Featured Articles

Residents at a block of flats in South London that is fitted with the same cladding as Grenfell Tower are being asked to pay more than £30,000 each to replace it.   Leaseholders of the Citiscape block have said they have been handed a combined bill of £2m to remove the aluminiumcomposite material (ACM) panels, which are thought to have helped spread the horrific fire.   The owner of the building — which is one of 228 to fail combustibility tests — said they were not responsible for the cost of replacing t

Leasehold houses and flats have had a lot of coverage in the press recently culminating in the report prepared for Sajid Javid (Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government) on abuses of the leasehold system in the housing market. As a result of all this coverage, more and more people are becoming aware of the length of their lease and that maybe it is not as long as they thought it was. Here are five good reasons why you should consider extending your lease: 1.  A lease is a diminishing asset

QUESTION I am the Chairman, of a Residents Association that manages a 17 apartment, 6 floor, leasehold block, with a share of the freehold. One of the lessees wants to have a Labrador dog and has asked for my opinion. The lease, common to all, has a paragraph which relates to dogs which doesn’t appear to forbid dogs nor does it allow them: ‘Not to keep or allow to be kept any bird dog or other animal in or upon the said flat or garage which may cause damage nuisance or annoyance to the lessees or other oc

The Court of Appeal has just dismissed the eagerly awaited appeal of the decision in Mundy v The Trustees of the Sloane Stanley Estate. Consequently, valuers should continue following the guidance set out in the Upper Tribunal’s decision. Leaseholders with less than 80 years remaining on their lease will feel the pinch but landlords should see a benefit following the dismissal. Mundy concerned the valuation of a lease extension under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, specificall

Yashmin Mistry, Partner at JPC Law highlights an area of law of interest to tenants when they are fed up with poor management and the building does not comply with the criteria required to purchase the freehold or exercise the right to manage – The Right to Appoint a Manager and/or Receiver.   A common complaint of tenants is that their property has been badly managed and/or the landlord is collecting excessive amounts of service/administration charges.  To deal with these problems, the First Tier Tribuna

In contrast to the supply contracts for individual flats, energy contracts covering the supplies to communal areas are classed as business contracts as the contracting party is almost always a company, as opposed to an individual resident. As such, unless the usage level at a particular meter is below the 'de-minimis' threshold specified by HMRC (currently under 12,000 kWh per year for electricity and 52,764 kWh per year for gas), then suppliers will charge VAT @ 20% as default. In addition, they will cha

Congratulations – you have just enfranchised the block of flats in which you live and you are now a proud member of the freehold company. Or perhaps you have just completed a successful Right to Manage claim and you are now in control of the management of the block. So, erm… now what? Acquiring the Management Function There are two ways in which the tenants may acquire responsibility for the management of their building – by enfranchisement pursuant to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development A

OakNorth – the bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs – has provided £2m of debt finance to Warwick Estates, one of the UK’s largest property management companies which last year gained investment from Sir Rod Aldridge, the founder of Capita. The £2m financing represents the first phase of a new relationship between OakNorth and Warwick Estates. The finance provided by OakNorth will be used to implement a ‘buy & build’ strategy to consolidate a highly fragmented market. Warwick’s ambitions are to acquir

The property management industry is now all too aware of the devastating consequences of a building which is not fire-safe, particularly where, as has been alleged following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the cause was defective cladding. Most landlords of blocks which use the same cladding are keen to replace or modernise aspects of the buildings to prevent, insofar as is possible, further disaster. Where a building is identified as needing remedial works to rectify any fire concerns, but at the same time t

This year we will be publishing our annual Hot 100 feature which highlights some of the most influential people within the Property Management industry. We have listened to your feedback and are now accepting submissions for the Hot 100 2018 until 1st June 2018, in order to give everyone across the industry sufficient time to put themselves forward. If you would also like to nominate someone who you think deserves to be included this year please send us their name, contact details and reasons why you t

For leaseholders wanting control over the day-to-day management of their block, obtaining ‘the Right to Manage’ is an option that can do exactly what it says on the tin. Anyone buying a leasehold property should go into it with his or her eyes open, yet even the most well informed leaseholder can feel frustrated at the lack of control over day-to-day decisions over how their property is managed, and the service charge budget allocated. By applying for the Right to Manage (RTM), leaseholder owners can take

So you have been tasked to find the perfect candidate for your organisation, but the journey is long and the road is hard. In a competitive and candidate- driven market like today’s property industry, you need to know exactly how to attract the best talent and persuade them choose you above your competitors.   Sell, sell, sell The balance of power has changed and as an employer you need to sell the job to the candidate as much as the candidate has to sell him/herself to you. Find out what makes the candid