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QUESTION I'm hoping you can offer some advice. I live in a block of three flats which are joint freeholder/leaseholders and do not have a management agency (but do plan to appoint one once the issue described below is resolved). The middle flat tenant has recently been arrested for the second time for drug dealing at the property following a police raid. The landlords are refusing to evict the tenant because "it is not in their interest to evict". The council do not have the power to enforce an eviction

QUESTION   Heat Network Legislation - 2014. I'd be interested to know if you've issued any guidance on this https://www.gov.uk/heat-networks I'm involved with an RMC which looks after 25 owner-occupied and 5 rented flats in one block with communal heat and hot water charged via the service charge. I'm not sure who is liable under this legislation - the RMC or the Managing Agent? I don't think many people know much about this so any advice you can find out would be useful I think.   ANSWER Certain cr

QUESTION Having won the appointment of a Manager including appeals, the Freeholder is obstructing the work of the appointed Manager. Now that the Tribunals are part of the judiciary should their decisions be covered by Contempt of Court legislation?     ANSWER It is frustrating that when orders are disobeyed, they are not readily and easily enforceable.  The First-tier Tribunal’s themselves have no power to deal with contempt of court or any other penal sanction (i.e. fines or imprisonment) for diso

QUESTION For my leasehold flat I receive Service Charge demands which bear the name of a management company but not the name and address of the landlord or freeholder. The managing agent says it does not have to provide the name and address of the landlord or freeholder as the Service Charge money goes to the management company and not the landlord or freeholder. I thought that under Section 47 of Landlord & Tenant Act 1987 any written demands must bear the name and address of the landlord. Please can

QUESTION Can you please advise the legal time that an audited set of accounts should be given, by a management company to a leasehold owner of a flat. Have just received a set of audited accounts relating to 2013 and a bill for settlement after paying  subsequent bills for 2014  and 2015, this seems a really long time after to request this, also what happens to the payments requested  for people that have moved away.......since 2013. Have not received any further audited accounts yet for 2014 so how hav

Three months of the CDM Regulations 2015 and uncertainty remains on duty holders’ obligations for many.  We look elsewhere at the role of Principal Designer; here we consider client duties. Introduction The Regulations apply to all building projects, regardless of size and duration.  Clients must ensure that a project is set up to control risks to health and safety of those who may be affected.  The client has overall responsibility and the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor provide support. W

On the 6th April 2015, The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) replaced CDM 2007. The regulations govern the management of health, safety and welfare for what are termed “construction projects”. For most property managers a “construction project” typically includes internal common parts refurbishments, external redecoration works and major services renewal projects.  The appointment of a CDM Coordinator is for the most part engrained in the psyche of a property manager and ev

It is a common woe of many managing agents: modern blocks are becoming more complicated to manage. Leaseholders are increasingly sophisticated and demanding and yet there is a persistent downward pressure on service charges and management fees. But professionalism and quality rarely sit comfortably with squeezed fees. Professionalism can be defined as performing a job to high standards, to adhering to standards of courtesy, honesty and responsibility, to acting in your clients’ best interests, and to goi

It is said that there is no substitute for experience. For this very reason developers are increasingly turning to the right managing agents for input, guidance and even hands-on involvement during all stages of a development’s lifecycle. If someone needs to file accounts, they go to an accountant; if they require legal advice, they contact a solicitor. Increasingly, developers are relying on a properly equipped managing agent to help them identify potential aspects of a development that should be taken

There are so many aspects to London’s 2012 legacy - more people are getting into sport locally; the public facilities are increasing such as the new local swimming pool, and we have a world class venue soon to be the home of West Ham United FC - what more could a Londoner need? Some locals are saying we have seen the loss of the ‘real’ East End and some even feel it is a case of ‘social cleansing’, while others are happy that former wasteland sites are being turned into a tranquil place of beauty and fin

The Right to Manage,  introduced by the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, empowers leaseholders to take control and responsibility for the management of their block without having to pay a premium. But, is the grass always greener? The right is exercised via a Right to Manage Company (the RTM Co) and one of the most important parts of the process is to set up and efficiently run the RTM Co. This will require leaseholders to devote time, inject costs, become familiar with the company’s procedures

There are a number of instances where a tenant can lose their entitlement under the 1993 Act to a new lease. Below are two examples of such instances commonly encountered in lease extension applications which tenants (and their representatives) should be aware of: Personal representatives The 2002 Act extended the provisions of the 1993 Act by introducing a new right for a personal representative to make an application for the grant of a new lease of a flat on behalf of a deceased qualifying tenant.