Selecting a Block Manager

Our Block Management department is expanding rapidly purely by recommendation. We provide an excellent service using local contractors to attend to the sites quickly and efficiently. All sites are visited by our staff regularly to ensure any problems are picked up and dealt with quickly. Service charges are collected and any arrears quickly chased up. We manage the sinking funds and keep tight control of the annual budgets. Full reports are prepared and presented to the AGM, which we arrange for you.

Why should you use a managing agent? (even if it isn’t us!)
We are extremely proud of the growth we have delivered within our Block Management portfolio. All instructions have been generated through recommendations and are testament to the experienced
team we have at Matthew’s.

Our team provide an excellent service and are supported by the
use of high quality local contractors that are able to attend to the developments quickly and efficiently.

All our developments are visited on a regular basis and we
ensure any maintenance issues or other matters are identified and dealt with quickly.

We look to build a proactive relationship with the Management Company Directors, owners and residents.

We have an efficient finance team that ensure service charges are administered and any service charge arrears are quickly chased up. We provide a transparent approach to finance and present requisite information at Annual General Meetings. We manage the sinking funds and keep tight control of the annual budgets.

With Matthew’s substantial experience as a letting agent we are in
an enviable position of being able to understand apartment living and therefore what services are important for a block manager to deliver.
We appreciate the balance of day to day living and ensuring the long term asset is protected.

How to select the right agent
Whether you are currently managing your block yourselves, have recently acquired the Right to Manage or are thinking of changing your current agent, it is important to consider the following points:
- Ensure the agent has the expertise and experience required to manage your particular block. Every block is unique and has its own peculiarities, so you need an agent who can tailor their services to meet your needs.
- Check they have a robust process for collecting service charges and chasing arrears. No block can be effectively managed if the leaseholders are not paying their service charges on time. Make sure they have client accounting procedures in place, are members of an Ombudsman service, follow the RICS code of practice and have professional indemnity insurance
- Arrange to meet the people who you are considering as block managers. This should be a long-term relationship lasting many years, so you must be confident that you and your fellow leaseholders get on with the people you will be dealing with from the agency
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions about how they would approach specific problems, such as the current state of the finances, relationship with the current agent and how to terminate it, maintenance work required etc.