Block Management for Landlords Who Own a Building of Flats.
Freeholders and owners of whole buildings across Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall: the common parts, safety duties, insurance and service charge handled, while your tenancies stay with you.
Block Management for the Building, Not the Tenancy
Owning a building of flats brings two sets of responsibilities. One belongs to each tenancy: finding tenants, deposits, tenancy agreements and the checks that go with each let. The other belongs to the building itself: the structure, the shared areas, the insurance, the safety duties for the common parts and, where the flats are sold on leases, the service charge.
We look after the second. Tenancies stay with you or your letting agent, and the building has a named manager, a budget, a compliance record and contractors who are vetted and supervised.
Which Kind of Landlord Are You?
You Own the Freehold of a Block Sold on Long Leases
The leaseholders pay a service charge and you carry the landlord's obligations under the leases and the Landlord and Tenant Acts. We run the building to those obligations and keep the evidence that they were met.
You Own a Whole Building and Let the Flats
Every flat is yours, but the common parts, structure and shared services still need managing, and the fire, asbestos and water safety duties for those areas sit with you. We take on the building while your tenancies stay with you or your letting agent.
You Own a Flat in a Block and Let It Out
The building is managed by whoever the freeholder or resident management company appoints. If that is us, your service charge, lease questions and repairs to the common parts come through the leaseholder portal, and the lease sets out any consent you need to let.
The Duties That Come with the Building
These apply because of what the building is, not because of how the flats are let. Each one needs doing, and each one needs a record that shows it was done.
Fire Safety in the Common Parts
A fire risk assessment for the shared areas under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and the resident information and fire door checks required by the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 for the height of the building.
Asbestos
The duty to manage asbestos under regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 applies to the common parts of a block of flats: a survey, a register and a plan for anything found.
Water Hygiene
A legionella risk assessment for shared water systems, in line with the Health and Safety Executive's approved code of practice L8.
Electrical and Communal Systems
Periodic inspection of the landlord's supply, emergency lighting, fire alarm and any lift, each tested and recorded on its own cycle.
Service Charge Law, Where There Are Leaseholders
Costs reasonably incurred under section 19 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 20 consultation before major works or long-term contracts, money held on trust under section 42 of the 1987 Act, and demands carrying the landlord's name and address under section 47.
Selling the Building
Where flats are let on long leases, the leaseholders' right of first refusal under Part 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 has to be offered before a sale elsewhere.
How We Work with Landlords
We start by reading the title and any leases, then walk the building and set out what is in place, what is missing and what it will cost. The budget is agreed with you before the year starts, client money is held in the building's own designated account, and we take no commission on contractor work.
If you are selling, refinancing or bringing in a new letting agent, the management records, compliance certificates and accounts are ready to hand over, because they have been kept that way throughout. See also freehold management and residential block management.
Talk to Us About Your Building.
A free, no-obligation proposal, based on the building rather than a price list.