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New research from MRI Software, a global leader in real estate solutions, reveals that 71% of commercial occupiers say the mass shift to remote working during the pandemic has fundamentally changed their long-term approach to space usage, and yet 69% of landlords expect no lasting impact from COVID-19. MRI partnered with CoreNet Global, the leading association for corporate real estate professionals, to survey 200 tenants and 50 landlords across a broad cross-section of industries worldwide. The findings

DS2 is delighted to announce that Alix Green MRICS joins as Partner from 1st June 2021. Green will head the company’s expansion of its Build-to-Rent advisory and transactional services offer, whilst driving growth in their existing affordable housing valuation business.  Green brings a wealth of experience having been a Director at JLL for the past 10 years, with roles in both Residential Advisory and Capital Markets. She previously worked with the DS2 Partners whilst at Drivers Jonas and currently has a

As lockdown restrictions continue to ease, it's the right time for agents to consider the long-term role of PropTech in their businesses, according to Rex. The estate agency tech provider says that although things are slowly returning to something nearer normal, the pandemic has changed society - and the way the property market works - forever. "Making sound technology decisions now can set agencies up to thrive over the coming years," explains Anton Babkov, CEO of Rex Software. "Many of the trends that

The government has targeted property as a way of helping the country to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to financial services firm The UK Adviser Group.  The Group argues that the current market conditions appear to have been designed to deliberately boost the market and to appeal to the innate British desire for homeownership, with both an ongoing stamp duty holiday and the recently introduced 95% mortgage guarantee scheme keeping the market buoyant.   This isn’t surprising, given the housi

A growing problem of drugs, alcohol and break-ins has been quickly solved by Principle Estate Management at a residential development it won the contract to manage in Leeds. The anti-social behaviour and criminal acts were taking place in and around the car ports at the rear North Street Lofts, a development of 11 flats in the vibrant northern quarter of Leeds city centre. Stephen Downing, a property manager at Principle, explained that the development had been handed to Principle with a brief to tackle t

This article was first published on the Winckworth Sherwood website.  In this blog we pull together cases and legislative developments over the last 12 months relating to enfranchisement: Leasehold reform (ground rent) bill – the Queen’s speech heralded the introduction of legislation to effectively set ground rent at nil in new residential leases subject to some exceptions. These restrictions will affect Ground rent investors when granting voluntary lease extensions to flat owners and developers may lose

Following the recent parliamentary wrangling over who should pay for cladding remediation, it may have escaped leaseholders’ notice that the new Fire Safety Act includes new rules on front doors.  In the past, flat front doors were “demised” to the resident. Or in other words they were the responsibility of the flat owner and, for the purposes of the fire safety regulations, they weren’t included in the common parts of the building overseen by the property manager. That has now changed. The new Act has am

Letting agents should use innovative, digital solutions to ensure their businesses and clients are safe from property fraud and money laundering.  That’s according to CDDCheck, an innovative online platform that enables businesses to ‘electronically screen against individual stakeholders and businesses at a vastly reduced cost’.  The issue of full transparency and regulation against fraud and money laundering is a particularly hot topic at present, as letting agents who are not already registered have unt

Law firm Property Management Legal Services Limited is backing the national apprenticeship scheme by supporting two members of staff through their training in accountancy and business administration.  Victoria Staszynska starts her level 3 business administration this month and Hollie Cottam starts her level two account finance assistant. Leading property lawyer Cassandra Zanelli, who has previously worked with both Vicky and Hollie, is delighted to help them continue with their career development at her

Over £4.7m in Building Safety Funds have been awarded to Blocsphere Property Management in relation to various cladding deficiencies in the South East London region.   Blocsphere Property Management, head office in Ludlow, Shropshire, are extremely proud to have been awarded £4.7m in Building Safety Funds, to help ensure the safety of those living in a high-rise building in London.   The building, consisting of 153 leasehold properties, has been through an exhaustive process over the past year and have no

MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software solutions, announces it has won a new contract with Centuria Capital Group, an ASX-300 listed investment property funds manager, to automate the full lifecycle management of about 200 real estate assets in the firm’s $10 billion property portfolio across Australia and New Zealand.  MRI Commercial and Investment Management solutions will be used by Centuria to automate lease administration and accounting and access large volumes of data from multiple so

While the industry has been talking about build to rent (BTR) for years, the many benefits of renting in a professionally managed, purpose-built development are not necessarily well known by consumers. To help raise the profile of BTR and demonstrate what sets it apart from renting from the traditional private landlord, the UK’s first BTR customer awareness week - www.LoveToRentWeek.co.uk - takes place 24-28 May. The campaign is supported by the British Property Federation and the UKAA as well as a host o