Block Management in Topsham
Block, estate and leasehold management for Topsham. Compliance is tracked against Exeter City Council and the county above it.
Managing a Block in Topsham at a Glance
- Local authority
- Exeter City Council
- Authority type
- District, under the county council
- Building control
- Exeter City Council Building Control
- County
- Devon
- Fire and rescue service
- Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
- Water and sewerage
- South West Water
- Setting
- Inland
Who You Deal with in Topsham
A block in Topsham deals with Exeter City Council for building control and planning, with the county council above it. Fire safety in the common parts is enforced by Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. Communal water and sewerage is South West Water.
The Residential Stock in Topsham
At the 2021 Census 546 of the 4,397 households in the Topsham ward were in purpose-built blocks of flats, with 56 in a converted or shared house, 37 in another converted building and 43 over commercial premises. Topsham is unparished, so the ward is the only published geography for the town. The ward also records 127 caravans or other mobile or temporary structures, by far the highest count in this research.
Flood Risk in Topsham
Tidal. The Environment Agency's warning area for the South Devon coast at Topsham names low-lying parts of the town including Ferry Road and The Strand, and the town sits inside the South Devon estuaries alert area. The important negative is that the Exeter flood defence scheme does not protect it: that scheme runs from Cowley Bridge down to Bridge Road at Countess Wear, reduces risk to more than 3,000 homes and businesses, and was funded by 6 million pounds of government growth funding with the city and county councils each contributing 3 million. Topsham is not mentioned in it. The city council also confirms there are no critical drainage areas anywhere in its administrative area.
The cost lands on the insurance schedule and on the reserve fund long before any water does.
Conservation Areas and Listed Buildings in Topsham
One area, and it is one of Exeter's 20 rather than one of East Devon's 33. The city council's own published dataset gives the reference as CA20 and the designation date as 14 December 1967, with an appraisal and management plan of June 2009. The national planning register shows 2 March 1989 for the same area, but that is the council's data entry date rather than the designation.
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 Topsham
The lowest in this research. UKHSA's 2016 data report records 410 homes measured in the Topsham ward with three at or above the action level, an arithmetic mean of 38 becquerels per cubic metre. Across the whole Exeter district only 36 of 5,300 results were at or above the 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 Topsham
The oldest Article 4 direction in Exeter, and it is here. Direction A4D1, covering land at The Strand, has been in force since 23 April 1958 with no end date. It removes permitted development rights for the enlargement, improvement or other alteration of a dwellinghouse and for the erection or alteration of buildings or enclosures within its curtilage. A scheme on The Strand that would be permitted development anywhere else in Topsham needs planning permission. Note that Exeter's separate 2023 direction on houses in multiple occupation, in force from 23 December 2024, does not reach Topsham: its published geometry stops several kilometres short.
This sits outside the lease entirely, but it still reaches us: satisfying the council is not the same as obtaining consent under the lease, and a leaseholder generally needs each.
Planning Policy That Affects Flats in Topsham
Decided under the adopted Exeter Core Strategy of 2012 together with the Exeter Local Plan First Review of 2005, which run to 2026, with the emerging Exeter Plan 2021 to 2041 set to replace both. There is no neighbourhood plan for Topsham; the only one in the city is for St James.
Policy in an adopted plan is not guidance. It is what the application is decided against, and a consent granted under the lease does not substitute for it or vice versa.
Changing Managing Agent in Topsham
Changing agent is the company's decision, taken the way its articles require. The only part with a deadline is the notice the outgoing agent is contractually owed. On Topsham 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.
Service charge or accounts query? Email accounts@plymouthblockmanagement.com and quote your development and flat number, or .
Topsham Questions
Which Council Does a Block in Topsham Deal With?
Exeter City Council Building Control. A district council, with the county council above it for county functions.
Who Enforces Fire Safety in the Common Parts in Topsham?
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, as the enforcing authority for the Fire Safety Order.
Who Supplies Water to a Development in Topsham?
South West Water. A communal supply is the building's contract, not a leaseholder's, so report a loss to common parts through us.
Do We Need Consent for External Works in Topsham?
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 Topsham.
A free, no-obligation proposal, written so it can be circulated to a board.