If you’re the leaseholder of a block of flats, the management of such a building is a full-time job and similar to running a business. It needs a particular set of skills and knowledge, as well as serious time commitment.
If you hire a management agency to help you with this, you’ll want to take a serious interest in how your building is being run and by whom. Not knowing what’s going on or making a poor choice in terms of which agency you work with can have a negative impact on the enjoyment of the building and even its future value.
The responsibility for building maintenance and general management usually falls to the landlord. This could be one person, a business or the local authority. The management might even fall to the residentials themselves is an RMC is in place (Residents’ Management Company). Of course, some landlords choose to take on the responsibility, but many pass the responsibility for day-to-day management to professional Block Management Services. For more information on these services, visit http://www.completepropertygroup.co.uk/property-block-and-estate-management/
Benefits to using such services
Many landlords simply don’t have the time or experience to deal with such a big task. It requires professionalism and a lot of time. A management company must know landlord and tenant law inside out, understand building construction, accounting, health and safety laws and many other skills as well.
The management agency takes their instructions from the landlord but will always keep the tenants’ wishes and needs in mind as well, as they are the people who live in the property. They will take care of maintenance and repair work, such as making sure the lift is working but will also take monthly rent payments and service charges. The management company will play a large part in the life of those who live in the building, from maintaining the gardens to redecorating the communal areas. They take on the responsibility of keeping everything running smoothly for the tenants and the landlord.
What you want from your management services:
- Knowledgeable – they will need to have a complete knowledge of leases, both their structure and their interpretation.
- Demonstrate excellent knowledge of current landlord and tenant legislation.
- Be able to explain clearly your obligations and also your rights.
- Professionalism – they should be committed to operating best practice and offer excellent customer service.
- Be a member of professional industry organisations, comply with their standards and have a clear, set-out code of practice.
- They should participate in an independent complaints procedure, be transparent and open to external scrutiny.
- They should be forthcoming in providing full accounting services with facilities for collecting rent and service charges, budgeting, accounting and allow you access to this information whenever you request it.
- The agency should support the landlord and tenants in making sure service charge funds are spent efficiently and where most needed.