Featured Articles

It's time to know exactly what is happening in the sector! This year will be pivotal for all property managers and companies that are involved in the residential property management sector. We are on a more certain path and with some brilliant steps in the right direction, toward a more accountable, ethical and sustainable sector; there is no better time to come together with your peers to understand exactly what 'is' and what 'will' be happening in the industry. Date: 23rd September 2020 Venue: Queen Eli

COVID-19 is affecting everyone. BBIS commercial heating would like to assure all of our customers that we are committed to your heating and hot water requirements during this difficult time. We are taking extra precautions to protect our customers and our engineers during this Covid-19 outbreak. Our primary concern is the safety of our staff and clients. We are open 24/7 for the foreseeable future, and we are determined to safely meet all of our client’s and customer’s needs. Based in London and Hertford

The Coronavirus Act 2020 received Royal Assent and came into force on 25 March 2020.  It is worth reminding ourselves of the previous position briefly, which is now being altered by the new legislation.  1. Common law tenancies – any tenancy not falling within the assured tenancy regime under the Housing Act 1988 (“the Act”), such as where the annual rent exceeds £100,000 or the tenant is not occupying the property as their only or main home, including if they are a company which is incapable of occupying

Following my previous update on the position regarding sick pay for your employees and the prospect of how to deal with employees in self-isolation, with many employees now working from home and businesses forced to temporarily close, I answer some of the questions that we are being asked by our clients about the options available to you and your business: Do you have to pay sick pay? If an employee is off sick due to coronavirus the normal rules for sick pay apply and subject to satisfying certain criter

Businesses and individuals enter into contracts every day. When they think about what could go wrong, and what terms they need in their contracts to deal with such eventualities, it is easy to focus on how the other party to the contract could default. However, what are the parties’ rights if something happens which neither party perhaps anticipated and which either makes performing the contract uneconomical for one party or else prevents them from performing it properly or at all? It is not too difficult

This is a new type of leave, never used before and has been introduced in response to the coronavirus crisis in order to try to save jobs under the Government’s “Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme”.   On 26th March 2020 the Government issued its guidance on how the scheme will operate, details of which can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme. The scheme is open to all UK employers that had a PAYE system in place on 28th February 2020 and

Property professionals from Greystar, SAY Consulting, deverellsmith, and Be Original have joined forces to create a central register where the real estate industry can pledge support to the NHS and healthcare workers to help these real-life superheroes fight Covid-19. The initiative repurposes the Do Some Good platform, which launched earlier in the year when MIPIM 2020 was cancelled to encourage delegates to use the extra time from not attending the event for charitable endeavours. The website will now

This is an unprecedented time for most if not all of us. Since the government's call for self-isolation and shielding began earlier in March, many business and personal activities have come to a halt. There have been numerous reports contemplating whether repairs and maintenance works should carry on with them not explicitly named as an 'essential service'. Some expressed an opinion that all works should be delayed.   New government guidance finally put to bed the confusion:   Work carried out in people’

The Association of Leasehold Practitioners (ALEP) has written to the Lord Chancellor (The Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP) today calling on the government to extend statutory deadlines for filing applications to determine terms of collective claims, lease extensions and right to manage by a period of three months once the current ‘lockdown’ period is over.  The letter from ALEP states: “This simple act will provide applicants with a reasonable period of time to prepare their applications to the Tribuna

Thousands of properties looked after by Principle Estate Management have benefited from a huge focus on hygiene in the last few weeks to minimise COVID-19 health risks. The leading property management company already organises regular cleaning, but the extra push was timed well ahead of self-isolation measures to make sure staff and tenants were kept as safe as possible. Meanwhile, thanks to its use of the very latest technology, Principle is now operating as near to “business as usual” as possible across

In current crisis stemming from the Coronavirus pandemic many businesses will be asking themselves 2 important questions: - What can I do to protect my business if I cannot fulfill my contractual obligations? - How do I protect my business in the future against the risk of being unable to comply with its business commitments? What can I do to protect my business if I cannot fulfill my contractual obligations? The first thing to do is to check the contract/terms of business that govern your relationship w

No doubt both landlords and tenants will be reeling from the dramatic and sudden impact arising from the Coronavirus outbreak and how that will affect their businesses going forward both in the immediate and longer term future. Whatever the eventual outcome there will be little comparison between normality before the spread of the virus took hold and after it has eventually been brought under control. In these circumstances there will be very few commercial tenants whose businesses will not be adversely a