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Managing agents are often tasked with being a Jack-of-all-trades when in actual fact, one of their primary roles is knowing where to go for help and guidance. A case in point is communal boiler systems most often found in ageing residential blocks that provide hot water and/or heating to the flats in the building. Most experienced property managers will know what it means to manage a building with communal boiler plant - this is especially memorable if the plant has unexpectedly gone down leaving residen

Working as an asset manager there is not a day that goes by where a lease extension is not being dealt with, and the same argument arises in every single case: whether to agree statutory or non-statutory terms. Every freeholder will have different financial motives when it comes to extending the lease. Some may have short-term financial objectives and in turn are happy to extend the lease under statutory terms while others will look to improve the value of the asset by improving on the ground rent. Stat

Legal property management firm Brady Solicitors  has recruited a senior property lawyer to assist with the firm’s push into non-contentious and transactional property work. Lesley Brentnall joins Bradys’ Nottingham office from regional law firm Shakespeares, where she had been an associate for 15 years. Meanwhile, Andrea White has also joined the firm from Shakespeares and will work alongside Lesley in a paralegal role.

TC Facilities Management has announced several changes to its executive board, including the appointment of Richard Chappell as its new Chief Executive Officer. Richard joins from the Impellam Group, where he spent 16 years in several senior management roles. Meanwhile, incumbent CEO, Paul Kennedy, has become Executive Chairman, while Peter Ellis has moved into a Deputy Chairman role and Keith French has been appointed to the board as Strategic Development Director.

Liverpool Property law firm JB Leitch LLP has recruited solicitor Kirsten Blower to its team from Hilary Meredith Lawyers. She is joined by four new legal assistants: Himadri Das and Michelle Davis, formerly of Weightmans and JC&A Solicitors respectively, and Charlotte Antrobus and Krystyn Durkin, who are taking up their first legal positions.

A landlord demanding thousands of euros of rent arrears threatened tenants and police with a whirring chainsaw, in an incident in southern Germany. According to Reuters, the terrified tenants called the police, and the 45-year-old landlord dropped the chainsaw when officers arrived and produced their guns. Police say the landlord was trying to collect 13,000 euros (£10,750) in rent arrears on a flat in the town of Burgau, and he was subsequently charged with threatening bodily harm.

One hundred and ninety new homes will be created across the south of England following the creation of a joint venture consortium between Mill Group and Bovis Homes Limited. The new properties will comprise 110 houses and 80 apartments, designed for couples and families. They will be built in phases over the next 18 months and are located in Cambridge, Bristol, Gloucester, Southampton, Horsham and Hemel Hempstead. The portfolio will be asset managed by Investors in Homes Management Ltd, Mill Group’s res

A residential block which had for 40 years gradually drifted into deterioration, is finally moving in the right direction, according to its managing agents. The 54-unit Frognal Court, near Hampstead in London, was the subject of a landmark case in 2011 (Garside & Anson v RFYC and Maunder Taylor), in which the Upper Tribunal decided that managing agents must consider the financial impact of major works on lessees and whether to phase works so they become more affordable. Managing agents, Maunder Taylor

Today, the Crabtree Group consists of Crabtree Property Management, Moretons, Crabtree Law, Regents Property Consultants, Regents Leasehold Valuations, LetsHelp, LetsInspect and the latest addition, Lloyds Cleaning and Maintenance Services. The group structure has enabled Crabtree PM Limited to focus on providing property management services to its clients, while being able to offer connected services from sister companies within the group - all of which are based on the same principles.    Crabtree P

Leaseholders at a retirement development in Plymouth have taken control of the future management of the premises following a three-year Right to Manage battle. The Court of Appeal’s rejection of the latest appeal by landlord Avon Freeholds Limited, means Regent Court RTM Co Ltd now has the statutory right to manage. And, according to Sussex-based Right to Manage Federation (RTMF), which assisted the leaseholders throughout the process, this is not only a significant victory for leaseholders of Regent Co

It was a busy time for property management firms during the recent storms. One company, Adiuvo, reported receiving more than 1,000 calls over a single weekend in mid-February, 15 of which were for fallen trees, 12 for fences down, 8 from loss of TV signal due to the aerial no longer being there, and more than 100 for leaks from roofs following damage.

Scaffolding has long been a way for thieves, vandals and even arsonists to gain access to construction sites or nearby properties. However, thanks to the new generation of scaffolding alarms, construction company assets, nearby homes and premises, and highway users are gaining increased protection from the effects of crime. In London, for example, the risk to life, limb and property that unauthorised use of scaffolding can cause is reflected in the legal obligation of anyone erecting scaffolding on the