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With diesel and petrol cars being phased out by 2040, electric cars are becoming a common sight on our roads. This month, Essex-based Future Group is responding to the growth in plug-in vehicles by launching a new company, Future Fuel, which is partnering with Wallbox to deliver a simple charging solution to the block management sector. Wallbox manufactures innovative, intelligent and inexpensive charging points for electric and hybrid cars. One simple wall-mounted control panel in the car park will feed

We always bring Trace and Access cover to the attention of our customers.  Some policies - not those provided by Deacon - do not include it, but we think it can be essential for a shared building like a block of flats. In any property, the apparent damage from a leak or breakage may be some distance from the cause. A small wear-and-tear leak from a drain pipe or appliance hose, for instance, may insidiously drip for years and work its way through the fabric of the building. Then one day, maybe years later

Property management hasn’t always been considered the most exciting part of the residential sector. It is often associated with routine work: changing lightbulbs; tending to communal gardens; managing the car park. We have always known that our role is about much more than this. While we often work in the background, what we do is fundamentally important, certainly to the residents of the 185,000 homes across the UK that we oversee. The changing role of property management is likely to be brought into sha

QUESTION I am a leaseholder of a property with a total of 7 leaseholders. 5 of the leaseholders are also freeholder as they bought the property 5 years ago. We were unable to raise funds to join in with the enfranchisement. I have noticed on companies house they have taken out 2 bank loans using the property as security. Within the printed document it states the bank can take each leasehold as security. Can my freeholder take out this type of loan without consulting us? ANSWER Obviously, in order to give

I have often been asked, “so what do you do?”. This has been a tricky question to answer due to the diverse scope of services that we offer. Whilst it remains a Building Surveyors bread and butter to diagnose defects and identify potential problems, project work has driven the need to bridge a gap. Very simply, an Architect’s expertise is to design, a Quantity Surveyor controls cost, a Clerk of Works reports on quality and a Project Manager will make sure the team is cohesive. So, where does the Building

The enjoyment of flat roof areas as a roof terrace by flat owners can be a thorny issue. Where a flat is built by a reputable builder with the benefit of a roof terrace you would usually expect to see that all necessary statutory consents were obtained before the flat was sold off on a long lease and that the lease grants the flat owner the entitlement to use it. In this case there should be no problem leaving aside the risk that the builder may erect other blocks in the vicinity that then affect the enjo

Employees at FirstPort have voted overwhelmingly to make Centrepoint the company’s official charity partner for 2019. FirstPort has committed to matching every donation it receives for Centrepoint, pound for pound to make a real difference to the 10,000 young people across the country the charity supports every year. “We are delighted to be partnering with Centrepoint – the charity giving homeless young people a chance to turn their lives around, build firm foundations and prepare for a future where they

Current guidelines offered by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) suggest a  typical operating life of around 20 years for an electric traction lift and 15 years for a hydraulic lift. While these are only guidelines, many lifts remain in service long after their expected lifespan. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that many people do not even consider the future of the lift within their building until it starts to become unreliable. Unfortunately on many occasions, by the

The team at NOTB offer their deepest condolences to Anna Bailey and her family on the sad loss of her beloved brother; a statement from ALEP was released;   It is with great sadness that we announce the death of ALEP co-founder and Director, Alex Greenslade. Alex, 51, who founded the professional membership association with his sister, Anna Bailey, died suddenly at home on 12 December. Alex had worked with leaseholders since 1998 and was also co-founder and Chairman of the Leasehold Group of companies

The Law Commission has today published its eagerly awaited Consultation Paper on commonhold reform. Titled ‘Reinvigorating commonhold: the alternative to leasehold ownership’ the consultation is now open until 10th March 2019.  The government’s recent consultation 'Tackling unfair practices in the leasehold market' raised many questions concerning the future of leasehold as a form of residential land tenure in the 21st Century. It also indicated that Commonhold should be reviewed as an alternative to t

AskPorter has announced an investment from the Google Assistant Investments Program for the AI driven property management platform. At its heart sits ‘Porter,’ a digital artificial intelligence assistant for agents, property managers, and landlords that eliminates mundane tasks & delivers fast, efficient customer service. From one single platform, property & facilities managers, and landlords, can automate their workflows with AskPorter which over time learns and improves how they work in a completely cus

Brethertons are excited to welcome Enrique Green, Foreign Qualified Argentinian Lawyer (Abogado), to its Company Commercial team.   Enrique’s specialist experience extends to work in Entertainment, IP and Corporate Law as well as wide experience in in-house legal advice at multinational companies and all legal aspects of corporate business activities.   Having moved to England in 2014, Enrique has worked as in-house Counsel and as a contracts advisor for companies including Anglo American PLC and Rolls-Ro