When you buy a property within a development, there are common areas that need to be maintained and the processes to maintain that should comply with current legislation. On a housing estate this can include grass cutting, hedge trimming, fence repair as well as the cyclical maintenance for unadopted areas.
All of this will usually be documented in a lease (for an apartment) or TP1 (for a freehold house), and all of these obligations need to be organised by someone. A maintenance plan needs to be developed, a budget needs to be prepared, funds need to be raised and various tradespeople need to be contracted, all managed in accordance with the lease and the law. This is the role of the estate manager or managing agent.
The many different areas of Residential Estate Management can be confusing – even more so if you are new to this communal area contribution scheme – and especially daunting if as a Resident Management Company Director you have assumed responsibility for ensuring your development is being maintained and that the finances are in order. The service charge you pay is not an insignificant amount of money. – so how do you go about finding a managing agent you can trust?
High Standards
Our team will visit each development to carry out regular Quality Site Audits. Covering all aspects of the scope of services for the property, these audits allow us to flag up any issues and address them quickly and professionally so that they don’t become a problem.
Money
It’s your money we’re looking after so we set credible budgets and critically examine all expenditure to ensure best value for money. Service charge funds are held in separate interest-bearing accounts and are verified annually by an external accountant.
Our qualified and experienced accountants are an integral part of the property management team, and work closely with your estate manager to ensure finances are properly recorded, managed and reported.
Quick Response
Our goal is to maintain every estate we manage to consistently high standards in order to deal with any potential problems before they escalate. Response times are closely monitored – whether they relate to the time it takes to deal with a maintenance issue, or to answer an email or letter from a leaseholder.
Communication
We are available by office phone, mobile and email and can provide an after-hours call response service where appropriate. Our estate managers make regular visits to site, attend resident and company meetings and AGMs as required and are always happy to meet with residents to discuss concerns they might have. Our staff work to strict timetables in relation to communicating property-specific information including financial updates and major works programmes
Back Office Support
An effective managing agent needs a complete understanding of complex landlord and tenant law, building construction and maintenance, health and safety regulations, finance and more. Paramount’s team of people – backed up by robust systems and proven procedures – brings all of these disciplines together, ensuring we meet key legal and accounting milestones, continually maintain high standards of day to day management at the estate, and control expenditure.
