Block Management in Torquay
The only two ground instability zones in Torbay, at Babbacombe and Meadfoot.
Torquay RMCs, RTM companies and freeholders can appoint Plymouth Block Management as managing agent for block, estate and leasehold management with no commission. Torbay's only two potential ground instability zones are here, at Babbacombe and Meadfoot, and the north end of Oddicombe beach remains closed for rockfall risk. Torquay also has 3,701 households in converted or shared houses.
What We Would Put First for a Block in Torquay
Survey Blocks Above Unstable Cliffs
Babbacombe and Meadfoot carry rear-scarp recession allowances of 50 and 10 metres, and no coastal change management area has been defined. For a block above those cliffs we would schedule surveys and brief insurers with that evidence.
InspectionsAssess Fire Risk in Converted Villas
Torquay Central is 70.7 per cent flats, with 23.7 per cent of households in a converted or shared house. For a converted villa we would commission a fire risk assessment of the communal parts and act on its findings.
Fire risk assessmentsTest Converted Basements for Radon
The TQ1 3DR postcode is in band 4, where UKHSA advises measurement, and the enclosed ground-level space is often a converted basement. We would arrange radon measurement in those communal areas and record the result.
ComplianceConfirm Conservation Area Status Early
Sixteen of Torbay's 24 conservation areas are in Torquay, though none carries an Article 4 direction. Before external works we would check the designation and, for the Lincombes, note there is no appraisal to work from.
ConsentsManaging a Block in Torquay at a Glance
- Local authority
- Torbay Council
- Authority type
- Unitary
- Building control
- Torbay Council Building Control
- County
- Devon
- Fire and rescue service
- Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service
- Water and sewerage
- South West Water
- From our Plymouth office
- Approx. 33 miles by road, under an hour
- Setting
- Coastal
What It Costs to Move a Block in Torquay to Us
Management is a fixed annual fee, quoted for the building and agreed before we start. We take no commission and no third-party incentives, so the fee is the whole of what we earn from the building. Taking a block on carries a one-off start-up fee, set by size:
| Block size | Fee |
|---|---|
| Start-up fee, up to 10 units | £420.00 |
| Start-up fee, up to 25 units | £540.00 |
| Start-up fee, 50 units and above | £660.00 |
Taken from our published Additional Services price list, PBM Form #01-27 rev.6, effective 23 June 2025. All fees quoted are inclusive of VAT. See the full price list and changing your managing agent.
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Unstable Cliffs and Salt Air on Torquay's Coast
Ground instability is what most sets Torquay's coast apart from the rest of Torbay. Torquay harbour is one of the three enclosed harbours inside the statutory harbour of Tor Bay, whose limits take in 22 miles of coastline and 16 square miles of open sea. The shoreline management plan divides Torquay's frontage into twelve policy units, more than half of all the units in Torbay. The defended stretches at Oddicombe and Babbacombe, Meadfoot, the harbour, Torre Abbey Sands and Livermead are hold the line across every epoch to 2105. The headlands between them, Walls Hill, Anstey's Cove, Hope's Nose, Daddyhole and Corbyn's Head, are all no active intervention. So the policy alternates between defending and letting go, depending on which cove a building stands above. The national coastal erosion mapping places the only two potential ground instability zones in Torbay here, at Babbacombe and at Meadfoot, with rear-scarp recession allowances of 50 and 10 metres respectively. The Oddicombe landslide brought down what the geopark records as over 100,000 tonnes of rockfall debris. The cliff top is estimated to have regressed by about 30 to 40 metres over a length of roughly 140 metres. The council records the north end of Oddicombe beach as closed because of the risk of rocks falling from the unstable cliff face. The shoreline management plan has an outstanding action to reassess the management intent for the undefended cliffs in light of recent falls, and to consider defining a coastal change management area here. None has been defined. For a block near those cliffs, the risk is live and unresolved, which matters for surveys, insurance and long-term maintenance planning.
Metalwork is where coastal exposure shows up first and costs most. The standards put a severe coastal atmosphere in category C5 or CX under ISO 9223, losing roughly 50 to 200 micrometres of unprotected steel in year one, so railings, balustrades and fixings on a Torquay block are surveyed more often and the reserve fund is modelled on the findings.
3,701 Households Live in Converted or Shared Houses
Torquay Central was 70.7 per cent flats at the 2021 Census, and a large part of that is not purpose-built. 23.7 per cent of households are in a converted or shared house and a further 5.4 per cent in a commercial building. Wellswood is 60.0 per cent flats, Upton and Hele 40.3, Babbacombe and Plainmoor 39.4. Town-wide the 2021 Census counts 31,528 households, of which 6,432 are in purpose-built blocks and 3,701 in a converted or shared house. Tormohun ward alone holds 1,182 converted or shared house households. For a converted villa, fire separation, shared services and the extent of each demise need checking at handover.
Torre Abbey and Livermead Face Wave Overtopping
Torbay's strategic flood risk assessment names Torre Abbey and Livermead among the areas at risk from coastal flooding caused by waves overtopping defences. It names the Torquay harbour area among the low-lying places where groundwater flooding could be a problem. The whole of Torbay is a Critical Drainage Area. For a block in those areas, the exposure should be disclosed to insurers and basement and ground-floor drainage kept on the inspection list.
The Lincombes, Torbay's Largest Conservation Area, Lacks an Appraisal
16 of Torbay's 24 conservation areas are in Torquay, including the Warberries, St Marychurch, Babbacombe Downs and Torquay Harbour. Fifteen of the sixteen have an adopted appraisal, and the Torquay Harbour appraisal was fully adopted on 17 March 2026 after a survey the previous December. The exception is the Lincombes, at 101.5 hectares the largest conservation area in Torbay. It has no appraisal at all, only a boundary map, so there is no character assessment to argue a scheme against. For a block in the Lincombes, any external works proposal has to be made without published guidance on what the council expects.
Torquay's listed buildings are part of Torbay's 865, 96 per cent of which are Grade II. The council attributes the town's character to the grand villas and mansions built for visiting gentry from the Georgian period onwards. On Historic England's data, 448 list entries fall inside the town, five Grade I and fifteen Grade II*. Torquay holds five of Torbay's six Grade I buildings: Torre Abbey and its Spanish Barn, the parish churches of All Saints and St John the Evangelist, and the Roman Catholic church of Our Lady, Help of Christians and St Denis. The Torquay Harbour conservation area holds 75 listed buildings, and Cary Park exactly one, William Butterfield's Grade I All Saints' Church. Four Torquay entries sit on the Heritage at Risk register. For a block in a listed villa, consent for works affecting its character should be secured before major works are specified.
3 to 5 Per Cent Band Dominant, Band 4 at TQ1 3DR
The square around postcode TQ1 3DR is in band 4 of 6, a maximum potential of 5 to 10 per cent of homes at or above the action level, where UKHSA advises measurement. Across the town as a whole the picture is milder. Of the 53 one-kilometre squares covering Torquay, the dominant band is 3 to 5 per cent, over 45 per cent of the area. Some ground is in the 1 to 3 per cent band. Torquay has effectively no ground in the top band. Well over a third of Torquay Central's flats are conversions, so the enclosed ground-level space that needs testing in a block is often a converted basement rather than a plant room.
No Article 4 Direction Anywhere in Torquay
Torquay has no Article 4 direction at all. The town holds sixteen of Torbay's twenty-four conservation areas, and none of them is covered by a direction. The council has two in total and both are elsewhere, at Polsham in Paignton and at Churston on the Brixham peninsula. Nor is there any direction anywhere in Torbay removing permitted development rights for converting a house into a house in multiple occupation. That control operates here through local plan and neighbourhood plan policy instead, so a block's subletting and HMO questions turn on those policies.
Two Tourism Strips Block Hotel to HMO Changes
Torquay's neighbourhood plan, made in June 2019, blocks change of use from tourism accommodation to an HMO, student halls or hostel inside either of the town's two Core Tourism Investment Areas. These are the coastal strip running from Livermead to the Imperial, taking in Torre Abbey and the harbour, and the Babbacombe cliff strip. Outside those areas the same plan resists HMOs where they would harm the tourism offer or worsen concentrations of deprivation. The adopted local plan adds a duty to retain two to four bedroom homes and resist their change of use into HMOs and small self-contained flats, applied most firmly in Community Investment Areas. For a block, those policies shape any request to convert, subdivide or let a flat as an HMO.
Tribunal Decisions on Blocks in Torquay
Published First-tier Tribunal decisions on named developments here, each read in full. They show what the tribunal expects of whoever runs a block in this area.
| Development | Issue | Decided |
|---|---|---|
| 32 Clarendon Court, Stitchill Road | Insurance | 30 March 2026 |
| Flats 1 to 34 Seaway Court, Seaway Lane | Lease variation | 25 September 2025 |
| Apartments 2 and 4 Marine Palms, Warren Road | Service charge | 28 October 2022 |
| Westwood Villa, 111 Abbey Road | Appointment of a manager | 15 June 2021 |
Going Deeper in Torquay
Towns and Villages We Cover Around Torquay
Babbacombe, St Marychurch, Wellswood, Chelston, Livermead, Watcombe.
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Torquay Questions
Can a Torquay Hotel Near the Seafront Become an HMO?
Not inside the two Core Tourism Investment Areas. The neighbourhood plan, made in June 2019, blocks change of use from tourism accommodation to an HMO, student halls or hostel on the strip from Livermead to the Imperial and on the Babbacombe cliff strip. Outside those areas the plan resists HMOs where they would harm the tourism offer or worsen concentrations of deprivation.
Is the Oddicombe Cliff Still a Risk?
The council records that the north end of Oddicombe beach is closed because of the risk of rocks falling from the unstable cliff face, and the cliff top there is estimated to have receded by about 30 to 40 metres. The shoreline management plan has an outstanding action to reassess the undefended cliffs, and no coastal change management area has yet been defined.
Which Parts of Torquay's Seafront Are Defended?
Oddicombe and Babbacombe, Meadfoot, the harbour, Torre Abbey Sands and Livermead are hold the line across every epoch to 2105. The headlands between them, Walls Hill, Anstey's Cove, Hope's Nose, Daddyhole and Corbyn's Head, are all no active intervention, so the policy depends on which cove a building stands above.
Nearby Areas
More Areas We Cover
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