When you buy a leasehold or freehold property and have access to shared areas like gardens or hallways, the person or company who owns the property is responsible for maintaining these areas. They organize services like cleaning and repairs, and as a resident, you contribute to these costs through a service charge.
The service charge covers your share of the expenses for managing, maintaining, repairing, insuring, and providing services for the shared areas of the building or estate where you live.

Yes, we manage listed buildings and properties in conservation areas. We have expertise in dealing with the management and maintenance of these types of properties. If you’d like to discuss managing your property, building, or estate, feel free to reach out to us for more information.

You should report any criminal issues directly to the local police. Blue Property, the managing agent, can only handle matters that violate the property’s lease.

If you own your house freehold, you may still be asked to pay service charges. This is because a managing agent is appointed by the Freeholder to maintain communal areas like car parks or landscaped spaces. Your requirement to contribute to the maintenance of these areas should be outlined in the Transfer document, and your solicitor should have explained this when you bought your property.

In many leases, the property owner or management company is responsible for insuring the entire building, excluding your personal belongings and home contents. You contribute to this insurance through the service charge.

Yes, as the current owner, you’re responsible for paying the service charge whether the property is occupied or vacant. This commitment is outlined in the lease agreement you signed when buying the property.

When you buy a property with a service charge, the completion date is usually before the annual service charge account is finished. Sometimes, the costs for the property end up being more than expected due to unforeseen expenses. When the accounts are finalized, if there’s a shortfall, each leaseholder has to pitch in to cover it. On the other hand, if there’s extra money left over in the service charges, it stays in the account for future expenses in the next year.

This can happen when a property is sold and your solicitor hasn’t updated the ownership details with us or the Freeholder/Management Company as required by your Lease. You should contact your solicitor right away to make sure they send us the necessary paperwork.
Until the ownership is updated, we can’t change the records for your property. But as the new owner, you’re still responsible for paying the charges, even if you’re sorting things out with your solicitor.

If you’re having trouble paying your service charge, it’s important to reach out to our service charge department right away. You can also email us through our contact page, especially if you’ve received a statement indicating late payment. We understand that people’s situations can change, so we’re here to discuss payment options with you.

At the end of every year, a report is made showing how much money came in and how it was spent on your property or area. This report is sent to all the people who own leases.

Some suppliers, like maintenance contractors, may be VAT registered, but the service charge account and the building itself are not. This means you can’t claim VAT on service charge payments. For VAT to be claimable, the building would need to be VAT registered. However, residential blocks or estates usually aren’t VAT registered because the administrative work for quarterly VAT requirements often outweighs the savings from claiming VAT back.

Fire certificates are not given out by the fire service anymore. This has been the case for a while now. You can read more about it here: http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/RegulatoryReformOrder2005.asp. It’s essential to understand that fire certificates are no longer being issued, and any existing ones are no longer valid.

To apply, you just need to write a letter to Praxis Block Management and include all the necessary paperwork for buying a share.

We’re happy to work with agents like yourself who are handling payments for owners/leaseholders. However, to protect everyone’s privacy under data protection laws, we need written confirmation from the owner/leaseholder that you’re authorized to act on their behalf. Once we have that authorization, we can continue to work with you unless we’re told otherwise.

The landlord’s agreement is with the leaseholders only, so we communicate directly with them as their representative. Non-leaseholder residents aren’t included in direct communication but can find information on notice boards. If non-leaseholders want their input considered, they should discuss it with the leaseholder, who can then communicate with the landlord through the managing agent.