Featured Articles

A former warehouse for exotic silks and textiles that’s now used as a restaurant and wine bar with 14 apartments above is to be looked after by Principle Estate Management. The Tapestry Building at 16 New Street, opposite Liverpool Street Station in London, was formerly known as the Old Bengal Warehouse, and dates back to the 18th century. The property is part of the landmark Devonshire Square development, a collection of historic buildings that now forms a popular social, trading and residential developm

The landlord in this case (Sequent Nominees Limited (formerly Rotrust Nominees Limited) v Hautford Limited [2019] UKSC47) has succeeded before the Supreme Court where it had lost at every level below that. The leaseholder wanted to change the use of part of the property to residential. This is likely to have enabled it to acquire the freehold via compulsory purchase powers under the enfranchisement legislation on the basis that it then fell within the definition of a “house”. The property in question comp

BlockRecruit are on a mission to help all candidates and clients become more resilient, healthy and happy people. Following on from Zoe's talks at the IRPM Regionals raising awareness on wellbeing and mental health in Block Management, BlockRecruit are launching the “12 Weeks of Wellbeing”.   Whether you’re doing this for you or you’re a Team Manager and looking at how you can better support your team members, the 12 Weeks of Wellbeing programme is designed to share tips, guidance, exercises and techniq

The winners for the News on the Block Property Management Awards 2019 were announced at our prestigious awards ceremony on 22nd November at City Central at the HAC, Chiswell Street, London EC1Y 2BQ.  We had over 800 guests in attendance who celebrated the achievements of their peers over the last year.    The integrity of our awards is of paramount concern, and we were delighted to have been awarded the Independent Awards Council Gold Awards Trust Mark. May we take this opportunity to thank our panel of j

Award winning chartered surveyors Pennycuick Collins have been appointed as managing agents of the Old Library in Stourbridge.  This is the third new block management appointment based in the Midlands for the residential service charge team in just over a month. Director of residential service charge Lyndsey Cannon-Leach, commented: “We are thrilled to be adding the Old Library to our portfolio. It is visually, a spectacular residential scheme we are very excited to be managing, which will increase our ov

London based property management company Crabtree has appointed a new Managing Director – Chris March. Chris stepped into the role after long-standing MD Rob Robertson decided it was time to leave after 35 years of building the company from just 3 members to the established business it is today.   Chosen for the role because of his experience in team building, management and building a property portfolio, Chris has spent his entire career in the property sector. After selling his own agency to a large plc

Chartered Surveyors, Hamilton Darcey LLP welcome Ben Jeanes as Partner. Ben joins Hamilton Darcey LLP with over 12 years of Surveying experience across the commercial and high-end residential sector. Ben has worked with clients ranging from Right to Manage (RTM) companies and private landlords, to asset managers, developers and managing agents, and joins Hamilton Darcey LLP ready to help further expand the firm’s Licence to Alter service and Major Works project management.   Ben, who started with the comp

QUESTION  I have 64 years left on the lease of my flat and have recently been advised to have a lease extension. Why do I need to do this and what impact does it have on my property and its value? Also, is it an expensive process? ANSWER Thank you for your question. All leaseholders at some point will want to extend their lease, leaseholders should be made aware that their lease is a diminishing asset and as the term of their lease reduces so does the value of their lease. It is vital that if you as a lea

QUESTION  I am thinking of investing in a buy-to-let property. How does it work if I buy a flat with a sitting tenant? Is there anything I should be aware of? ANSWER Purchases of residential properties subject to an existing tenancy are not particularly unusual and when a buy to let property is being purchased, it may be considered beneficial to have a good tenant in situ.  However, there are a number of potential pitfalls and issues, which make it vital that anyone seeking to purchase such a property is

Could keyless technology improve security in the blocks you manage? Sean Cassidy looks at the alternatives to keys and fobs. Physical keys take two forms. They can be the traditional metal cut key which has been around for hundreds of years and offers varying levels of protection from copying.  Or they can take the form of a fob or card, known as a ‘token’, each with a unique code or ‘credentials’. These are presented to a reader positioned at the entrance to a building and access is granted to anyone wit

Principle Estate Management has had to relocate onto a new floor in its Birmingham headquarters after tripling the space it needed after just 18 months. The company initially bought five desks for its city centre office when it was launched in spring 2018 by Brett Williams, the former head of residential property management at CPBigwood, and a past-chairman of ARMA. But it quickly became the UK’s fastest growing residential estate management business, and now has well over 150 developments where it manage

Award-winning property management law firm, Brady Solicitors, has invested in substantial new premises on Regent Street, Nottingham, in a move that signals its commitment to both the city and the leasehold sector. The firm completed the purchase of the premises in April, and moved in in early August following an intensive refurbishment project and a six-figure investment, working closely with Nottingham City Council to retain the key features of the 1850s listed building whilst creating a modern, open-pla