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You rent for some years, save for a deposit and then make the all-important decision: the location and price of the flat you can afford. So far so good, but if you consider the buying process to be the most important decision of all, you’d be wrong. This was the message from the recent Annual Conference of the Association of Residential Managing Agents. Rather like the wedding and honeymoon, what seems important now is in fact the trivial preamble to the important bit – the long-term marriage. When buyin

Nick Sanderson, CEO of retirement developer, Audley, recently spoke to delegates at the Retirement Housing conference about specification and services that cater for the different demographics of the elderly. Drawing on more than 25 years experience in the development and management of retirement properties, Audley has a reputation for taking important, listed buildings, and turning them into retirement villages. Sanderson said: “There are three distinct demographics within the over 55s: the 55-75 year ol

So, there I was on holiday lying on the beach minding my own business, when all of a sudden I found an old tin lamp lying in the sand. While trying to clean it up I thought a sand storm had erupted. Out of the dust and smoke a big blue figure stood in front of me. My first thought was l shouldn’t have had that third bottle of ouzo! But then it spoke. “I am the genie of the lamp and l can grant you any wish you like”. As a winner of the Cambridgeshire High School for Boys ‘Prize for Public Spirit’, I im

You have agreement all round to major works on the building. Now all you have to do is find contractors and ensure that, in line with your Section 20 obligations, their estimates for the work will not meet with any objections from leaseholders. Steve Thorpe, MD of DML Contracting, explains what he would do in your shoes and how you should go about the process of hiring a contractor. Section 20 consultation: a reminder Remember that the ‘Section 20’ provisions of the Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act r

A: A Residents’ Management Company (“RMC”) is a formal legal entity registered at Companies House, and has all the rights and obligations of any other UK incorporated company. As a company itself, it requires people to run it and take decisions on its behalf. These people are the directors. A private limited company only requires one person to be a director, though it is common (and prudent!) for an RMC to have several directors to share the burden of responsibility. Once you become a director of the

QUESTION I’ve been hearing a lot in the news recently about something called commonhold - what is it? ANSWER Historically, there have been two ways for people to own property in this country – freehold and leasehold (also known as “tenures”). A freehold property is owned in its entirety by the “freeholder” for an indefinite length of time. By contrast, a leasehold property is owned for a definite amount of time. Commonly, in a block of flats the freeholder will own the building itself (ie the common

QUESTION Can I put wooden floors in my apartment? ANSWER  Wooden flooring in apartment blocks is a significant issue at the moment as they have become a desirable feature for style-conscious apartment residents. It is very important that you check the lease for your apartment as an initial step. Normally, it is common to find a clause in the lease which forbids wooden flooring altogether except for the bathroom and kitchen areas. The reason for this is to protect your neighbours from excess

QUESTION  We have recently purchased the freehold in our block. Where can we find more information about the management and running of a block? ANSWER  There are several good sources of information you may like to investigate further. If you have not already done so, you may like to consider joining the Federation of Private Residents Associations. The FPRA are a not-for-profit advice, support and lobbying organisation for private residential leaseholders, tenants' and residents' associations, and r

Long gone are the days when landlords resisted the very idea of enfranchisement and the Duke of Westminster took a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights. Some landlords still safeguard their freeholds by granting only short leases or ensuring the number of rented flats in a block prevents the long leaseholders from qualifying. But successive tranches of legislation have persuaded most that the sale of their freeholds is inevitable - major players like the Cadogan Estate are now diversifying into

“There is not, and has never been, a binding convention that a fixed and constant deferment rate of 6% should be universally used. The deferment rate in each case must be individually determined on the evidence” This was Judge Rich QC’s ruling in five appeal cases heard together last year. The decision in – Arbib v Earl Cadogan has rocked leasehold valuation markets. What is the Deferment Rate? To enfranchise, lessees must pay a sum representing the aggregate of three elements: value of the free

Flat-owners should be thinking now about the implications of Home Information Packs (or the ‘seller’s pack’, as they used to be known). You’re aware from the extensive, and generally hostile, media coverage that HIPs will be a fact of life from July next year and that anyone wishing to market a flat after that time will have to produce one. Because of the nature of their property title the burden of HIPs will fall much more heavily on flat-owners: there is so much more information to be provided. So why t

I am sitting on a plane in New York waiting to disembark on the 10th August. You may recall this is the day after 20 people wanting to blow up planes to the States were arrested on terrorist charges. Gatwick was chaos and all the ground staff were doing their best, but one thing would have made their lives easier and that is communicating information – even if it was there was nothing new to tell. The departure gate was bombarded by people asking, “when are we boarding?” With regular tannoy announcements