For those leaseholders that manage their development between themselves, one of the most common questions we are asked is: Why do I even need a Property Management Company? Well, today is your lucky day, as we fly through 5 of the biggest reasons as to why YOU should employ a property management company...
1. Legal Compliance & Accountability
By employing a trustworthy property management company, you can take comfort in knowing that the building is being managed in accordance with the law. For example, management companies such as Regency Estate Management will ensure that items including but not limited to Buildings Insurance, Fire Risk Assessments (FRAs), and Tree Plans are all arranged and/or acted on accordingly.
If you manage the development yourself and one of these items are not being managed properly, you could find yourself accountable if anything goes wrong!
2. Conveyancing
Do you have the legal knowledge and framework to assist your fellow leaseholders through the conveyancing process (i.e. sales and/or purchases of properties)? If you don't, you should know that this is one of the basic responsibilities of managing a purpose-built block of flats.
You could potentially outsource the whole process to a firm of solicitors, but this will lead to further costs incurred to each lessee and the annual service charge amount will have to be kept at a higher level to make up for your lack of knowledge and facilitate the instruction of solicitors to manage the entirety of the process on each seller's behalf.
By employing a property management company that has the framework and processes in place to assist during the conveyancing process, there may still be fees involved but it will remove the need to pay expensive solicitors to manage the entire process on the leaseholders' behalf and subsequently keep annual service charges lower.
3. Data Protection / GDPR
Since the EU rolled-out changes to data protection laws under its new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implemented on 25th May 2018, all personal data - whether electronic or hard-copy - must be protected and stored in accordance with new legislation.
In the event of hard-copy documentation, this must be secured under lock and key! If you are managing your block yourself or with fellow leaseholders and you aren't doing this, you are breaking the law; regardless of whether Brexit goes ahead or not. Having a property management company that is GDPR complaint will ensure that all personal information is properly stored and protected.
4. Accounting & Service Charges
As the managing agent, you are responsible for managing all aspects in relation to the company accounts such as; issuing service charge demands, expenses, profit and loss, contractor payments, and - if necessary - debt collection.
By employing an accountable management company ("pardon the pun"), all of these issues will be properly managed to ensure that every lessee is paying there way to allow for funds to be used to better your property development.
5. Work Load!
The best part of all, by employing a property management company you don't have to do any of the heavy lifting! All of the items listed above and countless of other tasks are the management company's responsibility, not yours.