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Five design students from across the country are celebrating having been selected winners in the first Peverel Retirement Design Competition, ‘Future Ageing’. Students were invited to conceptualise what they thought the independent living retirement development of the future would look like.   Peverel Retirement, which manages 1,500 developments comprising 65,000 properties, launched the national competition in conjunction with the Interior Educators, who are a group of lecturers teaching interior des

A recent decision from the London Leasehold Valuation Tribunal highlights the problems caused when an individual leaseholder persistently brings service charge litigation with little or no prospect of success.The case concerned an application brought by Mr. and Mrs. Aitken for the Appointment of a Manager.  They own two out of the 84 flats in the block, called Park South in South West London.  The building is a 21-storey ex-local authority property with a number of communal facilities including a swimming

A selection of apartment buildings around the country have found themselves in the limelight recently, being used as set locations for television and film productions.   TV Show Hustle and new drama Dancing on the Edge were filmed in and around apartment buildings in Birmingham.  Dancing on the Edge, written by Stephen Poliakoff, is also filming in London and will be aired later in the year.   Meanwhile, the Elektron Tower in London’s Docklands has found itself in a starring role in Danny Boyle’s

Your essential guide to major works.  Some of this features articles include: Considering your major works project  Major works restore block to art deco elegance  Upgrading broadband in your block of flats as part of a major works project Advice for landlords, management companies and managing agents on sending our service charge demands Your essential guide to major works. Independent industry practitioners offer some advice in our comprehensive pull out an

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In March 2012, the Planning and Housing Committee of the London Assembly produced its report into service charges, Highly Charged. News on the Block meets the London Assembly Member, Steven O'Connell, who led the report and is determined to make leasehold life better. NOTB: What motivated you to start the Review into residential leasehold service charges? SO’C: It was informed very much by case work and contact I’ve had, personally, with constituents over ten years of public life and also anecdotal ev

Section 20b of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 provides that if any costs taken into account in calculating a service charge were incurred more than 18 months before the demand for payment is served; the lessee is not liable to pay those costs. The correct amount must be stated in the demand. A subsequent corrective demand for an increased amount will be unenforceable if it offends the 18 month rule (Paddington Walk Management v Peabody Trust). With regard to payments on account, the lessee will not

At first glance, it may seem that Garside (1) Anson (2) v RFYC Limited (1) Maunder Taylor (2) (“the Frognal case”) has potential to open the floodgates, enabling tenants to avoid payment of service charges by relying on grounds of affordability. This could have far reaching consequences. What would the ‘affordability criteria’ consist of? How would managing agents cope with increased scrutiny of budgets? Would the process of obtaining landlords consent to assign become more rigorous so as to pre-empt af

If there was ever a sorry tale of how property can go bad when leaseholders and a freeholder fall apart, Frognal Court is it. For 40 years the buildings have gradually drifted into deterioration and no one has benefited. Chainbow became involved with Frognal Court because of the fissure between the various parties. The approach to resolving the problems is getting all the parties on the same side of the table and working together. However, after a long period of division this will take time. Chainbow’s me

Nell Gwynn house is a classically designed 1930’s Art-Deco Style 10-Storey block of 430 apartments located in the heart of Chelsea. Over two summers, a potentially highly disruptive major works project was undertaken. However, the project was completed on schedule, within budget and without causing unnecessary disturbance to the residents of one of London’s most prestigious blocks. Phase one of the works was undertaken during the summer of 2010. This involved the removal of the existing heating boilers.

It’s understandable why the phrase “major works” can strike fear into the heart of the most experienced property manager. But when there is work to be done the best approach is to think about how you can use this opportunity to install other services in order to plan for the future and maximise the return on the disruption. One area that may not have initially come to mind is broadband installation. Today, broadband is one of the fastest moving industries in the world. The consumer appetite for speed and

QUESTION Dear Sir I am writing for help regarding sinking funds. We pay a very high service charge but now over 2 years later we are being asked to pay towards a sinking fund. There are 167 apartments and we are being asked to pay up to £950 a year extra. I thought the developers set up a sinking fund and the owners paid into it as part of their service charge. We’ve had numerous service charge increases in 2 years. We pay part of the security team and other staff not needed. We have finally got a