new Central England division, following its success in the South West, and now takes operational control of the whole housing business. Established in 2013 and headquartered in Exeter, Burrington Es

Grosvenor Systems forms strategic alliance with Spike Global to create complete end-to-end property management solution

Grosvenor Systems and Spike Global have today announced a new strategic alliance, enabling build-to-rent operators to benefit from a complete end-to-end property management and accounting solution. Propman, Grosvenor Systems’ leading financial reporting and property management product, will be combined with Spike’s tenancy management solution, Spike Lettings, and award-winning resident engagement portal, Spike Living, to create an enhanced, simplified experience for tenants. Grosvenor Systems’ market-lead

Principle helps set up youth camp as part of company’s CSR activities

The boss of Principle Estate Management is leading from the front for the Birmingham company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, volunteering to help set up a Boys’ Brigade camp in Devon. Brett Williams, managing director at Principle, was joined by two staff members – his sons Benedict Williams, a property inspector at the firm, and Jonas Williams, who works on a range of administration and high-level IT coding roles. The threesome travelled down south and spent from a Wednesday evening to a

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