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Specialist property debt collection firm, Realty Law Limited, has announced the expansion of its Birmingham-based team with the appointment of eight new staff. The new hires are led by senior residential property litigator Liz Rowen, a former partner of law firm Keebles, that was recently acquired by Knights. She is joined by former Knights colleagues, Evie Britton, Kirsty Elliott, Cherice St Louis, Abby France and Sam Cooper, as well as two new administration assistants. Realty recently an

We held our first Winter Conference at the Queen Elizabeth ll Centre in Westminster on 1 December. The event – our first to be held in-person for almost two years – was a resounding success, with more than 500 members in the conference hall. IRPM seminars and conferences are now widely accepted as the leading knowledge and networking events in our sector, and it was great to see so many of you there after two annual seminars that have been held online due to the pandemic. The day began with an address fro

Zurich Insurance Group has extended its sponsorship of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) for an additional year.   The global insurance company has been one of ALEP’s primary sponsors since 2019 and has supported the Association’s growth into one of the leading voices in the leasehold sector.   Clare Grove, ALEP’s Communications and Marketing Manager, said: “We are thrilled that Zurich has decided to renew their sponsorship of ALEP for another year. The company has be

Private rental sector (“PRS”) and Build to Rent (“BTR”) residential and urban regeneration specialist, Sigma Capital Group (“Sigma”), has strengthened its team with four new appointments across Manchester, London and Edinburgh, taking its full UK team head count to [50]   Following Sigma’s acquisition by pan-European private equity specialist, PineBridge Benson Elliot, in June 2021 for almost £200 million, the next phase of growth will see Sigma deliver circa 15,000 - 20,000 new rental homes over the next

The winners for the News on the Block Awards 2021 were announced at our prestigious awards ceremony on 30th November at Old Billingsgate, London.  We had over 1000 guests in attendance who celebrated the achievements of their peers over the last 18 months, making this our biggest event to date!    After such challenging times we were delighted to welcome you all back and bring both ERMAs and PMAs audiences together.  May we take this opportunity to thank our panel of judges who had an extremely difficult

In September we joined with over 6,000 delegates at Housing 2021, the biggest meeting place for the housing sector to discuss, debate, and learn about we can improve the lives of people in housing. It was a fascinating event and because it is so well attended by social housing owners and managers, we decided it was a great platform to launch our latest social housing whitepaper. The paper is a first look at how smart technologies are addressing acute challenges faced by social housing providers and enabli

One of the largest private residential landlords in the Midlands has appointed Principle Estate Management to start collecting various ground rents and look after some of its properties. The Stratton Fox Group’s core business is to retain and develop assets for future long term capital growth, and it now owns a mixed portfolio of single unit residential and commercial investments. It has acquired various ground rent investment properties over the last couple of years and has instructed Principle to collec

South West property manager Jodie Fraser, of Fraser Allen Estate Management has recruited two new staff members as her company grows.  Fraser Allen Estate Management which celebrates five years in business this year now manages blocks of flats in Bristol, Bath, Wiltshire, Stroud, Cheltenham and London – and now has 30 blocks on its books.  Founder and managing director, Jodie said: “I am really proud of what has been achieved with the business in such a short space of time. The business is growing and it’

The Government has published a new Code of Practice and a draft  Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill with the aim of tackling accrued rent arrears for businesses, which were forced to close or operate under restrictions during the pandemic.  While the majority of commercial landlords and tenants have already reached agreement over how to share the pain of Covid-19 arrears, which have been substantial for so many, there are still those struggling to find common ground. The new arbitration scheme is not inte

The trade and representative bodies representing the legal, surveying, estate agency and property management sectors have today (22 November 2021) launched updated versions of the LPE1 (Leasehold Property Enquiries), LPE2 (Consumer summary) and FME1 (Freehold Management Enquiries) forms.  The forms will “go live” on 11th January 2022. Bodies such as the Law Society, Conveyancing Association, CILEX, Society of Licenced Conveyancers as well as ARMA, ARHM, BPF, IRPM, RTMF and ARLA are encouraging their membe

Places for People Group has announced Greg Reed will succeed Group Chief Executive David Cowans. Greg Reed, former CEO of Homeserve UK, will take up the role on December 1st 2021. Following a 20-plus year international career in banking, Greg joined HomeServe and was UK CEO from 2017 to 2020. He was a key member of the new executive team at HomeServe UK that transformed it into a people-first, customer-led and purpose-driven commercial powerhouse. Last year, Glassdoor named Greg one of the top five highes

There are big changes coming in relation to the energy efficiency of home that are rented, mortgaged or sold. These may prevent properties from being rented or mortgaged and could make mortgages and home ownership and investment more expensive.   Since 2008, a property let on an assured shorthold tenancy is required to have an EPC. In 2020 Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) were introduced which required landlords to make changes to any property with a rating of F and G. This month 59 Local Author