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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

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.