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HYELM, a not-for-profit landlord seeking to address the shortage of affordable housing for young people working in London, has launched a new Welfare Package to help alleviate the financial pressures caused by the pandemic. Putting resident’s safety and wellbeing at the heart of everything it does, HYELM has provided residents with up to £50,000 worth of support since March 2020.  The Welfare Package specifically caters for any residents who have experienced forms of financial hardship in recent months, w

Are your Fire Safety System’s Monitored?   Are your properties left unattended or are you a property manager responsible for a development?   How do you know if your fire safety system has activated or in fault?   Do you wait for a resident or neighbour to report that the alarm has activated or smoke vents are open?... or is your system in fault and worse still, no one reports it to you?   We have the perfect solution for you….low-cost remote monitoring via your smart phone and tablet. There is also an op

This a question that we are regularly asked by RTM directors, namely – can the freeholder insist we use their buildings insurance for our block? The short answer is ‘No’, as Ian Hollins of Clear Building Management explains. By securing the Right to Manage for your block, your RTM company has taken over the management functions – and this includes arranging insurance for the building. The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 sets out that the freeholder can arrange additional insurance but that this m

Blocsphere Property Management, a residential and mixed-use property management specialist, has been appointed to manage St Andrews, in Maidstone, Kent. St Andrews Park is one of Blocsphere’s most prestigious properties, boasting a total of 79 apartments. The Grade II listed development was formerly a psychiatric hospital founded in 1833 named The Oakwood Hospital. Following transfer of services to Maidstone Hospital, Oakwood closed in 1994 and was then developed as a residential estate known as St Andrew

Amstone Developments has agreed a deal turnkey deal with One Manchester to deliver 96 new, modern residential homes comprising seven townhouses and 89 apartments. Housing provider One Manchester currently owns and manages more than 12,000 units across Greater Manchester and will own and manage the homes which will be affordable for build to rent, affordable rent and shared ownership. The 0.31 ha (0.75 acres) site is on Stockport Road approximately 2.1 miles south east of Manchester city centre and constru

One of the Welsh capital’s newest luxury apartment blocks, which has 104 units and incredible city views, is to be looked after by Principle Estate Management. The contract to manage the Brickworks, on Trade Street in Cardiff, has come from Pier Management, the asset management subsidiary of the national freeholder Regis Group. The new instruction comes after RG Capital Partners Ltd purchased the property’s freehold and immediately wanted Principle to take on the management of the development. Principle a

MRI Software (“MRI”), a global leader in real estate software solutions, announces the appointment of Saurabh Abhyankar as Chief Product Officer (CPO). In this role, Abhyankar will lead MRI’s global product strategy and drive the continued innovation and evolution of the company’s open and connected software platform for the real estate industry. Abhyankar has a strong track record over the last 15 years of inventing and bringing new products to market, building and leading product management teams, and d

In its latest Customer Service Excellence assessment Clear Building Management has been awarded Compliance Plus status, putting the company among the elite and “setting the standard other services providers can strive for”. Customer Service Excellence is a Cabinet Office award that tests in great depth those areas that research has indicated are a priority for customers, with particular focus on delivery, timeliness, information, professionalism and staff attitude.   The standard also places emphasis on d

Directors of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) have written to Housing Minister, Christopher Pincher MP calling for an update on when the Government will issue its response to the Law Commission’s recommendation for leasehold reform.   In July 2020, the Law Commission presented Government with its recommendations for reform which, if adopted, would hail huge changes to the way the current leasehold system operates.   John Midgley, ALEP Director, explains: “Whilst we a

Clear Building Management share advice for RMC directors facing a leaseholder request to keep a pet in their property. As flat living has become more of a lifestyle choice and the number of people live alone increases, more and more leasehold owners want to share their home with a furry friend. In late 2019, statistics suggested that more than half of UK adults own a pet, and this number has reportedly grown further during COVID-19 and lockdown. Indeed, for many of us, our four-legged companions are vital

The next few years are set to see major changes in the residential sector for England and Wales.  The Government is pressing ahead with high-profile reform of the building safety regime, while a series of reports from the Law Commission earlier this year herald changes to the leasehold system.  Together, these two programmes will rightly bring new opportunities for residents to get involved in how their buildings are run, but also new responsibilities.  As the UK’s largest residential property manager, re

QUESTION  I have recently inherited my father's leasehold flat after he passed away.  The flat has quite a short lease and I want to extend it. Is this possible? ANSWER I am sorry to hear of your loss. It will be possible to extend the lease but you may not be able to do that straight away – it depends on whether you have moved the title to the flat into your name already. Broadly speaking, a flat owner will have the right to claim an extended lease after two years of legal ownership. A new right was intr