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Issue 102 of News on the Block has now been published. This issues includes some of the following articles:  ARMA celebrates achievements with awards Calls for minimum levels of property management training: ARMA release White Paper  A review of the IRPM Seminar 2019   Lessons to be learned: Ground rent investors and enfranchising flat owners need to be sure that leases are not defective Build to Rent special feature including:  Build-to-rent management v

If you’re a leaseholder in the first stages of considering forming a Right To Manage (RTM) company, to take over the management of the block of flats that you live in, RTM comes with some important issues to consider, so we’ve put together a few ‘at a glance’ things to think about to help you decide whether to proceed. Set out what it is you want to achieve by setting up a RTM company. If the overall aim is to save money, it’s worth doing some homework to see if this can be achieved. For example, reduci

Klevio, the makers of Klevio One, a smart intercom which allows you to open doors from anywhere using your phone, has today announced a partnership with leading managed home rental service provider, Hostmaker. Hosts will be offered an exclusive rate to install Klevio, so future guests can gain access to the property via an app on their phone.  The Klevio team, based in London, is pioneering innovation in an action we all take for granted: opening doors. Physical keys have been around for thousands of year

We bring together experts in leasehold matters from across various disciplines within the firm. The specialism we all share is in the area of statutory rights for tenants of residential leases. These rights take various forms, from the ability for tenants to extend their existing lease terms or even purchase the freehold of their building, to the legislation which affects a landlord’s ability to dispose of its interest in a block of flats. This area of law is complex and it is vital to get it right. We wo

The government has now responded to the consultation around ground rents as alluded to in the community secretary, James Brokenshire MP’s speech to the Chartered Institute of Housing Conference recently. This flows from Sajid Javid’s announcement in December 2017 as secretary of state in this regard. Other measures will ban houses being sold on a leasehold basis in certain circumstances, give freehold house owners similar service charge protections to those enjoyed by flat owners and prescribe time limits

Liverpool based property solicitors JB Leitch continue to add to an already impressive pool of expertise with a series of new appointments.  The Legal 500 firm, which acts for some of the largest organisations in the property management sector, has further bolstered its compliment of 140 staff with new senior additions to both the Commercial & Marketing departments, as well as a number of account management and supporting roles across the firm.  Sarah Hall Sarah joins as a Senior Associate, with a focus o

The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) is hosting its annual conference on Tuesday 24 September 2019.   A leading event for professionals working in leasehold enfranchisement, this year’s conference will debate and highlight issues that have influenced the sector over the last year and Commonhold and lessee disputes, along with onerous ground rents will take centre stage.   Anna Bailey, Co-founder and Director of ALEP, said: “Recent government announcements on changes to l

An accountant with nearly two decades of experience has been appointed as finance manager at Principle Estate Management as the business continues to expand. Paul Richardson, who has spent the last 18 years as financial controller at Jobson James Insurance Brokers, will be overseeing all clients’ accounts in his new role. This will include managing service charge budgets, the sales and purchase ledgers, credit control and invoicing for rents insurance and service charges. Mr Richardson, who’s an associate

In response to an increase in complex leasehold disputes for leaseholders, freeholders and managing agents, award-winning property law firm Brady Solicitors has recruited experienced property litigation specialist, Jeremy Weaver, as Head of Litigation. In the new role, Jeremy will oversee the swift and effective resolution of leasehold and service charge disputes across the firm’s core work in the residential property management sector, based at its Nottingham office.  Jeremy brings more than 17 years’ sp

MRI Software (“MRI”), a global leader in real estate software solutions, announces that it has acquired LEVERTON, a leading artificial intelligence (AI)-powered data extraction solution for real estate and corporate documents. The acquisition bolsters MRI’s comprehensive and flexible offering and gives property owners, service providers, and corporate occupiers broader access to LEVERTON’s market-leading automated lease abstraction application. With LEVERTON, organizations are able to more quickly and eff

Licence to alter can often seem like an awful lot of trouble over what might appear to be a trivial matter. Leaseholders tend to think of themselves as home owners with the right to do what they like to their own properties, even if that’s technically not the case.  And managing agents typically have enough on their plates that they’d rather not go looking for trouble. But turning a blind eye to unlicensed works is a mistake. Potentially a very big mistake. The whole point of licence to alter is to protec

Despite record-breaking heat and travel disruption, Thursday the 25th July saw colleagues from across the country convening for the second annual northern property social event. Organised by Liverpool based property solicitors JB Leitch and held in the open rooftop bar at Manchester’s acclaimed El Gato Negro restaurant, guests were able to share industry insights, ideas and opinions over informal drinks and award winning tapas. With members of JB Leitch's real estate, litigation and commercial departments