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Property management and surveying firm Scanlans has announced a series of promotions and appointments across three of its offices. Philip Manson has been promoted to partner and head of valuation in the Manchester office, where Anthony Kingdon and Mike Dutson have joined as a property manager and senior building surveyor respectively. Across the Pennines, David West has been appointed as the new head of Scanlans’ Leeds office as successor to Paul Long, who has relocated to the south. David is an associat

Background to Greening The electric car and use of lithium batteries and the like will transform the way in which we use the car and don’t think for a moment that this will take 25 years or more – it won’t; within a decade the use of the combustion engine as the primary choice of powering a car will be well on the way towards the history books. Other green initiatives and technologies that affect the built environment will also start to become the norm. There is no doubt there is a developing wider appeti

QUESTION We manage a large block of flats with a high level roof in need of repair. Unfortunately the contractors we use for this are unable to undertake the works unless we instruct immediately. They are steeple Jacks and we do not need to use scaffold which obviously has an impact on costings. Approximately £40,000.00 worth of scaffold would be required by a normal roofing contractor. Would this increase on costs to the Leaseholders be a consideration for undertaking the works without the need of a sect

QUESTION I wonder if you have any advice regarding Sharia finance as conveyancing.  Solicitors and freeholders I have contacted are not very clear on these.  We are presently handling our first conveyance where Sharia finance is involved and it is proving very complicated. From my research I have deduced when an Islamic sharia lender funds a leasehold purchase the lender becomes the head lessee and issues a sub-lease to the borrower usually for about 99 years even when the original lease is for much longe

QUESTION  I am a leaseholder flat owner experiencing ongoing and severe noise nuisance and antisocial behaviour in the form of loud banging and slamming of doors and objects against the floor of an upstairs flat in my block. This impacts above my ceiling where I sleep in my bedroom.  I have now not slept properly for two nights. This noise nuisance also goes on all day as well. Apparently the owners of the flat above me are away and the flat is apparently officially empty, although I have heard people mov

QUESTION We manage a block of flats. Recently, a tenant of our leaseholder parked a caravan right outside our block of flats on the public road and is using it, presumably for some of his family members to live in it. It is an eyesore and it is blocking the view of some flats. One resident complained to the council and the council said that they cannot do anything about it. In addition, he has a big caravan in our private car park which he is using to store his materials. If that's not enough, they have p

One of the problems with Estate management is that service charges are generally under estimated and management companies fail to reveal their charge rates unlike accountants, solicitors and surveyors who inform of an hourly rate and in some cases estimate particular issues in hours and rate for a total cost.   Estate projects have to be extras because the service charges are generally inadequate. Also Estate management charges of 15% of project costs as extras including consultant project coordination ch

I asked a few people what they believed the word ‘compliance’ meant. Here are some of their definitions: To comply with set rules To agree with something (rules/procedures) and follow Meeting agreed criteria that need to be followed To comply with regulations As you can see, they are all roughly correct as the Oxford Dictionary definition of the noun Compliance, reads ‘acting in accordance to certain accepted standards’. ‘Compliance’ in its business sense refers to companies complying with rules and

We have extended the Property Management Awards entry deadline. You now have until 5pm on the 27th September to compile your submission - this is the very latest you can submit your entry and no entries will be accepted after this date. Why you should enter PMAs 2017 1: Free to Enter Free to enter. However, entrants who are shortlisted are obligated to purchase at least one ticket to the Awards. 2: No Need for Nomination There is no need for a nomination for this year's PMAs. Anyone in the industry can

Imagine the scene: a leaseholder comes home from work at the end of a long day to find the neighbour from downstairs fuming about a leak from your flat because her ceiling is dripping water. So first you switch off the water – assuming you know where the stopcock is.  But it isn’t immediately obvious where the leak has come from. Carpets and floorboards may have to come up, or showers may have to be dug out from behind tiles,  probably all for the sake of finding a tiny rupture in a pipe or joint that is

Block Recruit, block management recruitment specialists, announce the promotion of Zoe Southwell to Senior Recruitment Consultant. She’ll have the dual responsibility of ensuring all candidates and clients are delivered the exceptional service levels they pride themselves on, whilst also acting as a mentor for the Block Recruit team. “Zoe has been a key part of our success and we were thrilled to promote her to this important position.” Alice Cadfan-Lewis, Director Miss Southwell joined the company in

“I have read and heard something about this GDPR, it sounds as though it is bad news and we may not be able to do business without major changes. Is that true?” Over the recent months there has been much written and said about the GDPR, some of the information has been misunderstood. The reason for the GDPR is there have been many changes in technology and court rulings which require the law to be updated. The changes which have been made are largely to reflect these changes. Some things to consider; This