Featured Articles

Get the answers to your questions and stay up to date about apartment building management with our featured articles and NOTB guides, on topics such as service charges, right to manage, buying your freehold, major works, building insurance and other issues about blocks of flats.

Million pound Wolverhampton investment opportunity heads up Bond Wolfe Auctions’ commercial lots

A string of four neighbouring Wolverhampton homes converted into flats carries a £1 million price tag heading into Bond Wolfe Auction’s next sale on Wednesday 28 October. 117 to 123 Tettenhall Road comprising four semi-detached properties converted into 18 apartments is entered in the auction as a residential investment property with development potential, with a guide price* of £1 million. It is among the latest in a growing number of commercial and residential investment properties now coming to market

Principle to manage prestige Post Office conversion in historic market town

The contract to manage The Old Post Office on Horse Street, Chipping Sodbury, near Bristol, has come from Pier Management, the asset management subsidiary of the national freeholder Regis Group. The new instruction comes after Pier Management purchased the property’s freehold and the existing agent was not on its panel of approved agents.  Principle already looks after a national portfolio for Pier including several properties in the Bristol area, and was asked to take on The Old Post office with immediat

Future’s new online calculator takes the pain out of PPM

Planned preventative maintenance is an essential tool in any property manager’s armoury. PPM ensures residential blocks are operating at maximum efficiency, keeping one-off servicing and emergency call-outs to a minimum and protecting the bottom line for residents. But too often it gets put on the ‘too difficult’ pile. Why? Because working out the matrix of what needs to be done when and bringing it all together in a single, easy-to-use schedule takes time that too often property managers don’t have.  So

PLP Announced as Finalists for the Security & Fire Excellence Awards 2020

PLP Fire are very humbled to announce that they have been selected as Finalists for the Security and Fire Excellence Awards 2020 ‘Lockdown Hero of the Year’ Paul Bennett said:  "In what has been a very challenging year, this certainly comes as a great honour." "Many of you that follow us will know of our work at the Nightingale Hospital, our staff and engineers really worked hard and went above and beyond to ensure the works were completed on time, we also supported North West Kent College with the

Issue 109 Online Now

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-

Earl Kendrick are delighted to announce the launch of EK Digital

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

Principle to manage apartments in Grade II-listed former umbrella factory

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

Apartments in prime Solihull location to be looked after by Principle

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,

Get your free tickets for the IRPM Seminar 2020

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

Agents with backlog of electrical checks advised to get help from national suppliers

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

Q&A - Can you buy a flat and extend the lease at the same time?

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

Specialist property manager joins Principle as business growth continues

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

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