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QUESTION Can you please give advice on how Residents Associations and Management Companies will be affected and how they should handle the new General Data Protection Regulations? ANSWER As a general point all EU businesses will be affected by the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). Many of the GDPR’s main concepts and principles are not new—they are familiar from the Data Protection Act 1998. There are, however, some new elements and significant enhancements, meaning the property business will

Following recent news of upcoming regulations on managing agents, the industry’s first property management franchise scheme, SDL Property Partners is putting training first for its franchisees. As standard, franchisees already receive an initial training day prior to officially signing up as a Property Partner, and a six-day training course to get them up and running once they have joined. The course covers all aspects of property management and running their business. Once completed, franchisees can star

If there is one piece of landlord and tenant legislation that practitioners hate and tenants misunderstand it is Part 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987.  There are many problems with it and these which generally arise from poor or contradictory drafting.  More importantly it is unclear what exactly Parliament was seeking to achieve and a suspicion that its interpretation and implementation in practice goes beyond what was originally intended.  The preamble to the Act states it is “an Act to confer on

An award winning property management business based in Manchester has received a £400k investment from NPIF - FW Capital Debt Finance, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), to support its further expansion.   urbanbubble provides a full range of residential property management services.  The company was set up by MD Michael Howard in 2008 and now manages over 8000 properties across 90 residential schemes predominantly in the Manchester and Liverpool areas.   urbanbubble has recently secu

You may remember our recent article that explored the types of insurance that are critical for freeholders.   One of the biggest issues we come across is under-insurance where, as the name so aptly suggests, the value that freeholders have insured against is substantially below the actual amount they should be insured for. Just recently we came across a case where a block of flats was insured for £22 million, a not so insignificant amount. Yet, the real value was later found out to be closer to £40 millio

Bishop & Sewell, a leading full service Central London law firm, launched a refreshed brand identity and new user-friendly website this week as part of a wider strategy to raise the firm’s profile within its core Central London market as well as nationally, following its recent merger with Fisher Meredith. Bishop & Sewell was established in 1979 and has made several small acquisitions before its merger with Fisher Meredith in Summer 2017. Prior to the merger, the Partners at Bishop & Sewell had already ag

A member of the award-winning PM Legal Services team has landed a prestigious YMCA Training award – for the second year running. Kirsten Etheridge, an office administrator at PM Legal Services - a division of hlw Keeble Hawson - has been singled out for The Progression Award for the improvements she is making both in her training and in her busy legal role. Keen to develop a legal career, Kirsten initially worked in a part time role with hlw Keeble Hawson. Her performance was so impressive that she was so

Millstream Management Services (MMS), the leading provider of retirement housing management services in the UK, has signed the build contract for the construction of its brand new office premises in Ringwood. The construction will be carried out by local specialist contractor Jade Aden Services Ltd, and is now officially under way with a view to completing the move by January 2019. The firm’s new offices will be built on Forest Gate Business Park in Ringwood, and will provide 19,500 sq ft of modern and we

Service charges are essential to effectively manage any block of flats. However management companies and landlords who are contractually required to provide these services can only do if leaseholders stick to their contractual obligation and pay the charges as laid out in the lease.   Recovering your service charges requires having the right legal processes and procedures in place and following the steps below.   Restrictions on recovery are either contractual (based on the lease) or statutory. Sometimes

It would be fair to say that taking over the freehold of a property is no easy task.  It requires a great deal of planning, with many legal and technical issues to address along the way.  And once formed, there are many responsibilities that the new freehold company takes on. One that’s often overlooked, but so incredibly important, is insurance.   A quick whistle-stop tour through the types of cover you need reveals there’s plenty to think about.  Let’s start with the insurance for the building itself. I

Real Estate Management (UK) Limited (REM) has appointed George Hankinson as Head of Residential. George will oversee the residential assets across REM’s portfolio. This will include Shard Place, the new residential building currently under construction next to The Shard. George joins from Criterion Capital where he was the Head of AST Residential, responsible for approximately 1,400 rental apartments. He has almost 20 years’ experience in the London real-estate market, including 10 years as Managing Direc

Albany Surveyors expands with the appointment of Neal Highfield MRICS as a new Director. Co-founders Phil Stylianou and Desmond O’Mahoney said: "We are delighted to welcome such an experienced and well respected surveyor to Albany’’. Established in 2016, Albany, provides high quality Block Management Surveying services and specialise in Contract Administration,  Licences for Alterations and Capital Expenditure Plans for their Property Management clients. Neal brings over 20 years of experience of build