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A London apartment block described as “the UK’s most notorious address” is to be transformed in a £400m overhaul. The owners of Dolphin Square in Pimlico — which has been associated with several scandals — have unveiled plans to add 200 new flats and refurbish all 13 “houses” in the 1,200-apartment complex.    As part of the proposal from architects Eric Parry, 7,000 windows will be replaced and a gym and offices will be built underground. The 7.5-acre complex was built in 1937 and quickly became popular

We are delighted to announce the winners of the Property Management Awards 2017!  Thank you to all those who attended the awards ceremony on 30th November - you made it a magical, unforgettable night! Over 800 braced Supernova's doors making it our biggest PMAs yet and what a night it was! We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Judges, Mike Basquill, Richard Berridge, Andrew Bulmer, Ruth Campbell, Ian Fletcher and Bob Smytherman. Last but not least, we would like to thank all of our wonderful

The property industry is a diverse field that includes amongst other things planning, organising, designing, constructing and conveyancing. It’s global, and therefore it involves people of different education and social backgrounds. The property industry is a bridge between the financial sector and the built environment. When I went to university, at London South Bank, they taught us a lot of good things. These include the practical elements I use daily in my job, for example •   Research •   Measurement

Introduction As landlords, tenants, management companies and managing agents, if you own property or act in property matters you will need legal advice and assistance at some stage.  It may be a simple one-off piece of advice or it may be a more involved matter.  Where do you go?   How do you know that the solicitor on the other end of the telephone will have the experience you need? First Call One would expect the first point of call to be your existing solicitor.   As they will have acted for you in t

‘Unfair!’ shouted the leaseholders; ‘unclear!’ shouted the professional advisors when the additional 3% rate of SDLT was introduced and applied to certain lease extension transactions. Following the Government’s introduction of the higher rate of SDLT, an additional 3% SDLT surcharge applied to lease extensions at a property which was not your only property when the agreed premium was £40,000 or more.  Now, the Government has announced in the Autumn 2017 Budget that, from 22 November 2017, it will grant r

In the Tribunal, experts need to know what a successful outcome looks like. If you consult a life coach, or listen to a motivational speaker, it will be more than likely that within their repertoire of “take away” one liners, the mantra of “you need to know what success looks like” will be high up on their list of ways to achieve your goals, ambitions and even perhaps even enlightenment. As expert advisors, that mantra should be our driving force. If followed, not only is it of great reputational value, i

Almost 3 years ago Adiuvo were fortunate to have an application for a part time customer service position. The applicant, Manas was in Ireland studying for his Masters and had experience if not in actual property management, then in running outbound call centres in India where he is originally from. Over the first year Manas continued part time, working the 20 hours his visa allowed and began to learn about the UK property market and emergency maintenance associated with same whilst he taught us as much o

Hyperoptic, the UK’s largest residential gigabit broadband provider, today announces that it is now working with 100 UK developers. The list includes Barratt London, Berkeley Homes, Crest Nicholson, Great Portland Estates and Stanhope. Hyperoptic works with developers to install its fibre infrastructure into existing developments across their portfolio. It has also become standard addition to the initial specifications for new developments, as it offers ‘day one’ connectivity as standard for new developme

Our first hand experience leads us to believe that there is no need to worry.  Let me first start by saying that I was unconvinced, perhaps even sceptical, of any suggestion that Electric Vehicles could meet the needs of our business. My job as Finance Director is to find the most cost effective and efficient ways to deliver our services. Whilst I do not have much control over the prices charged by suppliers and manufacturers I do however have control over running costs that have a direct impact on a comp

You may believe that being a building surveyor is a boring and uneventful occupation but this can often be far from the truth. There are occasions that make you want to laugh, cry and definitely cringe with sheer embarrassment and sometime horror. I have listed just a few funny and sometimes bizarre incidents that have happened to me while on Building Surveys. 1. Crawling through a dark loft space and coming face to face with the doll from Chucky, it gave me nightmares for a week. 2. Looking out of a chil

Evicting a tenant is often a difficult and drawn out process for residential landlords. Of course, landlords must comply with requisite notice periods and issue proceedings (mostly in the County Court) with a view to obtaining a warrant of possession of the rental property; a process which often takes several months in itself. Even after the warrant has been obtained, however, a residential landlord will often wait many weeks, if not months, for an appointment from a County Court Bailiff to attempt evicti

A recent “State of the Property Management Nation” survey revealed that the sector has enjoyed rapid growth over recent years. The demand for capable candidates, experienced in block management, is far out-stripping supply. It does, of course, take many years of dealing with every aspect of the job from issuing section 20’s and representing at the FTT, to briefing contractors and scrutinising tender documents, before a candidate truly becomes an industry professional. So the high-level candidate, with t