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Wondering why the energy bills for the blocks you manage are so high? Could lighting be the problem, asks Jamie Willsdon. Have you ever taken a closer look at the way the energy bills for the blocks you manage are split? If not, you could be in for a shock. More than 70% of the charges for a typical residential block could be accounted for by the lighting alone. Many blocks around the country have outdated lighting systems and a good proportion of these have communal lighting turned on all day and night,

News on the Block talks to Bradley Parker, the MD of newly launched Future Fire Safety. Future Fire Safety is a newly launched sister company to market-leading block lighting consultants Future Lighting. 1. What inspired you to get involved in the fire and life safety sector? - While working as an industrial electrical engineer, I became interested in the complexities of the fire protection industry. The sector has a wide and varied number of sub-disciplines in both active and passive protection. Virtual

Autumn 2017 sees the launch of a sister company for market-leading block lighting consultants Future Lighting. Future Fire Systems Limited has been established to meet increasing demand from property managers for a fast-response, specialist, fire and life safety systems installation and maintenance service. The new company is headed up by Bradley Parker, an industrial electrical engineer with 20 years’ experience in the fire protection sector. Bradley has worked in the fire, life safety and security indus

Generally, standard property insurance cover on a block of flats does not automatically include damage caused by terrorism although in most cases, the cost to add terrorism insurance to a policy can be relatively low depending on the location of the block. Terrorism insurance has become an increasingly contentious issue in service charge cases; in short, many leaseholders think it is unnecessary and simply serves to increase their service charges, but is that what the Tribunal’s think? CASE LAW On the 16

Lansdown Insurance Brokers will be opening the doors to the historic Lansdown House in Pittville Circus Road, Cheltenham on Thursday 14 September for two networking sessions, one morning and one afternoon. Date: 14/09/17 Time: 14:00 Where: Lansdown House, Pittville Circus Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 2QE Their Commercial Manager Darren Bee explained “We’re really keen to showcase our experience and offering for managing the insurance needs of property portfolios; it also gives us the chance t

Why do people join networks such as Airbnb, well, as per their own website the main reason is income, therefore letting is a commercial activity. Obviously if you are a freeholder unencumbered by any conditions of your mortgagee or your current insurer regarding sub-letting then you can use your property as you see fit. Using your property to generate additional income is your decision: As long as it does not prejudice any contract with a party whom have a financial interest or provide indemnity for your

What would happen to my family and I following a major insured incident leading to the destruction of the block in which my flat is located: What cover is provided by the insurance company? Where would I live? What level of benefit can I expect? For how long would I be entitled to this benefit? The main driver for any Residential Management Company, Right to Manage Company or Managing Agent when purchasing a block insurance policy is to cover the buildings; i.e. the physical structure at risk. Howev

Registrations are now open for the final ‘Introduction to Property Management Software’ seminar run by Grosvenor Systems, the team behind industry renowned block management and accounting software, Propman. The ‘Introduction to property management software’ seminar series has been running throughout 2017, with the aim of helping delegates understand more about how software can help overcome property management challenges and enable businesses to reach their full potential. The final seminar of the year wi

The Partners of Bishop & Sewell and Fisher Meredith announced that Fisher Meredith has joined forces and merged with Bishop & Sewell. Following the merger, key partners from Fisher Meredith including Eileen Pembridge and Louise Barretto will join the Bishop & Sewell team. Bishop & Sewell was established in 1979 by Stephen Bishop and Jill Sewell and was originally known for its strong property and commercial reputation. Since then the firm has steadily expanded into a full service firm covering Residential

It may not surprise you to learn that on discussing forfeiture at a recent conference with a group of property lawyers and managers, most were in favour of the landlords ability to forfeit a lease. The main reason being the responsibility of fair management of the building, thus ensuring that no leaseholder is prejudiced by the actions, or perhaps inaction, of any other leaseholders and that the landlord and any managers do not suffer any loss. This approach assumes that landlords seek to deal with matter

We are delighted to announce that Property Management Awards will return to Central London on 30 November 2017 at the spectacular Supernova venue! This year has been an exceedingly busy time for the industry and we are looking forward to celebrating the exceptional quality of work and recognising the high levels of performance with you on the 30th November at our fabulous awards evening! Entries are now open. You can now enter the 2017-2018 Property Management Awards by clicking HERE. We are only acceptin

Adiuvo provides out-of-hours call handling and where necessary provision of contractors to more than 340,000 properties throughout the UK and Ireland via a team of experienced property and customer service staff.  We triage all incoming calls and progress emergencies to at least a point where there is no further ongoing material damage or implications for the health and safety of residents. This is done while reporting progress in real time to Adiuvo’s clients who range from nationwide managing agents and