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Simple Life, by Sigma Capital Group plc is part of a £55m new housing development, Baberton Grange, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, where 50 of its new PRS (private rental sector) homes are being delivered. The two, three and four-bedroom homes will be built by the UK’s leading mixed-tenure developer specialising in placemaking and regeneration, Countryside. Part of a larger development in the area, the homes will sit amongst 145 properties that are available to purchase through open market sale with Countrysi

The role of a Property Manager is busy and varied and no two hours are the same, let alone two days.  Meet Kirsty Taylor, one of FirstPort’s Associate Directors who has worked in property management for seven years. Kirsty recently gave us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into her world, talking us through one of her busy days. MORNING: Meetings with RMC Director clients  I hosted a ‘Teams’ (virtual) meeting with one of our RMC Directors and some colleagues to discuss the budget for the year ahead for one of m

Leading facilities and maintenance specialist Future Group™ is launching a new 24-hour call-out service on 02nd October 2020 available to all our clients as well as via Adiuvo “The market leaders in Out-of-Hours Call handling” to the block management sector. Great news for property managers looking for 24/7 support on 365 days of the year, for the full range of lighting and electrical services including EV charging, security, heating or fire safety systems. Future will be offering 24-hour cover for typica

IRPM is delighted to announce the launch of its new Level 2 Foundation Leasehold qualification. New course is 100% online Video, infographic and text-based learning Get your results instantly with our multiple choice exam that takes less than an hour   The new course is 100% online and on-demand so you can learn in bite-sized chunks to suit you and to fit around your other commitments. Our Level 2 Leasehold qualification is fully aligned with the Ofqual criteria for online learning and replaces the

The Building Safety Bill 2020 was published on 20 July 2020, at a time when landlord and tenant professionals were distracted by the publication of the Law Commission’s three blockbuster reports on Leasehold Reform. It was therefore easy to miss the (rather more immediate) proposals in Part 4 of the draft Bill to bring in a whole new category of statutory charges for leaseholders, akin to service charges.  The proposals apply to fire safety charges for leaseholders in blocks of flats with more than 5 stor

The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) is hosting its annual Conference with a twist for 2020, as the event will be a week of online seminars held from Monday 12 October – Thursday 15 October.  Anna Bailey, ALEP Founder and Director, explains: “Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges for us all, we’ve worked hard to make it ‘business as usual’ for ALEP. We’ve already turned a number of our scheduled events into online sessions, and the Annual Conference is no di

A residential development site on the main road to Solihull with planning permission to build more than 200 homes has been bought for £1.8 million, thanks to Siddall Jones. The Birmingham property agents have arranged the purchase of Lyndon Place on the Coventry Road from the owners, Property Alliance Group Ltd, for a private client. This prime development site adjoins the Westley Brook Green Wedge, part of Sheldon Country Park, a designated Green Belt area and recognised Site of Local Importance for Natu

Siddall Jones has been appointed to sell the last remaining plot of land on St Paul’s Square in Birmingham. The Birmingham property agents won a competitive pitch to market the development opportunity on the corner of St Pauls Square, adjacent to Henry Wongs restaurant. The site, which is on the market for £700,000 has planning permission for a four storey building, including retail or commercial use on the ground floor with three large, luxury two bedroom apartments on the three floors above. Ed Siddall-

A busy rental market combined with unsettled economic conditions unfortunately increases the possibility of some letting agents charging tenants prohibited fees, according to PayProp. The rental payment automation platform says agents must do everything they can to comply with the Tenant Fees Act – which was extended to cover all tenancies in June – while warning tenants to familiarise themselves with the legislation. Charging of banned fees could become a bigger issue While the majority of letting agenci

A new property inspector has been appointed at Principle Estate Management to support the company’s continued growth in the South East. The Birmingham-based business has recruited Carrie-Anne Bowden-Baker to become the third member of its property inspection team, taking the firm’s total staffing up to 25. Ms Bowden-Baker, who has spent seven years in the property sector, lives in Carshalton, Surrey, within 90 minutes of all Principle’s southern properties. She carried out property inspections in her role

Practice Direction 55C was published in early August 2020, to come into force on 23 August 2020 setting out procedures for new claims by landlords against tenants issued on or after 3 August 2020 (see article . It also set out how to “reactivate” stayed claims (those issued before 3 August 2020) when the stay of possession proceedings ended on 23 August 2020. Following an eleventh-hour u-turn, the end of the stay was extended until 19 September 2020. This means that stayed claims issued before 3 August 20

The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) has welcomes the CMA’s enforcement action against four of the UK’s house builders over their mis-selling of leasehold properties.  As well as mis-selling of properties, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will also investigate evidence surrounding potentially unfair terms concerning ground rent.  Mark Chick, Director of ALEP, said:   “This is very welcome news for the sector. For many years ALEP has been campaigning to highlight lea