Over 35+ years in the property business we have been involved in resolving numerous problems. Just a few recent examples are:
1. Keeping in Contact with Tenants
We always make sure that my tenants have my mobile contact details so they make contact me if they ever have any problems. We do this even where we have a letting agent managing the property for us, as problems often occur outside of normal letting agent opening hours. And it helps us to manage the letting agents by having direct contact with tenants.
2. Tenants not paying the rent
This has happened to us a number of times, and we have tried different options, including taking legal action. If the tenant is being communicative and can explain why the rent hasn’t been paid, and is prepared to commit to a plan to pay the arrears we are prepared to work with them (especially if the deposit covers the arrears). However, if the tenant is avoiding contact and ignoring voicemails, texts etc we will always take legal and practical action to get him/her to vacate the property ASAP.
3. Tenant Retention
In our experience the best policy is always to look after your tenants and to be responsive to them if they have any practical or financial problems. We are providing homes for people, and we want them to feel “at home”. We also tend to keep the rents just below the open market rate. This has resulted in many of my tenants staying with us for 15 to 20 years, which avoids the loss of income during void periods and the time and expense of finding and referencing new tenants.
4. Water Ingress
We have an excellent guy who can go up onto roofs to repair and clear gulleys etc. He just uses a rope so avoids the need for scaffolding, and can be available within hours if its an emergency. A couple of years ago during very heavy rain water started pouring in through the top flat in a block that we own. As always seems to happen it happened at 10pm on a dark Sunday night. Fortunately the tenant had our mobile number (as waiting for the letting agents to take action would have been a nightmare). The tenant called us & we were was able to call our rope guy and get him round at 9am the next morning, and everything was fixed an hour later.
5. Building Works
We have excellent builders, electricians, plumbers etc who we have given work to for many years. They are always available for us, and carry out quality work at competitive prices. It certainly took years to find these people, but having them makes managing the business so much easier.
6. Lease Extensions
We own a lot of flats in blocks. We have always found that the best policy is to be pro-active in terms of managing the relationships with the freeholders/managing agents. As a minimum we always apply for a lease extension as early as possible (after the necessary 2 year ownership period). And in any event well before the lease term goes below 70 years when flats can become un-mortgageable.
7. Right to Buy
In a block of flats you can use the right to buy the freehold if 50% or more of the leaseholders are in agreement. This involves setting up a new freehold company and going through a valuation and legal process. We have been the instigator of many such purchases in blocks of flats, and have then become the effective manager of the block, and/or one of the directors involved in the appointment of good managing agents.
8. Right to Manage
We own quite a few leasehold flats. Sometimes the cost of buying the freehold of the block can be excessive and in that case it’s possible to use the Right to Manage legislation to set up management company for a block of flats. We have instigated and run this process in several blocks of flats. As with the freehold purchase you need 50%+ of leaseholders to agree to set up the company, and there is a legal process that needs to be followed. The last time we did this was because the lift in a block of flats had been out of action for nearly 2 years. Within 2 weeks of taking over the management we had resolved the lift problem! It was a very simple job, but the managing agents had just been passing it backwards and forwards to the life maintenance contractor.
9. First Tier Tribunal
There have been occasions when it has been impossible to resolve matters with freeholders and/or managing agents in a sensible manner and we have taken them to the First Tier Tribunal. This can be an expensive process, but we have always won when we have had to do this, and it has always be worthwhile in the long run.
10. County Court Action
There have also been a couple of occasions when we have taken managing agents to the County Court. Again, we have always won, and the good thing in the County Court is that you can be awarded costs when you win.
11. Planning & Building Control
We have successfully applied for planning and building control for a number of property developments and extensions over the years, and have good contacts to enable us to do that.
12. Pubs & Hotels
Our original involvement with the property market started with purchasing and running pubs and hotels in Sussex and Kent during the 1980s, and we are very familiar with the issues involved with this sector of the market.
13. Healthcare Property Development
As the Founder and Managing Director of the PFI Healthcare Developer United Healthcare Limited I also have significant expertise in developing public private partnership healthcare properties. I have been the joint developer of various projects including as example a £3m therapy unit in Surrey, a £18m pharmacy block in Northern Ireland, and a £45m major hospital extension and private patients unit in Buckinghamshire, as well as a Cancer Care Centre in Hull.
14. Residential Property Development
We are working on a number of residential property development projects at the moment both in the local area and further afield, and are always interested in looking at good opportunities and joint venturing with other property investors. So, if you have knowledge of a potential project, or know of a dilapidated or run down property, or a potential site I would love to hear from you. We have a development funding facility in place and always welcome joint venture investment funds in addition. We are particularly interested in building additional storeys above existing blocks of flats, as well as converting offices to residential use.
15. Property Tax Issues
We have been involved in sorting out taxation issues both for ourselves and other property investors, and are currently actively involved in CGT and Section 24 planning.
If you would like to chat about any of the above, or have a property problem or issue that you would like some help with please Contact Us.
