Block Management in Bath
Block, estate and leasehold management for Bath. Compliance is tracked against Bath and North East Somerset Council. Roughly 122 miles from our office.
Managing a Block in Bath at a Glance
- Local authority
- Bath and North East Somerset Council
- Authority type
- Unitary
- Building control
- Bath and North East Somerset Council Building Control
- Fire and rescue service
- Avon Fire and Rescue Service
- Water and sewerage
- Wessex Water for most addresses, with Bristol Water supplying parts of the area
- From our Plymouth office
- Approx. 122 miles by road, a planned journey rather than a casual one
- Setting
- Inland
Who You Deal with in Bath
A block in Bath deals with Bath and North East Somerset Council, a unitary authority, so building control, planning and housing enforcement sit with one body. Fire safety in the common parts is enforced by Avon Fire and Rescue Service. Communal water and sewerage is Wessex Water for most addresses, with Bristol Water supplying parts of the area.
The Residential Stock in Bath
Across the whole Bath and North East Somerset district at the 2021 Census, 16,969 of 79,250 households, 21.4 per cent, were in flats. The district figure understates Bath itself, because it also takes in rural North East Somerset, Keynsham, Midsomer Norton and Radstock. The character of the Bath stock is set by the heritage designations rather than by new build, and most historic buildings are of local honey-coloured oolitic limestone quarried at Combe Down.
Flood Risk in Bath
Bath's flood risk is fluvial, from the Avon, and not tidal: the tidal limit stops downstream at Keynsham Weir. The Environment Agency runs four separate flood warning areas for the Bristol Avon at Bath, covering Grosvenor and Kensington Meadows, St Johns Road, Henrietta Gardens, Forester Avenue and the Dolmeads. The city's flood walls are not uniformly sound: the council's assessment records condition grades of 2 to 3 with one wall at category 4 and another at category 5, and a varying standard of protection. Drainage is a known weak point, with 40 per cent of the district's recorded sewer flooding incidents attributed to Bath and an ageing sewer system likely to need considerable upgrade.
The cost lands on the insurance schedule and on the reserve fund long before any water does.
Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings in Bath
Bath is a single city-wide conservation area of 1,486 hectares covering two thirds of the World Heritage Site, subdivided into 16 character areas. It is not a patchwork of small designations, so conservation area consent and tree notification obligations apply almost everywhere in the city. Across the wider district there are 35.
The council records approximately 5,000 listed buildings inside the World Heritage Site, with the highest concentration of Grade I and Grade II* listings outside central London: 3 per cent Grade I, 10 per cent Grade II* and 87 per cent Grade II. Unauthorised work to a listed building is a criminal offence.
Bath is doubly inscribed by UNESCO, first in 1987 and again in July 2021 as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, and is thought to be one of only 22 doubly inscribed sites worldwide. The inscription is exceptional in that it encompasses the entire urban area: both inscriptions follow the municipal city boundary, about 29 square kilometres. Every block in Bath sits inside a World Heritage Site. The council records that the site generates about 1,500 planning and listed building consent applications a year, undoubtedly the highest of any UK World Heritage Site, out of roughly 2,200 for the whole district.
Consent has to precede the Section 20 specification, not follow it, or leaseholders are consulted on work that cannot lawfully be done as described.
Radon in Bath
Bath and North East Somerset Council states that the district is an area affected by naturally occurring radon gas, meaning at least one per cent of homes are estimated to exceed the 200 becquerels per cubic metre action level.
In a block the part worth attention is the enclosed communal space at or below ground level: plant rooms, undercrofts, basements and bin stores. Measuring is inexpensive, takes three months, and the result belongs with the compliance record.
Licensing and Permitted Development in Bath
The council lists ten Article 4 directions, six of them in Bath, covering office to dwelling conversion, demolition of walls, estate agents' boards, houses in multiple occupation and a horse showground. The Central Bath Article 4 Direction 2018 came into force on 8 March 2019 and removes the permitted development right to convert offices to dwellings across the Widcombe, Abbey and Kingsmead wards, so new residential blocks in central Bath cannot be created by prior approval and must go through full planning.
Two permissions get confused here. The council's requirements are public law and apply whatever the lease says; consent under the lease is private law and applies whatever the council says. A leaseholder letting a flat usually needs both.
Changing Managing Agent in Bath
A board does not need a reason to change agent and does not need the outgoing agent's agreement. It needs to follow its own articles and serve whatever notice the management agreement requires. On Bath heritage stock the consents history is what most often turns out to be incomplete, and its absence resurfaces later as a planning problem.
See the handover sequence in full, and our fees, which are a fixed annual amount with no commission on contractor work.
Neighbourhoods and Districts We Cover from Bath
Keynsham, Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Saltford, Peasedown St John, Paulton, Timsbury, Chew Magna, Widcombe, Lansdown, Bathwick, Combe Down, Weston, Twerton, Oldfield Park.
Service charge or accounts query? Email accounts@plymouthblockmanagement.com and quote your development and flat number, or .
Bath Questions
Which Council Does a Block in Bath Deal With?
Bath and North East Somerset Council Building Control. One body, so building control, planning and licensing sit together.
Who Enforces Fire Safety in the Common Parts in Bath?
Avon Fire and Rescue Service, as the enforcing authority for the Fire Safety Order.
Who Supplies Water to a Development in Bath?
Wessex Water for most addresses, with Bristol Water supplying parts of the area. A communal supply is the building's contract, not a leaseholder's, so report a loss to common parts through us.
Is Bath Too Far from Your Plymouth Office?
It is about 122 miles, a planned journey rather than a casual one. Distance changes how site visits are scheduled, not whether they happen.
Do We Need Consent for External Works in Bath?
On a listed building or in a conservation area, yes, for much that would be permitted elsewhere. Get it before the Section 20 specification, not after.
Nearby Areas
Talk to Us About Your Building in Bath.
A free, no-obligation proposal, written so it can be circulated to a board.