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.

Front Desk Proptech

Nowadays, it’s common for the on-site team to be running the show. A capable estate manager with a team of concierge reporting into them, has the opportunity to stay close to the residents, deal with repairs and maintenance, and focus on keeping everyone in the building safe and sound.  We are seeing more activity on-site than ever before, as residential schemes are conceived with a strong sense of community. But with this increased level of interaction comes the opportunity for compromised on-site securi

Leasehold Enfranchisement Update

With the “lockdown” measures and its impact in place for a number of weeks, we are pleased to report most practitioners have successfully overcome the practical difficulties created. The recently published Corona Virus Act 2020 does not consider the method of service and any extensions of time for service of Notices under the enfranchisement legislation. The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) have therefore issued a protocol encouraging parties to accept service of documents by

Recruitment 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, we’re thankful to be working in an industry that still needs roles filled and by our brilliant candidates! Stephen Downing is one of our candidates that started his job search prior to the UK lockdown and below explains how it has all worked for him: I started a new role with Princip

Why portals are indispensable in a crisis

All being well, PM Legal’s rearranged Oxford Conference will be a roaring success in September and we look forward to being there as a sponsor and presenter. “Looking forward to things” has become a popular pastime these last couple of weeks and whilst we contemplate positive things to come, we’re all rolling up our sleeves and adapting to this coronavirus crisis.  Property Management Crisis Management  Firstly, a sneak preview of what we’ll be presenting on in Oxford.  You’re a property manager, going th

AXA Partners providing increased peace of mind for customers with new digital claims experience

A new online customer journey has been launched by AXA Partners to manage home emergency claims.  ‘Home Manager’ has been developed in response to customer feedback, at a time when digitalisation has never been more important. As a result of significant investment in the build of new customer-facing digital assets, it allows customers to digitally track their claim, giving them increased peace of mind and full transparency throughout the claim journey.  Research by AXA Partners1 shows that, whilst custome

The day my lease stood still: why you need to extend your lease

23 March 2020; the day the UK government took the unprecedented step of locking down the country. Millions of UK residents were ordered to stay home, schools were closed, and those of us that are able to do so were required to work from home. My daily commute disappeared over night – one day it was a 45 minute train journey, the next a trip of about thirty paces, down the stairs and into my home office. It’s a date that many of us will remember forever, and if you are anything like me, when the announceme

Keeping the lights on: mobilising temporary staff in lockdown

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed our lives almost overnight. Many of us have been working from home for weeks, relying on technology to maintain contact with colleagues and keep businesses ticking over as much as possible. But what about those who cannot work from home? That includes not only frontline medical staff, but everyone from binmen to supermarket shelf-stackers. The pandemic has forced us to take notice of the ‘invisible’ workers we now realise we can’t do without. And in the property industry,

New IRPM white paper: how digitisation is impacting our residential buildings

Like all UK industries, property is impacted by COVID-19 and the effect of the lockdown on the way it works. But despite this ‘new normal’, we cannot ignore our sector’s other key issues. The use of building technology is changing the way we live. In the last decade we have seen a revolution in technology; in particular the way in which data influences our daily lives. It is increasingly being used by stakeholders across the property sector to inform decision-making and digitise both information flow and

Video site inspections

Whilst I have amazing memories of life as a central London property manager, there were times when I needed to freeze time or clone myself. Talking to property managers daily in organising cleaning or maintenance work for them, I know that PMs are busier than ever, even though they have assistant property managers and on-site staff to delegate to.   One really important and contractual task often overlooked or postponed is the site inspection. The management agreement may state that you need to visit m

Mark Mansell joins Pennycuick residential service charge team

Pennycuick Collins are pleased to announce that Mark Mansell has joined the residential service charge team as a Senior Property Manager. Pennycuick Collins has continued to grow within the Property Sector and we have recently been appointed as managing agents on a significant number of new properties. Due to this this growth, we have added another talented property manager to our team. Mark joins as a Senior Proper Manager and will manage a number of new developments that have recently appointed Pennycui

Blocks in the Cloud

Ok so we all use software in our personal and work lives but are you maximising the benefits and the return on investment you get from the software you are utilising in the Block Management industry? I believe most people would agree that good software is designed to make the day to day life of those that use it easier and generally enable them to be more efficient and ultimately more productive and that great software is designed to provide a solution that addresses the pain points of the user in the spe

MRI Software collaborating with Viewber to provide flexible estate agency services

MRI Software has announced its collaboration with Viewber to provide sales agents, lettings agents and property managers with direct access to a national network of professionals that can be booked for a range of last-mile residential property services as and when they are required. Viewber’s intuitive online platform unlocks access to thousands of vetted ‘Viewbers’ across every UK postcode, with these individuals able to provide viewings, open houses, inspections, reports, 160 tours, meet and greets, hou

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