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QUESTION We are one of 6 units in a block. We have just received 2015 service charge accounts and the landlord has increased the contingency fund from £1000 per year to £1440 for the year of 2015. Is he allowed to do this or does it fall under section 20 landlord/tenants act? We had no notice at any stage until we saw it in the charges accounts? The freeholder also wants to charge us £3800 for accounting and bookkeeping. We think this is a huge amount. Previously we have been charged 1/6 of £1000. They ar

Earl Kendrick are delighted to announce that they have appointed Kim Tasso as a Non-Executive Director. Kim is the managing director of RedStarKim Ltd. She is an independent management consultant, specialising in the professional services and property sectors, with over 30 years’ experience.  She has been working with us on a consultancy basis and her credentials are outstanding. Kim has worked with a number of leading property firms, was formerly a columnist for property magazine Estates Gazette, and has

QUESTION Can you tell me if as a company we need to register for money laundering purposes if we act as company secretary for RMC’s? ANSWER Guidance provided by ARMA suggests: Acting as a company secretary falls within the definition of being a Trust or Company Services Provider which is a regulated activity for Money Laundering Regulation Purposes so would result in a property professional needing to register for money laundering purposes unless they meet all of the following conditions; ·         The p

Stuart Jackson, Associate Director at Macdonald & Company commented, "We are pleased to announce the appointment of Daniel Williams to our expanding team in London. Daniel will be joining the residential team leading our expansion into site Estate Management and Site Staff. Daniel comes with an excellent track record previously heading up the residential recruitment team at The Property Recruitment Company.”

Grosvenor Systems, the team behind one of the UK’s leading property management systems, Propman, has launched a series of free seminars to help property managers embrace technology.  The ‘Introduction to property management software’ seminars taking place at 30 Euston Square in London, will demonstrate to property professionals how technology can transform time-consuming and complex processes.   Nic Dodwell, Managing Director of Grosvenor Systems, comments:    “As the role of property management is beco

Lots of properties now have Double Glazed Windows and Doors but a common problem is condensation and white marks between the two layers of glass of the sealed units. This is known as the units have “blown”, Failed”, “Misted”, “Broken Down” the reason for units let’s call it “misting” is due to the Sun, let me explain in plain English, the Sun comes out and the sealed unit gets very hot inside and expands, then the Sun goes in so the units becomes cooler and contracts, it’s like a continuing pumping of the

QUESTION We are long leaseholders 999 years and have a Managing Agent and Directors are working together. They do not invite the leaseholders who pay service charges for the AGM and they are also controlling the Freehold Company. Although they only hold a unit the same as us. They have made themselves life Directors and control the building themselves. They have also made a Management Company where they are also Directors. No election or AGM is called for. The building leaseholders are never invited, nor

QUESTION I am a leaseholder, currently experiencing many and complex leasehold problems and problems with freeholder neighbours harassing me. My health is suffering badly and I feel I need advice. I am being harassed on a daily basis by freeholder neighbours all day every day, from very early in the morning until very late at night. If I play any music at all or have the radio on it gets worse or I get reported to the management committee and we are just going round and round and round in the same situati

One of the UK’s prominent residential ground rent investors who enjoyed a glittering career heading finance departments of some of the country’s top PLCs has admitted to grooming a teenage girl for sex. Julius Gottlieb resigned as managing director of Dorchester Ground Rent Management after he was arrested when he went to meet the 14-year-old, whom he believed he had been chatting with online. In fact, he had been chatting with a group of men dedicated to exposing child molesters. Gottlieb helped establis

Three companies were fined more than £1m after a worker died and two others were seriously injured when a temporary platform collapsed at an apartment construction site. Southwark Crown Court heard that in October 2012, a carpenter and a steel-fixer were standing on a temporary wooden platform above a stairwell opening on the 9th floor of the site in Putney when it suddenly gave way. Carpenter Justinas Kopickas was killed and Terry Cooper sustained serious injuries. A third worker was struck and serio

An Airbnb host returned from her holidays to find that guests had raided her flat and stolen more than £5,000 worth of electronic equipment. Tour guide Camélia, who did not want to give her surname, returned to the two-bedroom apartment in Islington to find that thieves had taken items including her Apple TV, Macbook Pro, iPhones, an iPad and her perfume. Camélia had agreed to rent the flat – which costs £129 a night – to three people. She told the Evening Standard: “We came in the flat and for the fi

A developer has announced the company that will manage one of London’s most upmarket new apartment blocks. SDL Bigwood will look after the maintenance work and concierge services for the Redrow-built apartments at 205 Holland Park Avenue, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. A total of 50 two- and three-bedroom flats have been built at the development, which includes nine affordable apartments and commercial units on the ground floor. Brett Williams, SDL Bigwood’s executive partner, said: “