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Specialist property litigation firm Brady Solicitors is continuing its strong growth, with the recruitment of six people to its Nottingham team. Established in March 2008 by property litigation lawyer Clare Brady, the firm has established itself as one of the UK’s leading law firms in the property management sector, with its recognised specialism in service charge recovery and related property management disputes. The new appointments take the total headcount to 36. Commenting on the new appointments Clar

HML Holdings has appointed Clive Greenwood to their team as Business Development Manager. Clive will be working throughout the HML brands in London and comments that he is excited to be working for the Group that provides the tailored local and personal service that resident management companies require. He joins the company after 12 years with property management company FirstPort.

Residents Insurance Services Limited, the specialist residential property insurance broker and part of the Gray’s Inn property group, has appointed Neil Bowman as an Account Handler. Neil has seven years’ experience in the insurance industry as a schemes underwriter with Allianz Insurance plc. More recently Neil worked as a customer service advisor for Towergate Insurance. Neil’s background and underwriting experience enhances the brokers’ already highly focused blocks of flats specialisation and supports

Jacqui Adams has been promoted to HR Director at Qube Global Software. She also joins the Executive Board in recognition of the growing importance of human resources as the business expands. Jacqui said: “I have enjoyed a long and fulfilling career at Qube Global Software and I’m delighted to take on this exciting new challenge. My promotion reflects a massive investment in HR systems, processes and recruitment campaigns to ensure we have the best people delivering the highest possible level of service to

Managers struggling to deal with illegal parking should consider the recent case where the Supreme Court upheld that a parking charge was enforceable. After much confusion and debate over whether a secondary charge to be paid on breaching an agreement is a penalty, and therefore unenforceable, the court has clarified that it is not considered a penalty. The long-running dispute between Beavis and ParkingEye was part of a combined case heard in the court and concluded that ParkingEye had a legitimate case

First introduced as a temporary measure in 2013 to increase the number of residential properties, the ability to change property use from class B1(a) offices to class C3 residential without requiring planning permission has been made permanent. The measure announced by the government under the Housing and Planning Bill is subject to some exceptions and obtaining Prior Approval. The right extends to the permission to demolish office buildings, although limitations to this right have not been disclosed at t

The ‘right to rent’ Immigration Check Scheme becomes law on 1 February 2016. It applies to all residential landlords in England, including agents and householders letting or sub-letting residential property and requires them to check that new tenants and occupiers have a right to be living in the UK. There is no requirement to check the right to rent of existing tenants and occupiers. The new responsibilities for landlords include establishing how many adults are using the property as their only or main h

The Competition and Markets Authority continues its work with the residential property management sector and government to implement its recommendations as laid out in its December 2014 market study. The creation of short information sheets produced by LEASE with input from the Law Society, and revised conveyancing documents, produced by a sector working party including representatives of the Law Society and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), have both advanced progress in improving pre-

A recent ruling in the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) decided that a landlord of a residential estate could not lawfully use the service charge to recover the costs it paid to a tenant in settlement of a dispute, or for the legal charges associated with it. The Upper Tribunal stated that this was because the costs the landlord was seeking to recover were associated with its own breach of obligations under the terms of the lease (failing to make a repair quickly enough). Using the service charge to pay for

Following last summer’s consultation on further fee proposals for the Property Chamber, Under-Secretary of State for Justice, Shailesh Vera has announced the introduction of fees of £100 to issue proceedings in the Property Chamber and £200 for a hearing. A lower fee of £20 will apply for proceedings relating to rent levels and pitch fee applications. The Ministry of Justice statement also announced that the higher fees for leasehold enfranchisement proceedings that were proposed in the consultation paper

With flooding permanently hitting the headlines, keeping insurance cover affordable for high-risk properties is a major government issue. Whilst the proposed Flood Re initiative is expected to help millions of homeowners, business owners and landlords will be excluded from the capped insurance scheme and there are concerns that they could see premiums rocket or find securing appropriate cover tougher. The Flood Re joint initiative between the government and the Association of British Insurers (ABI) is

Lawyers, managing agents and other professionals working in the sector can now use an online booking system to select a preferred time-slot to access specialist advice from LEASE. The Leasehold Advisory Service has launched the system to streamline their service and help avoid time wasted on-hold. Clients now just need to select a time and call the number provided to get the advice they need. Costs start at £45 (plus VAT) for a 20 minute slot. Written advice is also available, with a cost of £90 (plus VAT