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The leasehold sector sector is highly regulated. Successive Landlord and Tenant Acts have introduced measures designed to protect the leaseholders from the excesses of unreasonable and exploitative landlords. In difficult financial times, landlords are perhaps seeking more creative ways of maximising a return on their investments. Substantive measures are now in place to govern service charges through to the Right to Manage, which enables the leaseholders to take over the landlord’s management functions,

NOTB Can you tell me a bit of Skys background?PW We are an area of Sky TV that looks after people living in flats. About 3 years ago Sky set up a team called Sky Homes, which I was asked to manage because of my experience with Broadband at BT. NOTB What kind of problems have you had to deal with in installing Sky TV into blocks of flats?PW Apart from engineering problems, planning laws and regulations. The real challenge is finding the decision makers and getting them to give approval. NOTB What do you th

The two largest elements of most service charge costs are insurance and the cleaning/ caretaking, and porter services. Leaving aside insurance costs, as residents will never leave a block uninsured, the item most under scrutiny is the cleaning and caretaking charge. Here, a balance must be struck between service and value. This can only be achieved by the cleaning company having a clear and defined understanding of what is required, not only from the residents in respect to service level, specification

I was reading an article by the eminent architect, Sir Terry Farrell. He was extolling the need for the UK to ‘dense up’ its housing developments, using the example of Kensington and Chelsea to show that people in the UK can live pleasantly in higher density (but not necessarily high rise) housing. I cannot say I particularly bought the example. There are a number of other reasons why the residents of SW3 are happy to live at higher density and accept other trade offs. Like a lot of Brits I don’t

Owing to poor management, unreasonable service charges and shortened leases enfranchisement actions have become increasingly popular in recent times. One case in particular which completed in 2009 is Greenhill, involving a block of 140 flats in Hampstead. This action was so complex it took five years to complete. In 2004, the then Landlord of the block granted a lease to a mobile phone provider for a mobile phone mast on the roof of the block. A concerned Chairman of the Greenhill Residents Association

Wasps represent a danger both to residents and visiting contractors. Contractors visiting premises often encounter them in confined spaces like lofts, lift motor rooms and gardens. This can delay essential works and lead to serious accidents. Residents too can encounter problems when they nest in air vents or fly into buildings when attracted by lights at night. Biology Wasps are omnivorous, feeding on fallen fruits and nectar but mostly catching other insects like greenfly early on in their life cycl

Recent newspaper reports have mis-described the acquisition of the freehold of the block of flats known as South Acre Parks from Cambridge University by a group of 41 leaseholders as the exploitation of a “legal loophole”. Although the total market value of the flats is estimated to be in the region of £15 million, the flats were in fact neither owned, nor originally sold by Cambridge University. Mark Hallam, a Partner at Carter Jonas LLP, who acted on behalf of Cambridge University in the m

Tanfield Chambers are the talk of the industry scooping two awards at The Enfranchisement Awards 2009. Philip Rainey a barrister at TanfieldChambers won Barrister of the Year and Tanfield Chambers won Chambers of the Year at the award ceremony organised by News on the Block.  The Awards were sponsored  by Langley Taylor, Pemberton Greenish, Wallace LLP, Tanfield Chambers, Marr Johnson & Stevens LLP and Bircham Dyson Bell.

Bournemouth based blocks of flats insurance specialist, Deacon, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Head of Business, Penny Jepson, celebrated by explaining “Our clients can see that we have stood the test of time and that we are continually expanding the business and adapting our product range to keep aheadof the market.”

There is talk that the sequel to the hugely successful Sex and the City film will be partly shot in London – whisking Carrie Bradshaw and her pals out of the Big Apple. The sequel to the original movie will reflect the  current economic climate and be more in tune with the credit crunch, rather than the flaunting of endless cash displayed in the first one, according to inside sources. A source gave fans food for thought for the sequel, saying, “The sequel will include key scenes of Carrie and Mr Big in

News that the UK officially went into recession in the final quarter of 2008 was shortly followed by advice from the Catholic church suggesting that worried citizens should pray to the patron saint of bankers for help in the economic downturn. With a stabilisation of property prices still to come the most sensible option is to be fastidious with finances and personal affairs. Every cloud has a silver lining and flat owners with long leases should take advantage of lower property values and extend their

Deacon – one of the UK’s leading blocks of flats insurance specialists and part of the Property & Commercial Division of Barbon Insurance Group – has further expanded its New Business team with the appointment of Hannah Baker and Dele Omnisore as New Business Account Executives. Also at Deacon, the in-house Claims Department has recently hired a team of new handlers. Sir Michael Pitt has been appointed as the Chair of new Infrastructure Planning Commission. The IPC will be the body that will take decision