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Three years on from the Grenfell Tower fire, the issue of building safety remains as prevalent today as it was in the aftermath of the tragedy. This has recently been highlighted in the government’s guidance on maintaining remediation work through the COVID-19 crisis and the progress of the Fire Safety Bill which is now at its second reading. Last week saw the publication of the long awaited prospectus for the new £1bn remediation fund and a response to consultation on the previous funding scope and proce

A government move to allow additional floors to be built on residential blocks of flats without planning permission has received a cautious welcome from Principle Estate Management.   The UK’s fastest growing residential estate management business was commenting after housing secretary Robert Jenrick said he would allow up to two storeys to be added to blocks from this summer.   Building upwards currently requires planning consent, which involves checks on how well designs fit with nearby homes and the po

Issue 107 of News on the Block has now been published. This issues includes some of the following articles:  Pandemic ‘not an excuse’ to slow cladding removal Leasehold Group devastated at loss of Sophie Lyall Caring for your well-being as well as your home Prop Tech feature including: Keeping front desks on the front door A virtual reality check! Blocks in the Cloud Are you getting enough fibre? Why proptech needs to be agile New virtual tour service offering free virtual tour A brave new wor

Principle Estate Management has tripled in size in the last 12 months, with the number of units it looks after rising from just under 2,000 to nearly 6,000. The latest figures come as the Birmingham-based company celebrates its second year of operations since launching on 1 June 2018. Principle continues to be the UK’s fastest growing residential estate management business since this time last year, with staff numbers also rising proportionately from seven to 20. The company’s growing portfolio of propert

Roger Levitt shares his thoughts on his experience practising online mediation during the coronavirus pandemic Mediation has long been considered a more suitable way of resolving disputes without the cost and time of court proceedings. While normal sessions involve a qualified mediator helping to resolve disputes in an office or meeting room, or on site, the coronavirus pandemic has made that impossible. Mediator Roger Levitt believes that online mediation – the alternative to face to face meetings – has

The Leasehold Solutions Group has called for immediate action from the Government to suspend freeholders’ rights to collect ground rents and service charges in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and economic lockdown.  Louie Burns, Managing Director of The Leasehold Group of Companies, said: “The last few months have caused unprecedented disruption to societies and economies across the world and many tens of thousands of people have tragically lost their lives to the Covid-19 virus. The ongoing

The restarting of the property market comes with many challenges in the new normal of social distancing. Compliance is one of the key areas that needs to be managed effectively by lettings agents and property managers.   In turn, they rely heavily on their suppliers to represent them and complete work while operating under the restrictions imposed on them by social distancing rules.   Move-in and move-out services are amongst the most challenging as they often require lots of interaction between the relev

This article was first published on the Winckworth Sherwood website.  If they hold off will the later find themselves driven to do so i.e. as a result of lenders tightening their ground rent requirements or the reforms being considered by the Government? These are some of the questions facing flat owners where their lease is either shortening or contains a significant ground rent. Broadly speaking flat owners have the right to claim an extended lease of their flat after two years of legal ownership. In

An experienced accountant has been recruited to the finance team at Principle Estate Management to support the company’s rapid expansion. Haq Nawaz’s new role as service charge accountant was created after the number of developments the Birmingham-based company is looking after reached more than 200. Mr Nawaz has nearly 20 years of experience working in finance for a variety of property companies, the most recent being as a senior finance officer at Sanctuary Housing. At Principle he will be working on cl

Principle Estate Management, the Birmingham company responsible for the care of nearly 6,000 apartments across 234 developments in England and Wales, has welcomed the launch of the government’s £1 billion Building Safety Fund for the remediation of non-ACM cladding systems. Managing director Brett Williams said: “Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick MP has announced new measures and a fund that provides for the removal of dangerous cladding on residential buildings in both the private and social housing secto

At the start of the year we would never have imagined that so many of us would be having to spend so much more time in our homes.  Whether it’s balancing working from home and keeping the kids entertained, relying on technology to stay in touch with loved ones or finding new ways to stay physically and mentally active, we are all having to adapt the way we live. As a property manager responsible for looking after 196,000 homes, we recognise how challenging this time is for our residents. While our focus w

Applicants wishing to claim grant funding from the £1bn Building Safety Fund (BSF) to replace unsafe cladding, need to act immediately to maximise their chance of success, warns property consultancy SAY Property Consulting LLP. In a call to action Charles Seifert a partner at SAY said: “The Government have today (26th May 2020) launched the Building Safety Fund Registration Prospectus and it imposes strict time limits on making eligibility applications to the fund, the registration process will open in th