Block Management Challenges

Start of Management: September 2022 (64 Apartments – Solihull)

This development had been neglected for many years with no reserve funds accrued. The development was not compliant in that no Risk Assessments or required testing had been undertaken for many years.

The initial inspection highlighted various maintenance issues, the majority of which were of a health & safety nature, including maintenance that had been left for some time. The development is also highly tenanted resulting in the disposal of bulky waste and the financial constraint to remove the same. The property team spent time with the Management Company to determine the issues and formulate a plan and remedy the inherent issues.

Action Plan

• Initial Site Inspection with Directors of the Management Company to highlight all maintenance issues that needed to be addressed. Prioritised action points with Directors to enable works to proceed in order of importance to bring the development to a standard whereby there were no Health & Safety issues that could be at detriment to anyone occupying the building.
• Risk Assessment was undertaken to identify all health & safety issues. The first Risk Assessment highlighted potential death from some of the electric cabling. All action points completed within the timeframe specified and all other action points completed within 1 year. The Risk Assessment is now reviewed annually to ensure we stay compliant.
• Fire Door Survey’s completed, and quotes obtained to enable remedial works to proceed.
• Budget Management all jobs highlighted at the initial inspection completed within the constraints of the budget.
• Major works project to overclad the rear elevation proceeding this year to improve the overall aesthetics of the development.
• Condition report undertaken to enable us to strategically plan what works need to be done within the next 3 years so we can budget accordingly.
• Tenant Behaviour was looked at to enable us to identify where we could educate and where we would need the assistance of third parties such as PACT or the local authority.
• Three-Year Budget Plan was budgeted accordingly to finance works for the next 3 years with a detailed budget letter to explain this to the owners as the Directors were fully on board with the proposal.

The above work was completed within the first year of management and involved a higher level of commitment from the property team. Their success was reliant on the following:-

Communication

Regular Communication with proactive Directors consisting of:

• Monthly TEAMS calls with Directors
• Quarterly Newsletters – Example provided
• 1 x Meeting a year with all owners 1 xAGM
• Monthly on site open surgeries
• Site Inspections – scheduled and shared via the portal
• Spreadsheet of the Budget and all works that are planned within that financial period
• Constant communication with Directors to authorise and update on ongoing works

Behaviour Management

To control the ongoing issues on site with tenant’s mis-using the site and disposing of bulky waste, the following action was taken:

• Contact made with council to enable potential fines to be issued where evidence of bulky waste was provided
• QR codes issued on notice boards for reporting of bulky waste or anti social behaviour
• Newsletters detailed rules of the Lease and we asked owners to be vigilant with their tenants to ensure the rules were followed. This also included sharing with owners what service charge monies were being depleted in order to deal with repairs of this nature
• Recharging Landlords where appropriate and evidenced

Outcome

The above actions have resulted in a significant improvement in the behaviour on site and following the first year, we have managed to bring all issues to a manageable level and reduce the funds being spent on removing bulky waste and fixing locks/ doors due to malicious damage.