Block & Estate Management
Our Block & Estate Management department was set up following a growing need from our sales & lettings clients for a local Block and Estate Managing Agent who they can trust & rely on to provide a value for money service.
We pride ourselves on providing a transparent service, with no hidden fees. Unless our client agrees to our fee, we will not charge it.
We want to use our knowledge & experience to help as many people as we can. We can help leaseholders of blocks of flats, residents of private housing estates, Freeholders of block of flats, Residents Management Companies (RMCs), Right to Manage Companies (RTMs), Freehold Management Companies and Property Developers in Surrey and West Sussex.
Whether you have a small private housing estate or a small block of flats or a large development with a mix of flats & houses, we would be keen to help you.
By providing an honest, helpful & professional service, we want to earn the local reputation as the “go to” local Managing Agent in Surrey & West Sussex. Whilst we will continue to grow, we do not wish to be the biggest Managing Agent, but we do want to be the best Managing Agent in Surrey & West Sussex.
To find out what we do differently to other Managing Agents, please contact us on 01372 452209 or e-mail BlockManagement@patrickgardner.com
In a sector that does not have to be regulated, we are proud to be Regulated by RICS. Our clients can have peace of mind that we are regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). As we are Regulated by RICS, we must have Professional Indemnity Insurance to help protect our clients and we must ensure that your service charges are held in a separate bank account away from our firm’s own monies. Our clients also benefit from ‘the RICS Clients’ Money Protection Scheme’. Some of the benefits include the following:
♦ Your money is protected
♦ Any money you entrust to us is held in a client account, separate from the firm’s own money
♦ RICS funds a Clients’ Money Protection Scheme which is a free service provided by the RICS to Clients of firms that are Regulated by RICS
♦ RICS purchases insurance to protect its exposure under this scheme
As one of our clients, you can benefit from the following:
♦ We practise to globally recognised standards.
♦ We behave ethically and act with integrity and honesty.
♦ We have the required skills and competencies to do the job.
♦ We manage conflicts of interests transparently.
♦ We safeguard the security of client money.
♦ We manage our clients’ finances appropriately.
♦ We provide adequate and appropriate indemnity for our work.
♦ We handle complaints and disputes fairly.
We hope this reassures you that our Block & Estate Management department can be trusted to deliver high standards of service. As a firm ‘Regulated by RICS’, we want to convey a consistent message of confidence and quality to all our clients.
Our Block & Estate Management department has a dedicated team. Our team is managed by a Chartered Surveyor, who is also the Managing Director & joint owner within the business.
The team are regularly trained by our in house Chartered Surveyor and attend external courses to enable all the team to provide a service which accords with the most up-to-date legislation and regulations.
We ensure that our team have a manageable workload, work in a positive environment, and get fairly rewarded for their conscientious work. By treating our team fairly, this helps attract & retain the best people to work within it. In turn, this helps our team provide the best service to aid a long-term working relationship with our clients. As our clients are pleased with the service provided by our team, this has helped retain our clients, earn recommendations and enjoy a reputation that we are proud of.
Our Block & Estate Management team all live locally, and they are all keen to do their best. Our team is small enough to care, but we are big enough to provide a service that we say we can.
We treat our team, clients, leaseholders, and residents how we would want our loved ones to be treated. We also request that you treat our team with the same respect. We have an “unreasonable behaviour policy” in place to help support our team.
Our Block & Estate Management department is run from our Dorking, Surrey based office. We manage blocks of flats, estates and private roads in Surrey & West Sussex that are within a forty-five-minute drive of our Dorking office. We manage developments in some of the following areas: Dorking, Bookham, Leatherhead, Ashtead, Headley, Walton-on-the-Hill, Westcott, Gomshall, Shere, Albury, Chilworth, Peaslake, Bramley, Shalford, East Horsley, West Horsley, North Holmwood, South Holmwood, Capel, Warnham, Rusper, Charlwood, Ifield, Horley, Norwood Hill, Rudgwick, Effingham, Fetcham, Epsom, Epsom Downs, Stoneleigh, Ewell, Cobham, Ockham, Oxshott, Esher, Claygate, Reigate, Redhill, Merstham, Godstone, Bletchingly, Felbridge, East Grinstead, Caterham, Chipstead, Sutton, Cheam, Banstead, Tadworth, Kingswood, Lower Kingswood, Burstow, Balcombe, Smallfield, Salfords, Earlswood, Copthorne, Faygate, Pease Pottage, Horsham, Broadbridge Heath, Billingshurst, Southwater, Wisborough Green, Pulborough, West Chiltington, Guildford, Burpham, Merrow, Cranleigh, Ewhurst, Brockham, Chessington, and other surrounding towns & villages.
If your area is not listed, please contact us and we will still do our best to help. If you are out of our area, we may know someone else who can help.
Service Charges are charges payable by the leaseholder/home owner to the landlord/residents management company for services that are provided under the terms of the lease for flats or Transfer Document (TP1) for houses. These will be a variable amount changing year on year depending on the costs that have been incurred and depending on reserves. The way these are charged is set out in the terms of the lease.
The service charges include maintenance and repairs of the common areas defined in the lease for flats or the Transfer Document (TP1) for houses. As every lease and transfer document is different, every budget is different. Therefore, for full details, leaseholders should check the terms of their lease and home owners should check their Transfer Document (TP1).
The lease states the demand dates & frequency. Most leases allow for the collection of the service charge in advance and provide 21 days to pay.
In accordance with best practice guidance, annual service charge budgets are worked out on the actual charges from the previous years and taking into account any planned works. Therefore, budgets are an estimate and can vary. At the year end, we will advise our client to organise for an independent Accountant to prepare end of year accounts with the actual figures and this will be circulated to all leaseholders or home owners once completed.
This is also known as a sinking fund. Reserves can only be collected if the lease allows for it. The purpose is to build up a fund to pay for future larger scale works such as repairing/redecorating the whole building or in some cases replacing windows. This is an attempt to spread the cost of these works so that leaseholders pay fair share over time and so that new residents do not receive a large one-off bill when these works become necessary. Leaseholders/homeowners will not receive any of this reserve contribution back if they sell their premises.
The law states that any service charge contributions are held on trust by the landlord/management company for the leaseholders. This means that the money can be held in one or more client accounts at a building society or bank to be used for the purposes stated in the lease. If the landlord or his agent become insolvent such money is protected for the benefit of the leaseholders from any creditors seeking payment.
If a landlord/management company propose to carry out works that will cost any one leaseholder more then £250 including VAT then they are required to go through a consultation procedure under Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Please contact us for a Section 20 guidance note.