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Leading housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH) has announced several major policy commitments to boost security and cut costs for its existing and future shared ownership customers surrounding leaseholds and ground rents. In new commitments recently unveiled, MTVH will offer all pipeline and new leasehold residential sales a 990-year lease, alongside ensuring that ground rents will not be charged on any pipeline or new sales on schemes where MTVH is the freeholder. This major policy

More than 180 residents of two apartment blocks have been quarantined inside their homes after one tested positive for the Indian variant of Covid. Those living at the blocks in Velbert, near Dortmund, were ordered not to leave their homes after the infection was detected during a routine test on Sunday. Guards have been placed outside the blocks to ensure no-one leaves or enters the building. The Red Cross has sent volunteers to the apartments to do people’s shopping and take dogs for a walk, reports cla

Effective refuse management is a fundamental part of managing customers’ homes and ensuring a clean and healthy environment, according to Principle Estate Management. The leading estate management company was explaining a number of creative ways it has solved longstanding litter and waste problems on sites where it has won contracts to look after. At one residential site, Principle installed a ramp at the entrance to a bin store as local authority staff had been refusing to lift bins up the step which had

Evolve Block & Estate Management Ltd are extremely proud to have been awarded the management of a large, modern, and complex residential estate in Poole, Dorset consisting of 467 residential leasehold properties in an estate called Poole Quarter. Following an exhaustive tender process, we were selected as the managing agents after having recently invested heavily in additional offices, staffing and management software. Poole Quarter is one of the largest leasehold estates on the South Coast and the whole

Forsters, one of the pre-eminent private wealth and real estate law firms, welcomes a Partner and two Associates to its leading HNW Residential Property team. Forsters, home to the largest dedicated Residential Property team in the London market, is delighted to announce the arrival of Partner Robert Barham and Associates Freddie Hunter and Harriet Beswick, who have joined the firm from Cripps Pemberton Greenish. Robert’s appointment is effective from May and Freddie and Harriet joined the firm in April.

This article was first published on the Winckworth Sherwood website. The Government’s proposal around leasehold ground rent reform has now taken shape following the Queen’s Speech. Background In 2018 the then Secretary of State for housing communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, announced a “crack down on unfair leasehold practices” that would include setting ground rents on new long leases at zero and working with the Law Commission to make the process of purchasing a freehold or extending a fl

Conga, a global leader in commercial operations transformation, has announced that Zoopla, one of the UK’s leading property portals, transformed its commercial operations at the onset of the first COVID-19 lockdown with Conga. Continuing a seven-year relationship, Zoopla leveraged Conga Composer, Conga Sign and Conga Batch to facilitate the communication and implementation of Zoopla’s support packages and streamline its business review process. As lockdown restrictions were announced and the uncertainty s

Leading managing agent Rendall & Rittner has appointed John Osborn as Property Team Manager within one of its Central London divisions to oversee the management of a portfolio of high-profile residential developments. With twenty years of experience in the industry at other managing agents, John joins R&R with a wealth of property management experience. His role at R&R will focus on developing relationships with major clients and ensuring the highest levels of service delivery. He will also help manage th

Elevate Property Group is to forge ahead with its plans for 56 residential properties at the historic Heaton House Lofts in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Kavannagh Construction has been appointed to begin work on Monday 17 May on the site in Camden Street. When the project is completed in the third quarter of 2022, it will provide it will provide 14 townhouses, 42 apartments, 4,300 sq ft of commercial space and Heaton House itself – a 3,360 sq ft, four bedroom dwelling. Work to clear the site has alread

The IRPM is delighted to announce that it has made the shortlist for the prestigious EG Tech Awards  2021. The Institute is a front runner in the Big Picture category, showcasing its campaign for industry-wide adoption of the UPRN. This category is open to influential bodies, organisations and government schemes/departments which can demonstrate support for tech and real estate on a grand scale. Former winners in this category include NHS Property Services in 2020.   The IRPM entry demonstrates how we are

Ben Jarvis is the Portfolio Manager for Benjamin Stevens Block Management. Ben started in September of 2020, having been brought in to add further experience to the already efficient and professional team. Here, Ben writes about his role, the value a Portfolio Manager can add to a team and the changes to budgeting systems he has set up which are being warmly received by clients. “Coming into the business in September of last year I took on the rather unique role of Portfolio Manager, off the back of the f

MetroPM, the estate management business with offices in Birmingham and Cheltenham, has welcomed the Planning Reform Bill outlined in the Queen’s Speech. The government announced the Bill will bring forward measures to simplify the planning system, making it easier to build the homes people need in the places they want them. The Bill will ensure that decisions allocating land for development at the local plan stage will give certainty on the nature and scale of development which is acceptable. Managing dir