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LionHeart offers a range of support and services to RICS members and their families who face ill health, disability, unemployment, family separation and living with debt. From legal advice and counselling to befriending and financial support, LionHeart does all that it can to make life easier. LionHeart are looking for ambitious, committed people to join its board of trustees and sub-committees.  Are you a strategic thinker with the experience and motivation to help lead an organisation in its next exciti

Brethertons is pleased to welcome Bejul Lakhani-Lever as the latest addition to their Commercial Property team.   With over ten years of Commercial Property specialism, Bejul’s wide range of experience will prove an invaluable asset to the established team at Brethertons. Her expertise includes Landlord and Tenant matters, acquisitions, disposals, secured lending, conditional contracts, option agreements, insolvency sales, pension fund sales and purchases and property aspects of corporate transactions. In

Bishop & Sewell, a leading full service Central London law firm, announces the promotion of two existing Partners, Chris Macartney and David Little, to the Equity Partnership team with immediate effect. Chris Macartney, is a Partner in the Landlord & Tenant team and is a specialist in the niche area of leasehold enfranchisement with extensive experience in this area, acting for both landlords and tenants in contentious and non-contentious matters. He has considerable experience in leasehold reform issues,

A new development made up of some of Birmingham’s most expensive apartments is to be managed by Principle Estate Management. The Turner Consultancy has appointed Principle to look after 14 luxury units at Bristol Court, 248-250 Bristol Road in Edgbaston, which are each priced from £450,000 to £495,000. The two and three bedroomed apartments have been built to extremely high specifications on the site of a former Victorian hotel, ranging in size from 1,200 sq ft to 2,400 sq ft. Asad Adras, project manager

Seven of the UK’s leading property guardian firms have come together to form the sector’s first trade association to lead on safety and standards, to represent and promote the industry, and to foster best practice. The Property Guardian Providers Association (PGPA) has been warmly welcomed by all parties in a debate on property guardians in the House of Lords on Monday, and government Minister Lord Bourne announced the government would be seeking to meet the association soon. The PGPA, which is founded jo

In the first in a series on diversity and inclusion within the property management sector, Neil Jinks gives an insight into how employing a diverse workforce can benefit your business. The research makes a compelling case: diversity and inclusion is good for business. Countless studies demonstrate that a diverse approach leads to greater innovation, faster growth and businesses that outperform the competition. So why doesn’t everyone have a diverse workforce? From my experience, even when the will exists,

A Suffolk-based property management company is the subject of a filmed business case study by mobile phone giant Vodafone. The Sudbury headquarters of Block Management UK Ltd were host to a professional film crew who spent two days there and on the road with one of our experienced property managers. The film features an interview with Managing Director David Collinson as well as a site visit to a Cambridgeshire estate with experienced property manager Josh Edgar. The case study came about when Vodafone id

Principle Estate Management has won a contract to manage a block of apartments near to the University of Birmingham. The company has been appointed to look after Chapter Court on Heeley Road in Selly Oak, Birmingham on behalf of Chapter Court Management Co Ltd. The modern, 12-flat block was built in around 2006 and is 75% rented by individual owners – many of those students and professionals at the university. Principle handles all property management issues and ongoing administrative duties for the manag

The chairman of property management and surveying group Scanlans is celebrating a 40-year career milestone.   Ian Stanistreet considered becoming a journalist or lawyer after leaving high school in 1978 but got a job as a trainee surveyor with Manchester city centre practice Frank Westbrook on £25 a week.    At the time, the practice was owned by Frank’s son Neil, a former Lord Mayor of Manchester who was later knighted.   Ian, 58, qualified in 1987 and shortly afterwards acquired the firm when Neil retir

2018 marks Merco's 10th Birthday!  This time 10 years ago, award-winning founding director, Simon Dresdner, launched Merco from his own garden shed. A frustrated ex-property manager, inspired by his own negative experiences, he decided to give Greater Manchester what it was sorely lacking; a skilled and reliable cleaning company. After starting out with himself as the sole employee, he went on to build our fantastic company, which now employs over 100 staff. This 10-year milestone marks a decade of rap

Pennycuick Collins has marked the retirement of Peter Dening at a celebratory lunch for staff at the firm’s Hagley Road offices. Peter has enjoyed a long and successful career working in Birmingham’s property sector having joined James and Lister Lea as a management surveyor in 1975, with direct control of the management of a residential property portfolio. Peter moved to Pennycuick & Brown, now known as Pennycuick Collins, in 1987, and was promoted to Partner in 1990, with responsibility for the resident

QUESTION I would appreciate some guidance on how to tackle being threatened with legal action by a contractor for non settlement of an invoice when the work was not done correctly. I'm one of four Directors of a MCL for a residential estate consisting of 122 leasehold one bedroom flats and maisonettes who own the freehold. Directors are elected leaseholders who voluntarily manage the non-profit Management Company assisted by a managing agent. In September 2017 we sought quotes to replace an ageing interc