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The Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners celebrated their 5th Anniversary with a dinner in the Riverside Room at the Institute of Electrical Engineers in London. The highlight of the evening was an entertaining after-dinner speech by former Tory Government Minister, Anne Widdecombe. A highly accomplished politician, Anne Widdecombe explained that she had pursued a television career partly to draw attention to issues which would otherwise have been lost and forgotten in Parliament. With s

"There needs to be a cultural change in the approach to managing service charges" So said the Planning and Housing Committee of the London Assembly in its hard-hitting report into service charges in the Capital, Highly Charged. Around 100 responses were received by the investigating Committee, one of the highest contributions for any such report at City Hall. These responses informed the Committee to decide that the leasehold system is not working as well as it could be and they made nine probing Recomm

A recent court of appeal case has brought a clear – and positive – impact on landlords’ ability to recover their legal costs when pursuing service charge debts. ‘69 Marina’ has clarified that both County Court and Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) costs can be recovered. 69 Marina – how the case unfolded 69 Marina is a block of six apartments, five of which had been let on 99-year leases that began in July 1985. The lessees had failed to pay service charges relating to repair works. In April 2007,

The most common insurance claim in blocks of flats involves water leaks. It is perhaps an accepted hazard of high-density, multi-occupancy, urban communal living. However, as this case study shows, in extreme cases water leaks are a serious problem damaging both property and wealth. Imagine a typical new build with 80 plus units constructed in the last five years, in the midst of the housing construction boom. It could be just one of many attractive new build developments that seduced purchasers with as

The deaths of six residents in 2009 in a fire at Lakanal House, Camberwell, South London has prompted a re-examination of the safety of high-rise social housing blocks. While many of the blocks in use do provide levels of fire safety commensurate with current building regulations, others (mainly those which are provided with only a single staircase) do not.       It has long been the view of many fire safety professionals that automatic fire suppression systems could be used to supplement existing

The existence of a head-lease in relation to a residential block of flats has considerable significance in a claim for a lease extension. As well as arguments to the value of the head-lessee’s interest, conveyancing issues are likely. When a sub-lessee claims a lease extension, terms will be needed for provision of services after the termination of the head-lease. When a head-lessee itself claims for a particular flat, there will be a surrender of the head-lease in respect of that flat, leading to argumen

Grosvenor Systems has launched Propman X3, the latest version of the property management and integrated financial accounting software solution. This new release has been principally shaped by feedback from over 180 of their clients, and claims to deliver multiple efficiency gains for property owners, developers and occupiers, block managers, managing agents and local authorities. New features include an integrated customer relationship management (CRM) capability, an enhancement to the existing User Defi

The Ringley Group have recently produced a market research report into the ownership, services, management and running costs of apartment buildings in London. Here Mary-Anne Bowring shares some highlights.Apartment buildings There are currently 1,252 apartment buildings across inner London containing 30+ dwellings, 60% of which are in Zone 1 and the Docklands constructed during the last property boom. The balance comprises 2,123 smaller apartment buildings with up to 29 dwellings and commercial premises.

Peverel Group, the largest residential managing agent in the UK, has been bought by a consortium of private equity companies comprising Chamonix Private Equity and Electra Partners. The holding companies of Peverel were placed into administration in March 2011 and Zolfo Cooper were appointed as administrators. However, this transaction includes not just the holding companies, but the operating subsidiary companies as well which includes the management of retirement properties, property sales, insurance

A new online property portal has launched to help individuals save thousands of pounds when buying or selling a property. Housetrade.co.uk enables individuals to sell their property privately, avoiding excessive estate agency fees and putting them in control of negotiations and viewings.

Leisure facilities are becoming commonplace in private residential developments and can be run safely and efficiently providing there is an effective management plan in place. Failure to manage properly could result in the managing agent or property owner being liable for injury caused by break down or malfunction of equipment in addition to the potential for the managing agent to be responsible for accidents or incidents if the equipment is not maintained properly. Residential gyms are commonly un-staf

In an interview with Janet Entwistle, the new CEO of the Peverel Group, News on the Block have learned more details about the purchase of Peverel and some of the plans moving forward. To facilitate the transaction, a new company was formed as a corporate vehicle to purchase the operating businesses of Peverel from the holding companies.  Janet explained: “£50.7m was paid for the business and £11m in cash was retained.  RBS have provided £25m of debt and that has given us a more suitable capital structur