A simple guide to residential block management

28 July 2022

Covering everything from maintaining the building and communal areas to keeping accounts up to date; block management requires specialist knowledge and experience. Here, we take a look at what residential block management is, and how professional property managers like FirstPort can help.

What is block management?

Block management is when a property manager (also known as a managing agent), such as FirstPort, looks after the communal areas and shared spaces of a residential development on behalf of a Resident Management Company (RMC), Right to Manage (RTM) company, freeholder, or developer.

Looking after a residential development requires expert knowledge of complex legislation and regulations, such as landlord and tenant law and health and safety regulations. That’s why professional property managers are employed by RMCs, RTMs, freeholders and developers, to help run the development and make sure everything is compliant.

Who is responsible for maintaining key areas of a residential development?

Key areas of a residential development are either looked after by the freeholder, leaseholder, RMC, RTM, or the local council.

Take a look at this image to see who is typically responsible for maintaining different areas of a development:

Property managers will work with RMCs, RTMs, freeholders and developers to preserve the value of the development and keep it looking its best. They will maintain the building and communal areas, making sure they are clean, safe and comfortable for residents, and also advise where to make changes and invest their budgets to improve the development for the leaseholders and local community.

As well as this, professional property managers will ensure that their RMC, RTM, freeholder and developer clients are fulfilling their legal and financial obligations.

Read our blog How Property Managers, Resident Management Companies and Right to Manage Companies look after a development to find out more.

Services that FirstPort can provide:

We provide award-winning block management services for our clients, helping them deliver the right solutions for their developments and making sure residents feel safe and happy in their homes.

As well as this, our other block management services include:

Day-to-day building management:

• Employing and working with a range of specialist suppliers, taken from our national network of trusted contractors.
• Carrying out frequent development assessments and site visits.
• Making sure your development is compliant with health and safety regulations and carrying out regular fire risk assessments.
• Managing on-site teams.
• Dealing with repairs, maintenance, and other major works.
• Offering out-of-hours support for emergencies.

Financial assistance:

• Organising and handling service charge payments for the development.
• Maintaining service charge budgets, accounts and reserve funds (also known as contingency funds).
• Managing an interest-bearing bank account for each development (this is held under statutory trust).
• Ensuring the relevant insurance is in place by working with an independent insurance broker.

Leaseholders and residents will also be able to access a variety of management information and development resources through our online customer portal, My Home.

Trust FirstPort with your residential block management

With over 40 years’ experience managing properties on behalf of RMCs, RTMs, freeholders and developers across the UK, we know what it takes to run a successful development.

To learn more about the expert property management services we provide to clients, simply complete the form below and we’ll be in touch: