A Staffordshire estate and lettings agency has launched a block management service to ensure satisfaction for leasehold property owners and residents – and to help keep business local.
The new service from Belvoir Stoke-on-Trent, Biddulph and Leek aims to proactively manage and maintain residential buildings with multiple units in them, such as blocks of flats or apartments, or estates with leasehold houses.
Managing Director Ramona Hirschi has developed a four-part approach focusing on compliance, communication, maintenance, and providing the necessary company secretarial services to manage properties for the benefit of leaseholders and their residents.
She said: “People can feel neglected across all four areas but this can be easily solved with proactive block management services. At its worst, that neglect can mean a serious breach of health and safety law.
“We will ensure compliance for property owners, run their maintenance service to ensure quick, efficient repairs of communal areas, communicate with both sides and can help the leaseholders run their management companies.
“Proactive management is necessary, and I believe that by using more local professionals, both property owners and residents can often get better communication and a quicker response.”
Typically, a block or estate manager is hired to manage the obligations of the freeholder or residents’ management company, handling a range of tasks such as maintenance, repairs, service charge budgeting and insurance.
Belvoir Stoke-on-Trent, Biddulph and Leek currently run four sites in this way and hope to grow this part of the business and add another member of staff to their team of eight.
Ramona added: “Having visited one block of homes we were able to take action to reduce the service budget, benefiting the leaseholders.
“Many leaseholders don’t realise that they may in fact be shareholder members of their existing residents’ management company. We can help the leaseholders by providing secretarial services and by managing an annual general meeting.
“Where there is no resident’s management company, many unhappy leaseholders don’t realise that they could go down the Right to Manage process to create such a company and take control of the management of their blocks. That company could then hire a professional agent such as ourselves to carry out the day to day work.”
