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July is the Citizens Advice Bureau’s scam awareness month.  Landlords, property owners and investors, particularly overseas investors, are not immune to sophisticated property fraud and scams.  With property commanding ever higher prices, it is important to be aware of potential scams and fraud and, where possible, counter the risks.  Boodle Hatfield’s Nikki Yates explains how. Property scams typically happen at the time of purchase or sale, but the owner should also take precautions once the property is

Grosvenor Systems, the team behind Propman, one of the UK’s leading block management and accounting systems, is set to launch a brand-new survey app for property managers. Launching this August, the new Propman Survey App, will enable property managers to complete surveys on-site and in real-time, as well as uploading the data directly back into Propman. Nic Dodwell, Managing Director at Grosvenor Systems comments “The demand on property managers has increased significantly and there’s never been a more i

There is an unfortunate issue in recruitment I would like to address. Unfortunately some candidates personal data, is being used without their knowledge. We occasionally find that candidate CV’s have been sent to perspective employers without their knowledge. In most cases this information is not well received by candidates or employers. However there are a few that are willing to accept it. If poor practice continues to happen without reprimand, it will continue. As an employer, you need to ensure your b

The YLP (Young Leasehold Professionals) are delighted to announce that one of their members has become the youngest ever person to sit and pass the MIRPM exam. Charlie Crawley of Pier Management took the exam at a tender 20 years of age and last week found out that she had comfortably passed the exam She now has the honour of not only adding MIRPM to her name but also AssocRICS. This is a fantastic achievement for someone of her age and one that we hope will inspire our members to continue their personal

QUESTION Our Freeholder has lodged a High Court action to "Strike out" our RTM. The reason being that our "complex estate" is made up of several structurally separate buildings. The RTM says it is one building the Freeholder says it's several. The Freeholder has since October 2016 demanded that Service Charge payments be paid to them, as the Freeholder is legally responsible for the building. The RTM state they are legal and also demand the service charge. I have advised both parties that until t

QUESTION I have an RPI Lease which has an annual ground rent more than 0.1% of the capital value which is now not approved of by Nationwide.  Is this likely to cause me a problem in the future? ANSWER Many thanks for your enquiry. Due to the rapidly developing nature of the issue - and with further changes afoot - it is very difficult to provide a definitive answer as to whether or not the ground rent escalation clause in your lease is likely to cause a problem for you in the future.  Back in May Nationwi

Zoe Smith has joined Cobalt recruitment in the capacity of Associate Director. She will continue to provide a high level of service to the Property Management sector and focus will be on the continuous improvement of onsite staffing solutions.

A common misconception when people purchase their freeholds is they believe it to be the end of the story. This is often not the case and steps should be taken to protect the position. Why do you need new leases if you have bought your freehold? Although you may own the freehold of your building, the original leases remain in place. They cannot be “cancelled” as they regulate the legal relationship between the flat owners and the freehold company. Taxation Issues The usual position when purchasing the fre

What is ground rent? If you own a long lease on a property in England and Wales you will normally have to pay rent to the freeholder or landlord of the property. Commonly a nominal amount (e.g. £50, £100 p.a.). The ground rent will either be fixed meaning that a certain amount is paid every year for the duration of the term, or escalating whereby the amount increases by a certain amount throughout the term (e.g. doubling, increasing by a specified amount at a specific point in the term of the lease su

Ground rents for leasehold properties are making the news. Greedy landlords and developers are reserving very large grounds rents, which escalate over the lease term to what can be pretty gigantic sums for innocent homebuyers. Campaigns are being waged and politicians are starting to pay attention to the issue. It is worthwhile considering why leasehold tenure of property exists as a matter of law. One advantage of leasehold property is to overcome the difficulties with making positive obligations (i.e. m

What if you’ve found the flat of your dreams but the lease term is short?  If you’ve found a property that you like but the lease has anything fewer than 85 years left to run, alarm bells should be ringing. This is because once a lease gets to less than 80 years, something called ‘marriage value’ comes into play, which makes extending it much more expensive. It gets even more difficult if the lease has fewer than 70 years to run, as lenders will generally not grant a mortgage. Care needs to be taken if t

The Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 enables eligible leaseholders to acquire a 90-year extension to their existing lease, subject to a peppercorn ground rent. The other main terms of the lease, such as service charge and obligations to repair, are to remain substantially the same, although limited changes are allowed in order to update the document or correct any defects which may exist in a poorly drafted lease. The key qualification criteria for a lease extension are that the or