Good communication in property management

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) gives communication a clear place in its Service Charge Residential Management Code. The fourth edition, effective from 7 April 2026 for residential leasehold property in England, emphasises timely communication and transparent information about the services provided, their cost and quality.¹

Good communication should make information accessible, progress visible and responsibility easy to understand. The volume of messages matters less than whether they give people a useful view of what is happening.

Make information accessible

Direct access to a property manager remains important, but residents should also be able to find routine information without waiting for a reply. Resident portals and shared systems can give directors and leaseholders access to relevant financial information and documents, alongside a clear way to raise requests.

A useful portal helps people find what they need and understand what happens next. Information should be current, clearly labelled and relevant to the person using it. Adding a channel without maintaining its content simply creates another place to chase.

A digital route should sit alongside a clear telephone or written alternative for residents who cannot easily use it. Communication arrangements should help people reach the right support, whichever route they use.

Make progress trackable

A common source of frustration is not knowing whether a request has been received, passed to another team or is waiting for further information. Dated acknowledgements, visible progress updates and shared records can make the service easier to follow and reduce reliance on individual inboxes.

If a contractor has not confirmed a repair date, an update can explain what is outstanding, who is following it up and when residents will hear more. An acknowledgement and a resolution are different milestones, and reporting should make that distinction clear.

That visibility also matters when responsibilities change. Property management often involves several people, contractors and specialist teams, so important context should not depend on one person's inbox or memory.

Build reliability around the response

Clear communication depends on accurate information and consistent follow-up. Service levels, shared records and visibility across contractor activity are useful only if the underlying processes are maintained. Technology can support accountability, but it cannot substitute for ownership of an issue.

A useful update tells the recipient what is known, what is being done, who owns the next step and when they should expect to hear more.

Directors can ask to review a small sample of recent enquiries with the managing agent. Checking whether updates arrived when promised and whether issues were followed through can reveal problems that a headline response-time figure misses.

Plan for different situations

Not every question arrives during office hours, and different issues need different responses. Residents should know how to report an urgent issue, what the out-of-hours service covers and how information will be handed to the property management team when normal service resumes. Routine questions should have an equally clear route without unnecessary escalation.

For RMC directors, this flexibility can reduce the pressure to become the default point of contact for every resident query. For leaseholders, it can make the route to an answer clearer.

Questions for RMC directors

• How can residents and directors access information without relying on a single inbox?

• Can requests be tracked, and is progress visible?

• How are service levels monitored and followed up?

• What happens to an issue outside normal office hours?

• How is information retained when a property manager or team member changes?

• How are recurring communication problems identified and improved?

Good communication gives residents and directors a clear understanding of what is happening, where responsibility sits and what comes next, even when resolution takes time. Technology can help, but its value depends on accurate information, clear ownership and consistent follow-up. Those are the foundations of a service people can understand and use.

Reference

1. Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Service charge residential management code and additional advice for landlords, leaseholders and agents, fourth edition, March 2026, section 1.6, p. 15. Effective from 7 April 2026.

Craig Langley-Tester, Director of Customer Experience, Vegner Group