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.

Recruiting during lockdown

With Covid-19 putting a strain on businesses and changing lives, it’s important to celebrate the wins and focus on all the positives during this time. With the recruitment industry being easily affected by events of any kind, TemplePM are thankful to be working in a sector that still needs roles filled and by our brilliant candidates! Christian is one of our candidates that started his job search during the UK lockdown and below explains how it has all worked for him.  I started my job search on 9th April

New shared ownership homes to thrive in the new normal at Royal Albert Wharf

While lives have changed hugely for so many in recent months since the global pandemic arrived, the current circumstances have highlighted the things that people value about where they live. Key things that have been providing solace during the lockdown are green spaces and places to take a walk, a sense of community and private outdoor space. The new homes set to launch at Notting Hill Genesis’ landmark development, Royal Albert Wharf, E16 on Saturday 15th August tick the boxes on all of these counts, wh

Experienced property manager for Cheltenham area recruited by MetroPM

MetroPM, the residential property management company with offices in Birmingham and Cheltenham, has appointed an experienced property manager. Jean Brown, who has worked in the sector for 15 years, will look after the company’s portfolio in Cheltenham and the surrounding areas. She is a member of the Institute of Residential Property Management and has qualifications with the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. Ian Smallman, a director at MetroPM, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Jean onto the

Cardinus and FR Consultants join forces in new alliance to make Britain’s buildings safer

Leading risk management specialists Cardinus Risk Management have formed an alliance with UK’s top façade risk advisors FR Consultants to offer a complete solution to the UK’s crisis with façade combustibility, which has gained significant attention since the Grenfell Tower tragedy in June 2017.  As regulatory reform (through The Building Safety Bill and The Fire Safety Bill) strives to address issues that are present, those responsible for the management of buildings are having to undertake a process of

MRI Software enters into definitive agreement to acquire RentPayment™ business from Priority Technology Holdings, Inc.

MRI Software (“MRI”), a global leader in real estate software solutions, and Priority Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:  PRTH) (“Priority”), a leading provider of merchant acquiring, integrated payment software and commercial payment solutions, have entered into a strategic agreement in real estate payments. Under the terms of the agreement, MRI will acquire Priority’s RentPayment business, which is comprised of the RentPayment.com™, StorageRentPayment.com™ and DuesPayment.com™ real estate payment brands

The Law Commission's key proposals

On 21 July 2021 the Law Commission published its key proposals on leasehold reform and the future of home ownership.  The three reports which deal with enfranchisement, right to manage and commonhold tie in with the Government's aim to address problems with leasehold ownership. It is encouraging to see the issues addressed in such a cohesive way. The proposals set out ways to make the process of enfranchisement easier and cheaper. They suggest reforms to the right to manage legislation and they encourage

Property Management firms Merge

Two of Torbays longest running property management firms have merged bringing together brands APA Property Management and Crown Property Management. The firms between them count more than 65 years of combined trading and Darren Stocks of Crown announced the deal to join forces to not only create a stronger brand but to also streamline the services our clients receive. The merger was first mooted back in 1997 between Adrian Coldicott of APA and Darren Stocks and so when the deal was completed earlier this

Sign of the times

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted problems with manuscript signatures and postal delivery of notices for tenants seeking extended leases and collective enfranchisement.  The legislation requires such notices to be “signed” by, or on behalf, of the tenant. It may be difficult to get “wet ink” signatures. Even where a tenant has an agent, it may be difficult to get compliant or duly authorised signatures of a corporate tenants, if located in other jurisdictions.  Since 2014, in England (but not Wales) i

Collective enfranchisement v right to manage

Leaseholders often declare that they would like to “take control” of their building, to get rid of inert managing agents or difficult building owners… or sometimes both! But what this actually means for a particular group of leaseholders can vary depending on the ultimate aim. We set out below a brief comparison of the two most frequently used processes; the right to manage (RTM) and collective enfranchisement. RTM The key qualifying criteria for the RTM is that it requires the participation of half of th

Enfranchisement: What’s it all about?

If you are the leaseholder of a flat or house you may have individual and collective rights relating to your property. These rights are based on the concept of “enfranchising” the leaseholder so they have greater rights against their landlord.  A leaseholder can, subject to qualification criteria of the property and the status of the leaseholder, force the landlord to grant a new lease or to force the sale of the freehold to the leaseholder. There are various regimes under which a tenant may have a right

MRI Software Named to Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Private Companies

MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software solutions, was named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States. The list, compiled by Inc. Magazine, is regarded as the definitive ranking of the nation’s most successful independent businesses based on revenue growth from 2016 to 2019. MRI Software increased its revenue by 161% during this time. “This honor is a testament to the MRI team’s successful execution of a strategic growth plan underpinned by a renewed fo

End of evictions ban - letting agents must prepare for new system

As the ban on evictions comes to an end next month, letting agents are being warned to prepare for changes to the repossession process – including a new pre-action protocol, a temporarily extended notice period and potentially longer waiting times for court hearings. According to rental payment automation platform PayProp, agents will play a crucial role in explaining the new system to landlords and helping them to manage rent arrears so the option of eviction remains a last resort. Evictions have been ba

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