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Issue 109 of News on the Block has now been published and is available for subscribers to read now. This issues includes some of the following articles:  Enforcement action against house builders welcomed Landlords lose up to £437m due to Covid New emergency call centre creates jobs Looking after your assets!  Relationships are the key to success Vital gives power to the people! Dealing with lockdown phone anger Build to Rent feature  Building a build-to-rent community  Putting build-

We have, of course, been developing our digital capability for some time.  Initially this focused on the use of drones which has transformed our access to elevated areas of buildings.  It has reduced the need to erect scaffolding and has removed the need for ‘assumptions’ within project plans. But drones are just the start. Our clients are also benefitting from: Video and Interactive surveys, giving clients a running commentary of findings and potential solutions from behind a camera, allowing a virtual

An historic building near Birmingham city centre that was originally an umbrella factory is to be looked after by Principle Estate Management. The Brolly Works is a Grade II-listed building at 78 Allison Street in Digbeth that was erected in 1872 for Corder & Turley, manufacturers of umbrella ribs. The Gothic Revival-style building is in red brick and has many fine aspects, including a heavily ornamented gable with a round, patterned stained window on the main frontage. It became a clothing factory in the

Residents at a smart apartment block in a much sought-after modern village near Solihull have appointed Principle Estate Management to look after their homes. The contract to manage the Mereways was awarded by the residents’ management company and is Principle’s first contract in Dickens Heath. Principle is now concluding arrangements for the full handover of the property, and once this is completed it will assess the financial position and put forward a 100-day management plan to be actioned. Joe Jobson,

Streaming live events has really taken off among the major players in the property industry since the Covid-19 outbreak stopped us getting together in person – and the IRPM is no exception. This year our market-leading Annual Seminar will be held online.  IRPM Annual Seminars are the best in the business, renowned for swift, punchy, forward-looking sessions on industry changes, latest trends, and essential need-to-knows. IRPM Online Seminar 2020 will take that further, challenging the yawn of traditional

Property professionals facing a backlog of mandatory electrical checks for new tenancies can get back on track by partnering with a national provider of Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICRs). This is according to PropCert, which says that as agents continue to deal with unprecedented rental demand, they will soon have to start preparing for the extension of The Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020 in April 2021. With this in mind, agents could sta

QUESTION Is it possible to purchase a flat and extend the lease at the same time? I want to buy a flat but have been informed that the lease is very short. ANSWER Yes, it is possible to do that! There are different ways of potentially achieving this. Each has different commercial risks attached that you need to consider and potentially negotiate in respect of first. Hopefully, one of them works for you. If your seller qualifies to claim an extended lease, then contractual arrangements can be put in place

Principle Estate Management has recruited a specialist property manager to handle some of its complex and also some smaller properties as the business continues to grow. Sadduf Houston  had previously worked at Curry & Partners and CPBigwood for the last 12 and a half years, working up through the ranks from property assistant to property manager. Ms Houston’s appointment maintains Principle as the UK’s fastest growing residential management company with her being the 11th recruit in 2020, taking total st

The Legal 500, widely acknowledged as the world’s largest independent legal referral guide, has published it's rankings for 2021. Based on a broad series of criteria, including strong technical ability available for the most complex and innovative work, client recommendation and results, the rankings provide a comprehensive view of the merits of best law firms across the world. This year, Liverpool based property solicitors JB Leitch are celebrating being elevated to Tier 3 Leading Firm status for propert

In previous articles we have considered how terrorism has changed and is changing as a phenomenon and what terrorism really means (including how it is formally defined) and why both those considerations are important to us as insurance professionals. In this article, we consider the motivations for opting to protect against terrorism and purchase terrorism insurance. We will also briefly consider the possible reasons for opting against buying coverage and why in some cases, these may be based on dangerous

The government must provide further clarity on cladding compliance if tens of thousands of flat owners are not to be frozen out of the housing market indefinitely, experts at block management firm MetroPM are warning. Since the Grenfell Fire tragedy, the construction industry, surveyors, management companies and lenders have worked together to produce EWS1, a new form designed to show that for apartment buildings over 18m, a risk assessment on the external wall system has been undertaken by a suitable exp

An historic foundry in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter that was converted into nearly 100 luxury apartments is to be looked after by Principle Estate Management. The contract to manage the Grade II-listed Derwent Foundry, which dates from the Edwardian era, has come from Simarc Property Management Ltd. Principle already manages multiple sites for Simarc, one example being plush apartments each worth approximately £3 million in an exclusive block at Acre House in Covent Garden, London. Derwent Foundry, situ