Residential Property Management and Home Survey Specialists
Management Inspections, Audits
and Right to Manage
1. Cyclical Site Inspections
Proper and effective block management not only protects the fabric of your Building but by ensuring that the communal areas are maintained, cleaned and secured, etc., it enhances the use and value of the premises significantly. In order to do so, it is essential for regular and thorough inspections of your Building to be completed by a competent person aware of not only the manor in which a property is constructed but how issues such as effective health and safety provisions, use (and misuse) of the premises, insurance of the structure and the legal relationships with interest parties (Landlord, Tenants, Neighbours and the like) will affect your enjoyment of your home.
At My Home Surveyor we make such inspections on a regular basis (usually monthly or quarterly, depending on the client’s instructions) and “publish” our site notes for others to be informed of our findings. Where necessary this is followed up with formal reports, an example of which is given in the link to the left column of this page.
2. Audits
Costs of services, standards of management and maintenance provided by a Landlord (and for which lessees pay by way of a service charge) can be a constant source of irritation and concern when full details of these matters lay outside the scope of the lessee's knowledge and information. It is reasonable for anyone having an interest in leasehold property to wish to know of such arrangements and how their money is being used for such purposes.
The law gives two resolutions to what otherwise might prove to be a difficult situation to obtain this background information being:
- S84 and Schedule 4 of the Housing Act 1996 -
a recognised tenant's association's right to appoint a surveyor to advise on service charges; and - S76 Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 - to carry out a management audit.
These provisions don't provide a specific remedy to any particular problem but give legal power(s) to access buildings and records for the collection of information.
For more details visit www.lease-advice.org
3. Right to Manage
Why?
- If you are having problems with your Landlord or Managing Agent or if you simply want more say in the way in which you run your Building, you can group together with like-minded neighbours and provided there is a majority of owners to join in, you can take over the management, either yourselves or by appointing an Agent to act for you.
Procedure
- You will need to set up a Right To Manage (RTM) Company. This is set up in a similar way to a Limited Company and we can assist you in achieving this through our network of legal contacts who specialise in such matters.
- You will need to invite all the Lessees in the Building to become members of the Company and then you can serve a Notice upon your Landlord to take over the management. There is no money to be paid and your Landlord can only say “No” in certain circumstances.
- Once you have taken over the Right to Manage, the Landlord can be part of the Company but will have a limited say in what goes on.
Responsibilities
- You will be responsible for all of the day-to-day management of the Building including the collection of service charges, although you can appoint an Agent to do this for you. Your Landlord remains responsible for collecting ground rent, giving permissions and commencing action against Lessees if they are in breach of their Lease covenants.