Featured Articles

Doyenne member Sophia Rossi discusses the role of compassion in leadership with reference to the success of the female leaders during the pandemic.  During the COVID-19 pandemic female leaders have been praised for their success in handling the virus over their male counterparts yet why was this? What traits did they portray that lead them to successfully maintaining the virus?  Aviva Wittenberg-Cox - CEO of 20-first , a global gender-balance consultancy based in the UK - points out that countries with th

PLP Fire are offering free training sessions for ARMA members.  Please read the flyer below for more information.

Harley Haddow has announced the appointment of Ian Chalk as Director to further strengthen their Manchester offering.  The multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy opened the North West base earlier this year as part of its ongoing UK expansion and recruitment strategy.  Chalk joins the firm from construction engineering company Hoare Lea with 20 years’ experience in the industry and region. He has worked on an expansive portfolio across multiple projects around Manchester, the North West, and the Middl

Leading housing association L&Q and award-winning housebuilder The Hill Group have begun work on a significant new project to redevelop the former Citroen garage site in Brentford, West London. Situated on a prime parcel of land at the heart of the Brentford regeneration area and next to the new Brentford FC and London Irish stadium, the development is set to deliver 441 new homes, a residents gym and a new nursery. Fifty percent of the new homes will be affordable and include a mix of Shared Ownership an

When it comes to driving a car, don’t assume that all drivers are good, don’t second guess what other drivers might do or be capable of doing, and be prepared to take appropriate action. And when it comes to fire safety, façade remediation and construction oversight, those of us tasked with policing what actually goes on on-site have to adopt a robust and forensic methodology such that assuming not everyone knows how to drive properly, is probably not a bad thing.  The point I am driving at here of course

PayProp, an automated rental payment provider, has predicted that letting agents will need to focus extra hard on client retention amid growing economic hardship.  Meanwhile, ongoing changes in the lettings industry – including planned reforms to the private rented sector contained in the ‘A fairer private rented sector’ White Paper – are expected to see growing numbers of landlords leaving the sector.  To counteract this, PayProp claims, agents will need to provide a high quality of service to keep clien

Where tenants occupied an unlicensed HMO property, which was in a state of disrepair, and having raised complaints about the conduct of the landlord, how should rent repayment be calculated? Trainee Solicitor Lauren Walker of JB Leitch Solicitors reviews a recent Upper Tribunal case which serves to illustrate that reviewing procedures and obligations is an important part of ensuring compliance with HMO and RRO legislation. The background In Simpson House 3 Ltd v Osserman and others [2022], tenancy of a fl

The case of Martlet Homes Limited -v- Mulalley and Co Limited [2022] is the first since the Grenfell Tower disaster to address liability for fire safety defects (defective cladding, mainly) in high-rise buildings. Martlet Homes Limited were successful in both their primary case against Mulalley in respect of Mulalley’s defective workmanship in the installation of the cladding system as well as their alternative case regarding the specification of the EPS insulation.  The finding made by the Technology and

Leaseholders, Freeholders and Agents can gain an insight into one of the most fundamentally contentious areas of leasehold ownership during a free webinar hosted by legal firm Bishop & Sewell.     The online webinar ‘Leasehold Question Time – Service Charges’ will take place on Tuesday 6 September 2022 at 5pm.     Delivered by Charles Jamieson, from the Dispute Resolution team, the webinar will be a ‘back to basics’ refresher for leaseholders and freeholders on the demand and recoverability of ser

As soon as I heard about the Hollie Gazzard Trust, I immediately knew that I had to reach out.   Aged just 20 years old, Hollie Gazzard was murdered at her place of work, in Gloucester on February 18th 2014, by her boyfriend, after months of obsessive behaviour, jealousy, and harassment. Whilst it must still be painful to talk about how his daughter sadly lost her life, her father, Nick Gazzard recognises the importance of raising awareness so that other abusive relationships can be recognised and stopped

The last five years have seen a tumultuous shift to the landscape of fire safety regulations in the UK. Following the catastrophic fire at Grenfell Tower, the government announced an independent review of the existing fire and building regulatory framework. This review highlighted the clear lack of enforcement and repercussions to those responsible for buildings that didn’t comply with the mandatory requirements, which were minimal at best. Since the mid-1980s, building regulations in the UK have been con

Industry collaboration responds to customer demand for more efficient property management systems Grosvenor Systems has today announced a tie-up with Xenith to provide a bespoke property management solution that will boost efficiency savings for customers, spanning property managers, owners, block managers and managing agents. The solution has been designed specifically for users of Propman, Grosvenor Systems’ leading property management and accounting system. By incorporating Xenith’s document managem