Why You Don’t Need a Property Managing Agent for Your Block of Flats

If you are a member or even a director of one of the many freehold or leasehold property management companies which are responsible for the maintenance and repair of blocks of flats or apartments what do you think?

Does your company really need the in depth property management advice offered by the professional property managing agent? Or is such a move just another waste of service charge funds?

Increasingly many directors and company members are shifting towards the employment of specialist property managing agent professionals to share responsibility and to advise and guide their property management company through the maze of legislation surrounding the residential sector.

However many others are resolutely sticking to their guns and continuing to manage their companies and their property estates in house.

So what is all this legislation and what else do the directors and decision makers who are ultimately responsible for the management function need to know?

Current legislation in England and Wales is largely defined under well established landlord and tenant law as subsequently revised by the more recent Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.

In summary, any terms included in any residential lease cannot be upheld where they do not comply with current statutory legislation. As a result, parts of the lease may not be enforceable and may be deemed illegal. This means that property management company members and directors must be compliant with the requirements of statute, however well they might have read and understand the property lease.

Property block management therefore involves knowledge and expertise in how statute will vary the terms of how the lease is interpreted.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order brought in to effect significant changes. The new fire safety rules came into force on 1 October 2006 and affect all non-domestic premises in England and Wales.

If you are responsible for non domestic premises then you need to act by undertaking or arranging a fire risk assessment. This is an organised appraisal of work activities and the workplace which now includes by definition the common areas of your residential premises. It is therefore an essential part of your block management duties.

The risk assessment should identify potential fire hazards, for residents, employees and visitors who might be in danger in the event of fire. You should evaluate the risks arising from the hazards and decide whether the existing fire precautions are adequate, or whether more needs to be done.

If you do not employ the services of property management agents this means that your management company members and directors must be compliant with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.

The Data Protection Act controls how personal information you hold is used by organisations, businesses or the government. Everyone, including you, who is responsible for using data has to follow strict rules called ‘data protection principles’. In summary you must make sure the information you hold is:

used fairly and lawfully
used for limited, specifically stated purposes
used in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive
accurate
kept for no longer than is absolutely necessary
handled according to people’s data protection rights
kept safe and secure
not transferred outside the UK without adequate protection

There is stronger legal protection for more sensitive information, however the above information should be sufficient to make you aware of the need to comply.

If you do not employ a property management services agent this means that your property management company members and directors must be familiar with and compliant with The Data Protection Act and the ‘data protection principles’.

The above examples are merely a few of the many areas of estate property management affected by ever growing legislation and red tape.

Other important matters which are affected include the treatment of service charges, tenants’ rights, legal landlord notices required, increased powers conferred on the LVT or leasehold valuation tribunal, consultation procedures for Qualifying Works under Section 20 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act, and enfranchisement and new right to manage principles giving the leaseholders in qualifying properties the right to take over the management of their properties.

If you are familiar with the majority of the above property block management legislation and have the time available then you are probably well informed and very capable of managing your estate or block of flats.

If however you have found that this article has provided you with new information then you might want to think about taking professional advice about how you manage your company and your estate to ensure you are not at risk.

Whilst directors and officers liability insurance cover is available to help protect you in the event of negligence it is doubtful how far this will cover those who could be thought to have willfully ignored statutory legislation. It is particularly important to realise that any serious breach of health and safety legislation is treated as a criminal offence for which a heavy fine or custodial sentence may result.

Information Product Creation: Never Compete on Price Because There Is Only One You

Information product creation requires extensive preparation, no matter which niche you work within and you want to make sure that your information product has a successful launch. That probably sounds scary and intimidating but here’s the thing: this is a one time effort and it will pay off in a foundation that is strong enough to get your ideal clients to invest in your high-end programs and services without the perils of a traditional funnel. This article will teach you a few of the things that you need to remember if you’d like to invest in yourself and start on the information product creation path using your unique talents and abilities. Remember that you never have to worry about anyone ripping off your ideas because if you understand how to properly position yourself around your story.

Understand Both Strengths and Weaknesses: It is good to have an impartial view of your own strengths and weaknesses when lay the foundation of selling yourself within the information product creation process. It helps you figure out where you are, what you lack and how to move forward so that you get as much growth as possible. It is more than important, it is urgent if you want to create fast success for yourself to have personal positive reinforcement and deep belief to provide yourself the support you need so that you can get over your own limitations to ensure that your information product is as valuable as it can be.

You also need to know exactly who your competition is so you can study them and use their methods to help you improve your own standings. Down recreate the wheel, but understand the wheel and position yourself going uphill from the competition. Check out which kinds of opportunities you’ve already got and try to figure out how best to use them while taking care to remember your strengths and weaknesses. This is a great way to figure out where you stand against your competition which helps you figure out how best to grow.

Launch on Time: No matter what, even if you haven’t officially announced your “launch date” you should launch the site when you’ve said you would. This will force you to stick to your goal and actually work on it. Thinking that “I’ll launch it when I think it’s ready to launch” will only hinder your efforts. You’ve got a responsibility that you need to live up to with your launch, and you can’t move back on that one. If you get close to your launch date and you are getting hung up on your self limiting beliefs in your information product creation, don’t worry this about getting it out there and not perfection. As long as it is usable you should launch it. Launching on time is the professional thing to do and it is more important than creating a “wow” effect in your site visitors. You can always update/upgrade your website when you have to, so there shouldn’t be any issue with that.

Analyze Your Own Concept: If you want to make your information product creation successful you need to understand how good your concept is: is it really going to work for your chosen audience or would something else be better? You already know about your competition; how does your concept measure up? If you haven’t come up with your own idea and are trying to work with someone else’s concept, do some more work on your own before your launch. People want original ideas because they’ve seen too many other me-too websites already.

Test Your Concept Before You Commit To The Information Product Creation Process: One of the biggest failures people have with information product creation is not testing an idea before putting a lot of effort into producing an information product. PPC to a small 5 page site with a landing page is a great way to test an offer before you even produce it. If people will sign up to get it, you can be sure that you can create an information product that will target eliminating the pain of your target market. The small amount of money will be invaluable in using crowd sourcing to direct the final outline of the information product creation process.

You’ll have lots of hurdles to clear after the launch of your information product and the only way to truly take care of them is to follow the advice in this article to work smarter. Plenty of people work hard, but it is the ones who work smarter who make real money online with the information product creation business model.

New Texas Real Estate Laws

The following is an overview of bills passed during the 2011 Texas legislative session that affect real estate. Please note that this overview does not include every new law affecting real estate; it is simply an overview of certain important changes.

Landlord-Tenant-Residential Certificates of Occupancy H.B. 1862 allocates liability to a landlord whose certificate of occupancy is revoked by a city or county for the landlord’s failure to maintain the premises. The landlord is liable for the full amount of the tenant’s security deposit, the pro rata portion of any rental payments paid in advance by the tenant, and the tenant’s actual damage which includes moving costs, utility connection fees, storage fees, lost wages, and attorney’s fees.

Property Owner’s Associations (HOAs and COAs)

· Collections and Foreclosures H.B. 1228 requires certain POAs to adopt and file reasonable guidelines allowing owners to make partial payments for delinquent assessments. The law also regulates foreclosure of assessment liens and the use of collection agents. Lastly, the bill requires the Texas Supreme Court adopt rules for expedited foreclosure proceedings.

· Flags H.B. 2779 prohibits a POA from adopting or enforcing restrictions on displaying the U.S., Texas, or armed forces flags, except as allowed by law (ex. reasonable restrictions relating to flags, flagpoles. lights, and noise).

· Solar Panels H.B. 362 prohibits a POA from restricting solar devices, except as allowed by statue. The law also prohibits POA architectural review committees from withholding approval of a solar device unless the device substantially interferes with the use and enjoyment of the land.

Ad Valorem Taxes-Protests H.B. 1887 provides that before delinquency, an owner who disputes the appraised value of their property need only pay the amount of tax attributable to the portion of the appraised value that is not in dispute in order to preserve their right to have the appraised amount corrected by the appraisal review board (ARB).

Ad Valorem Taxes-ARB Hearings S.B. 1546 amends Tax Code Section 41.45 (e-l) by providing that a property owner’sagent who fails to appear at an appraisal review board (ARB) hearing is now entitled to a new hearing in the same manner as a property owner who fails to appear to such a hearing.

Co-owners of Residential Property S.B. 1368 permits certain co-owners of property to file an affidavit in the county clerk’s office to establish the authority to act as agent for the other co-owner for the purpose of entering into mechanic’s liens, materialman’s, and deed of trust liens.

Bahin Ameri is a Houston-based real estate attorney. The focus of her practice is on real estate law and business law. She handles a variety of cases including contract/lease disputes, property disputes, and small claims. Bahin also handles business formations, applications for state benefits, and homestead exemptions. Her clients include homeowners, small business owners, landlords, tenants, and individuals seeking state benefits.