property management

Our principal residential property management clients are freehold owners (landlords) who are either a co-operative of long leaseholders (tenants) or, more commonly, a limited company comprising shareholders or members who are made up by the long leaseholders, and some or all of whom also often acting as directors of the freehold company. Our brief can include for us, at no added expense, to be appointed to act in the capacity of company secretary which, particularly for 'dormant' companies, obviates the need for an accountant to act in that capacity at otherwise added expense.

Our principal residential property management clients are freehold owners (landlords) who are either a co-operative of long leaseholders (tenants) or, more commonly, a limited company comprising shareholders or members who are made up by the long leaseholders, and some or all of whom also often acting as directors of the freehold company. Our brief can include for us, at no added expense, to be appointed to act in the capacity of company secretary which, particularly for 'dormant' companies, obviates the need for an accountant to act in that capacity at otherwise added expense. Our commercial property management clients are businesses in their own right, more often than not they are not property people, and they are either limited companies or limited liability partnerships.

We look after buildings for the freehold or head lessee owners, ensuring that their legal, statutory and covenant obligations are met by way of a well organised series of actions and procedures. These obligations apply to such as the condition and state of repair of the buildings, keeping appropriate insurances at all times, providing communal services such as power and light, cleaning and gardening, etc. Statute and regulation can also require the maintenance of a health and safety file containing such as an asbestos register, a fire risk assessment, periodic electrical checks, etc, and these are all matters which are dealt with by BBS so to ensure full compliance.

The cost of these inputs is met by the service charge, the administration of which is governed by the covenants contained in the leases, and also by statute for residential properties in such as the Housing Act 1987 and the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, as amended from time to time. At the start of a service charge year, we make an assessment of likely expenditures on the building and collect contributions from the leaseholders in order that these bills can be paid. At the end of a year, those bills are totalled and set against the advance assessment, with any credit or debit to the service charge account carried forward to the next year. The leaseholders are formally notified of actual expenditures by way of service charge, and advised of their rights as tenants to challenge or require further information, raise queries, etc, so that the entire procedure is transparent and fully understood and accepted. At the same time, the next year advance charges are assessed and advised, and so the pattern continues.

From time to time, major works will be required to a property, such as internal and external common parts refurbishments, fire safety upgrades, lifts replacements, etc. It is the role of the property management to anticipate these eventualities via the planned maintenance programme, and to budget for their eventual cost via the sinking fund, if such is provided in the leases.

Statute provides that any one service charge expenditure which exceeds the contribution threshold (currently £250 for a residential leasehold) must be consulted with all the leaseholders by way of what is commonly known as the Section 20 process, other than in emergency. Hence the importance of the property manager anticipating such expenditures in good time, and serving notices on the leaseholders at the appropriate times. That your property management company are also building surveyors can be a considerable advantage, other than with very specialist works, whereas other managers may need to employ outside consultants at added cost.

Unless it is their own business to manage property, any residential or commercial freehold owner or head lessee will benefit from professional property management, and the more leaseholds that are involved then the more pressing becomes the need. Owners simply do not have the time, or the expertise, to effectively manage their properties themselves, and the cost of management is, more often than not, a recoverable expense under service charge from the leaseholders.

Owners who do not wish to expose themselves to risk or unforeseen expense need a property manager. Those risks can include such as invalidation of building insurance, inability to recover expenses, loss of value, breaches of regulations governing buildings and their occupation and use, and consequent potential fines, penalties and civil proceedings, even criminal prosecutions.

Residential property management fees are generally charged on a unit cost basis to the service charge account quarterly in arrears. BBS have a scale of charges starting at £350-400 per leasehold unit per annum for smaller properties, reducing proportionally for larger properties with economies of scale. Our portfolio currently contains properties having as few as three leaseholds, and blocks containing in excess of 70 units.

Commercial property management fees are usually negotiated on a case by case basis, depending size and complexity.

When starting a property management brief from scratch, or when taking over a complex building, start up fees can apply on a case by case basis. When accepting a handover from a previous managing agent, start up fees tend not to apply.

All fees charged by BBS are subject to the addition of VAT at the prevailing rate.

We believe you will find that our charge out rates in our geographical area are highly market competitive, and will compare favourably with those charges sought to be levied by our competitors.