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.

Over 400 homes to rent coming to North West England

One of the leading providers in the build-to-rent market, Sigma Capital Group Limited is working with Countryside, the UK’s leading mixed-tenure developer, to build more than1,300 new homes over three sites in the North West. The sites consist of 402 homes for private rent, 649 for open market sale and 297 listed as affordable housing across Manchester, Blackburn and Warrington. Sigma’s private rental brand, Simple Life, has over 4,500 properties across the UK and will extend its portfolio with the delive

The ALEP Spring Lecture 2022

Date: Tuesday 1 March 2022 Venue: No.11 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0AN After a much anticpated networking lunch, our lecture, hosted by Damian Greenish, will focus on “Deferment rate – the next debate?”  ALEP events are always specific to our membership and this lecture is no different, providing useful guidance and practical notes for legal and valuation professionals.  We will look in detail at the Upper Tribunal decision in Llangewydd Court, and the possibility of a future challenge to the de

Principle promotes top manager after qualification as Chartered Surveyor

One of Principle Estate Management’s top property managers has been promoted to associate director after qualifying to become the firm’s sixth Chartered Surveyor. The achievement by Danielle Lannon comes after passing her Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Mrs Lannon’s experience of more than ten years, plus the completion of a RICS-accredited degree, enabled her to undertake the professional route to complete the APC. This involved two ye

FirstPort named among UK’s top employers for fourth consecutive year

FirstPort, the UK’s largest residential property manager, has retained its status as a Top Employer in the UK, after being awarded the prestigious certification for the fourth consecutive year by the Top Employers Institute. Being certified as a Top Employer showcases an organisation’s dedication to a better world of work and exhibits this through excellent people policies and practices. The Top Employers Institute programme certifies organisations based on the participation and results of their HR Best P

New IRPM white paper identifies need for industry standards to govern data access, collection and management

As part of its Tech Insight programme, the IRPM brought together a group of leading industry experts to discuss a range of issues around data use in the property management sector. Published today, Information overload: where to start with data? is a new white paper based on this conversation. It identifies the ways in which we use data, how our understanding of data and its potential is changing, and how this is impacting the property management profession. The paper sets out the key challenges thrown up

Unsung Heroes 2022 - Nominations Open

Fantastic news! Our Unsung Heroes feature will be back in 2022 in association with Jackson Sims Recruitment to celebrate all those within the leasehold property industry who have gone the extra mile to help others or excel in their position. Once again, we would like to highlight all the positive work provided by the Property Managers, Company Directors, Concierge, Contractors, Estate Managers and Individuals all over the UK within the block management sector.  We will be celebrating the ‘heroes’ who

Training and qualifications – property needs to move faster to keep up with other industries

Implementing the right training and qualifications helps to build trust and transparency across all industries. That is according to the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks (AIIC).       The AIIC claims that the property industry must actively make training and qualifications an integral part of all processes to significantly improve itself and match up to other, more heavily regulated industries, such as law, teaching, medicine and chartered surveying.     Daniel Evans, chair of the AIIC and mana

Large number of agents believe upfront property information should be mandated, finds poll

Some 91% of agents believe the government should mandate upfront property information, according to a poll taken at a recent industry webinar.   The webinar, hosted by reservation agreement specialists Gazeal, saw hundreds of agents attend, with many more unable to because the event was so over-subscribed.   During the webinar, which was hosted by Gazeal co-founder Bryan Mansell, a former agent himself, a number of polls were offered up to attendees to gauge opinion on a range of crucial topics.   As well

MetroPM appointed to manage five apartment blocks in Leicestershire

A national freeholder has appointed property management company MetroPM to look after five residential apartment blocks in Leicestershire. MetroPM, which has offices in Birmingham and Cheltenham, will be managing the five modern properties known as Linnet Court, in the market town of Uppingham, near Oakham. The purpose-built development, which was completed in 2006, contains a total of 27 individual apartments, with a gated car park to the rear. Ian Smallman, a director of Metro PM, said: “We are pleased

Q&A - Right to Manage Company Directors

QUESTION I am wanting to ask for some advice as I've been approached by members of a Management Company who want to remove the sole Director of the Right to Manage Company. This Director is also a member as he owns a house on a housing Estate. This sole Director refuses to allow any member to become a Director and the members want him out, but he refuses to step down and allow other Directors to be appointed. He has control of the bank account and refuses to allow anyone to see where the Money is spen

LloydsPharmacy chooses MRI Software’s Horizon CRE for lease management and accounting

MRI Software, a global leader in real estate solutions, announces that LloydsPharmacy, a leading UK high street brand, has selected MRI Horizon CRE to manage its lease portfolio and financial compliance, including International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS 16). In working with MRI, LloydsPharmacy will deploy Horizon CRE, a cloud-based lease management and accounting platform, to more easily handle their real estate challenges and complexities of IFRS 16. The accounting standard came into effect on 1

Lifetime Mortgage Gateway (LMG) set to help older homeowners trapped with short leases obtain lease extensions using equity release and access cash

Lifetime Mortgage Gateway (LMG), a new service facilitating lease extensions for large numbers of older homeowners trapped with short leases, is launched by LMG Logistics (LMGL) today. Older homeowners with a ‘mid-term’ lease (75 years or less to run) can find themselves trapped as their property loses value every year unless the lease is extended, while at the same time they are unable to release the equity built up in their property to boost their finances in retirement. The only way they can stop their

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