The team at SDL Property Partners give us a run down of a beautifully executed Section 20 by one of their partners, Tom Lean.
At SDL Property Partners, we are big supporters of the emphasis on compliance and customer service in Section 20. For us, it provides managing agents with a project plan to improve industry standards and provide exceptional service to leaseholders.
A major works project that one of our partners, Tom Lean, was asked to work on in Brighton last year is a perfect example of this in action.
The project involved six maisonettes and three apartments and, prior to Tom taking on the block to manage, a previous managing agent had highlighted in a risk assessment that the exterior railings around a raised rear walkway were below the required safety standard. The metal bars were too far apart, and the railings weren’t high enough to protect a child from falling through or over.
At an Annual General Meeting with the previous agent, it was agreed that the railings would need to be replaced and a surveyor would oversee the work.
The Initial Notice of Intention to Carry Out Work was issued back in August 2017, outlining to all leaseholders that works were planned and called for nominations of surveyors and contractors. However, due to delays and disagreements over the contractor and surveyor, the RMC was reluctant to continue for any longer and changed managing agent.
To his benefit, Tom was well known to the RMC from previous properties and in June 2019 Tom took over managing the block.
By the 30th July the Statement of Estimates was finally served to Leaseholders and the directors of the RMC, who swiftly agreed for the works to proceed.
The safety of residents and undertaking the major works was the first task asked of Tom and, with the Statement of Estimates deadline expiring on the 30th August 2019, the works were carried out and completed by October 2019.
Shortly after, the directors of the block and Tom met to mutually agree that the works were successful and that residents were now properly protected with the new railings in place again safe.
The practical completion statement was issued by the surveyor and we arranged to pay for the works in full, less a 5% retention that was to be held for 6 months.
Tom Lean is just one of 17 partners we have signed with SDL Property Partners, and demonstrates everything that the franchise scheme stands for. Our back-office team, in this instance compliance specifically, is on-hand to support Tom and all our partners with the requirements needed in these situations.
No matter how big or how small. We hope that putting a greater emphasis on compliance and customer service in every block managed will help to drive standards in the industry, and help our partners to thrive in the process.
For more information on our focus on compliance in the industry to provide that exceptional service, please visit our website.
