Featured Articles

Get the answers to your questions and stay up to date about apartment building management with our featured articles and NOTB guides, on topics such as service charges, right to manage, buying your freehold, major works, building insurance and other issues about blocks of flats.

Reapit and PayProp join forces, backed by Accel-KKR investment

Reapit and PayProp, two leading property technology solution providers, today announced that they are joining forces to deliver greater value and innovation to real estate and letting agents worldwide. The combination is backed by a substantial investment from Accel-KKR, a leading technology-focused private equity firm. The move offers customers of both companies the opportunity to have a single provider that delivers capabilities across sales, letting, property management, client account management, and

Essex Law Firm Announces Promotions

Birkett Long is delighted to announce the promotion of Hayley Goldstone and Carla Jones to Senior Associate, Jacqui McGuirk, Cara O’Donoghue and Jemma Jones to Associate, and Destiny Carter and Beth Wrightson to Executive, taking effect on 1 December 2023. Senior Associate Hayley Goldstone Hayley is in our Commercial Real Estate team in Colchester and joined the firm as an Associate Solicitor in November 2021. Hayley qualified as a solicitor 18 years ago, taking the traditional route of completing a law d

sfty Joins Resideo To Offer Award-Winning Multifamily Services In Europe

Resideo Technologies Inc, a global provider of home comfort and security solutions, announced today that it is helping protect the safety of European apartment building residents with a new award-winning* multifamily services offering through the acquisition of sfty AS.  The sfty team, based in Oslo, are one of Norway's fastest-growing alarm companies. They currently protect over fifteen thousand Norwegian apartment building residents through powerful and user-friendly safety management software and monit

JM2 Group Chosen to Provide Communal Cleaning Services at Southbank Place Development

JM2 Group, the renowned cleaning and grounds maintenance contractor specialising in leasehold block management, has recently secured the coveted communal cleaning services contract at the highly prestigious Southbank Place development. After a rigorous tender process, Canary Wharf Residential Management, known for its commitment to exceptional property management, have chosen JM2 Group to maintain the communal areas of this iconic riverside development. The awarding of this contract signifies JM2 Group's

TNA Building Services Ltd appoints Kelly Waller as Operations Manager

TNA are delighted to welcome Kelly Waller as operations manager for the south and south west. Kelly will be working with our clients across the region ensuring smooth delivery of the wide range of reactive, planned and out of hours building services that TNA are proud to offer. Kelly has previously spent 9 years working as a senior property manager and understands the needs and requirements of block managers and leaseholders, this type of experience gives TNA the ability to provided services targeted to t

The UK’s top retirement hotspots revealed – ‘you just can’t beat it!’

Property management company FirstPort has teamed up with retirement property specialists Retirement Homesearch to find out which areas of the country are top of the leaderboard among retirees looking to settle.   The latest stats reveal sales in the southwest of England during the summer months had increased by 32%, which is up by almost a third compared to the same time last year, with Dorset and Devon securing the top spot.  FirstPort – the UK’s leading property management company – looks after over 1,0

DHL Quality Manager and Youngest-Ever St Basils Sleepouter – it’s in the DNA

Amelia Douglas, a 29-year-old Graduate Quality Manager for DHL and Jaguar Land Rover, has been officially crowned as the youngest Sleepouter ever. Amelia, known for her diverse interests in anime, languages, and cultures, holds two degrees and is passionate about understanding people. "We have more in common than that which divides us," she quotes from Jo Cox, who she sites as an inspiration. Her connection to the Sleepout dates back to before her birth, as her mother, Lynde Cashmore, attended the St Basi

Resident Engagement Strategies

In May 2018, just under a year after the Grenfell tragedy, Dame Judith Hackitt published Building a Safer Future – an independent review of building regulations and fire safety.  Dame Judith’s conclusion about a “culture of indifference” included her concern that “the voices of residents often go unheard, even when safety issues are identified”. In order to bring residents closer to the nuts and bolts of building safety and to give them a louder voice, the BSA 2022 (as applied to buildings ‘in scope’  ≥ 1

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill – how will it affect you?

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill has now been published further to the King’s Speech https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guide-to-the-leasehold-and-freehold-reform-bill Limited information had been given as to its likely contents. What does it mean for leaseholders (house and flat owners) and their landlords?  Marriage value is to be scrapped, meaning that those with less than 80 years of their lease to run stand to save a significant sum. This does not come as a surprise as we saw this alluded to in the

Flat owners no longer stand to lose the benefit of the Building Safety Act when extending their Lease

The King’s Speech has corrected an oversight in the Building Safety Act that flat owners looking to extend their leases will be relieved to see. While Leasehold Reform and the potential capping of ground rents announced in the King’s Speech last week (as detailed in our attached article) captured the headlines in this sector, a key correction has been made to the Building Safety Act which may have flown under the radar.  Thanks to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill, which was given Royal Assent, lease

55% of home buyers will continue to postpone their plans to purchase following Autumn Statement disappointment

The latest gauge of home buyer sentiment by Yopa, the award-winning national estate agency, has revealed that the lack of a stamp duty incentive in last week’s Autumn Statement was a missed opportunity to help revitalise a weary property market.  Yopa commissioned a survey of over 1,000 home buyers across England and Wales who have been in the market for the last year but are yet to make their move. The survey found that 45% had put their plans to purchase on hold as a consequence of rising mortgage rates

Fixflo reveals impact of seasonal storms, urges agents to get ready now

Leading repairs and maintenance solution provider Fixflo has dug into its repairs data to discover how the nation's rental properties were affected in October and early November by Storms Babet and Ciaran - and warns that with more severe weather on the way, agents should get ready now. With the strong winds, freezing temperatures and heavy rainfall came - unfortunately - property issues. The UK was chiefly affected by Babet, while the Channel Islands and Northern Ireland bore the effects of Ciaran. In to

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