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.

MetroPM calls for further clarity on apartment block cladding compliance

The government must provide further clarity on cladding compliance if tens of thousands of flat owners are not to be frozen out of the housing market indefinitely, experts at block management firm MetroPM are warning. Since the Grenfell Fire tragedy, the construction industry, surveyors, management companies and lenders have worked together to produce EWS1, a new form designed to show that for apartment buildings over 18m, a risk assessment on the external wall system has been undertaken by a suitable exp

Principle to look after historic industrial conversion in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter

An historic foundry in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter that was converted into nearly 100 luxury apartments is to be looked after by Principle Estate Management. The contract to manage the Grade II-listed Derwent Foundry, which dates from the Edwardian era, has come from Simarc Property Management Ltd. Principle already manages multiple sites for Simarc, one example being plush apartments each worth approximately £3 million in an exclusive block at Acre House in Covent Garden, London. Derwent Foundry, situ

TNA Building Services working with Leaksafe Solutions

TNA Building Services are proud to be working with Leaksafe Solutions to install leak detection systems to over 400 properties in a managed block in West London.  The leak detection systems are being installed to all areas where there is a potential for an escape of water such as under baths and showers, behind toilets and to kitchen areas. The system will provide a valuable early warning via text message of any issues giving the option for residents or building managers to respond, isolate water and dram

Agents can help landlords understand new rules and reduce the need to repossess

Neil Cobbold, Chief Sales Officer at PayProp, comments: After six months and two extensions, the ban on evictions come to an end on September 20, with courts to hear rental property repossession cases again from the following day. The resumption of evictions will be a welcome milestone for landlords who have had to wait six months to take action against tenants with serious rent arrears or those committing offences of anti-social behaviour or domestic abuse. Letting agents will need to make sure that land

MRI Software Completes Acquisition of 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 completed the previously announced sale and acquisition of Priority’s RentPayment business, which is comprised of the RentPayment.com™, StorageRentPayment.com™ and DuesPayment.com™ real estate payment brands. Going forward, Priority will provide ongoing payme

Charity launches free domestic abuse advice line for businesses

A new advice line for businesses supporting employees experiencing or at risk of domestic abuse has been launched by crisis support charity Hestia. 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men will experience domestic abuse at some point in their lifetime with 10 per cent of victims reporting abuse at work (TUC, 2014).  The Everyone’s Business Advice Line will be a point of contact for businesses, supporting them on how to approach disclosures of domestic abuse by their employees, particularly in light of Covid-19. They w

Rebrand For Award-Winning Mediation Chambers

In Place of Strife, a leading mediation service provider, has rebranded as IPOS Mediation. The award-winning dispute resolution chambers, with offices in London and Dublin, has  changed its name as part of a new strategy to strengthen the company’s mission and modernise the business.   By rebranding, IPOS Mediation aims to ensure that the company’s services are communicated clearly to a wider audience, and that their industry-leading expertise is recognised across all sectors.   Mark Jackson-Stops, Head o

The Law Commission’s Report on Leasehold

I, for one, was not holding my breath on the 21 July 2020 in anticipation of the three reports to be issued by the Law Commission on Leasehold Reform. As a valuer in the sector, I would describe myself as cynically indifferent to the whole question and subject of Leasehold Reform. It would also be fair to say that it was this cynicism that led me to make a Freedom of Information Act request to the Law Commission, asking them to declare how much money had been spent on the process to date. I admit I was fe

Right to Manage Case Law Review & Comment

Katie Orr of JB Leitch's litigation team has written an insightful new article on a recent determination by the FTT, asking where an RTM company failed to respond to a landlord’s request for further information (and documents were subsequently supplied late during the course of proceedings), was determination by the FTT unfair and had the landlord been given adequate opportunity to respond to the documents supplied?   The background In Assethold Ltd v 63 Holmes Road (London) RTM Co Ltd [2020], the landlor

Residential Possessions

From today Courts will start to deal with residential evictions again, though there are new rules that must be followed. In addition, and since we last reported, most notices to quit or possession notices must now give 6 months' notice and will remain valid for 10 months following service.   What happens to possession proceedings now that the ban has been lifted?   Landlords will need to follow the new CPR Practice Direction 55C.    To continue a frozen claim that was issued before 3 August 2020, includ

Order for Possession Case Law Review & Comment

Solicitor Amy Kennedy of JB Leitch, provides a review of recent case law in a new article, asking that where a borrower appealed against a court’s refusal to set aside a possession order, was the district judge correct to find that the possession order was a ‘final order’? The background In Sangha v Amicus Finance plc (in administration) [2020], Amicus had taken a first legal charge over a property by way of security for a loan to the appellant. Having failed to repay the loan, possession proceedings were

REIMAGINING RENT: REPORT UNVEILS INNOVATION IN AND THE FUTURE OF THE PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR

Unveils findings following three-year accelerator programme working with 19 mission-driven ventures Calls for new approaches to support housing innovation, including patient, impact-led capital, a network of housing accelerators and stronger impact measurement As the private rental evictions ban ends, key recommendations for change are presented to policymakers and influencers Tuesday 22nd September 2020: The Young Foundation has today unveiled the findings from its Reimagining Ren

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