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Hera Management Services have been appointed to manage the prestigious Streamlight Tower in Tower Hamlets, London. Hera’s Managing Director, Suzanne Wicks, said “We are very excited to sign the management contract for Streamlight Tower. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to provide a first class, customer focussed and professional service for the residents of this award winning building.” A wholly owned subsidiary of Swan Social Enterprise Group, Hera combines expertise from the private sector with

The Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal has awarded £6,452.50 damages to a flat owner who complained about the actions of a lessee controlled management company. The disputes occurred at Framewood Manor, a luxury apartment development in Buckinghamshire. The Appellant, Mrs. Newman made a number of complaints against the management company alleging breach of covenant, including one of loss of amenity as a consequence of the nearby doorway to the swimming pool being blocked up due to excessive condensation.

Flat owners at Emanuel House have won a major case against Westminister City Council. The situation arose after the original contract value for repair and improvement work at the block escalated from £2.2m to an estimated £3.6m. As a direct result of these works Westminster City Council were seeking contributions through the service charge of between £50,000 and £90,000 per flat/leasehold. Landmark Leasehold Advisory Services was instructed by 35 residents to piece together and fund professional represe

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

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,

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

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.

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

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

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

"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