Shared stone
Some buildings belong to one owner and hold several homes; some small estates share grounds, paths and bin stores between houses. This page is for the owners, freeholders and residents’ management companies of those buildings, and for anyone whose home stands empty between one household and the next.
A picture made for this page; it shows no building in our care.
An instructionHow looking after a building begins
An owner instructs us in writing, and the management agreement says plainly what we arrange on their behalf: inspections, the safety-check calendar, reactive and planned repairs, the common parts. It also says who books each safety check. That matters in law as well as in practice: where the agreement hands the gas safety check to the agent, the agent carries the same duties as the owner.
The work is property management in the sense the law uses: arranging services, repairs and maintenance for an owner who has asked us to (Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, section 84).
Before we take on any building
Every property manager in England has to belong to a redress scheme approved or designated by the government, so that anyone with a complaint has somewhere independent to take it (SI 2014/2359, article 5). We will join one before we accept an instruction, and this page will name the scheme once we have. Until then, we do not take on buildings.
Common partsWalked, noted, put right
Stairs, halls and landings, the lighting on them, fire doors and the closers that pull them shut, communal windows, bin stores, paths and shared grounds. Each is looked at on a walk-round, and what is found goes into the building’s history with the date.
Since 23 January 2023, the residents of any building with two or more flats must be given information about fire doors. We see that they have it, and that it stays true.
Fire safety in a blockThe responsible person
- Who it is
- Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 the common parts of a block are the responsibility of whoever controls them, usually the freeholder or a residents’ management company. That responsible person must assess the fire risk and keep the assessment under review. An agent can carry out the work on their behalf; the duty stays with them.
- What changed in 2022
- The Fire Safety Act 2021, in force in England from 16 May 2022, made clear that the structure, the external walls and the entrance doors of flats are inside the assessment.
- Taller buildings
- Where a building has a storey above eleven metres, fire doors in the common parts are checked every three months, and flat entrance doors at least once a year, on a best-endeavours basis.
LeaseholdersConsulting before major works
When works to a block, or a long agreement for its upkeep, would cost any one leaseholder more than a set amount, the landlord must consult the leaseholders before committing to it (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 20). If the consultation is skipped, what can be recovered from each leaseholder is capped, unless a tribunal agrees to set the requirement aside. Where a landlord asks us to, we run the consultation: the notices, the time for observations, the estimates, and a written account of why the work was chosen.
Between occupantsWhen a home stands empty
A condition check
The day after one household leaves, room by room, with photographs set against the last ones.
Checks into date
Gas, electrics, alarms and the energy certificate looked at, and anything near its date booked.
Works
Repairs that are easier with nobody living there, done while the rooms are empty.
Cleaned and ready
The home handed back to the owner, in order, for whatever they arrange next.