Getting More from your Property

Buying property is the most important business exchange that most people will make in their lifetime. Whether the property is for your home or a business, understanding how to improve upon existing features of the property may well help you to make a profit when you decide to move on. Getting more from your property can involve doing some interior decorating, or perhaps building an extension on excess/unused land. Both of which you could probably depend upon improving the value of the property. Both of these things are however, something which you will only derive a monetary value from when you are ready to sell it. If you intend to stay there for a number of years, you can take other measures to make the property more liveable, as well as making the maintenance of the property more affordable. Taking measures to use the garden and roof of the property allows you to enjoy the property in a new way (such as creating an allotment to grow food and save money), as well as saving money with a wind turbine or solar panels. All of these methods will likely save money in the long run, or increase the value of the property, allowing you a profit when you sell it on.

Tips to Retrieving your Full Tenancy Deposit

A deposit can occasionally mean a payment in the world of lettings, and students, in particular have seen huge sums taken out of their tenancy deposits, perhaps for damage or using up the landlords time. This is however, unlikely if you have kept your house in good conditions.

An inventory is a valuable document both for landlords and tenants, and it can help make sure you receive your tenancy deposit. An inventory gives the tenant an opportunity to note down the condition of the home, therefore when they leave, they can say ‘the damage was already there’ or ‘I didn’t do this’.

We recommend you take images with a camera that records the date and time, so that the images can be looked at, at the end of your tenancy, meaning the landlord will have to give your deposit back, else you can take them to court.

Moving out in the Open Country

If you’ve been a town or city person throughout your life, then moving to the country can be a big change. You may want to break away from the busy life, and live in natural surroundings with nothing but ducks, foxes and birds to keep you company.

Many people will argue that renting in the countryside is not always cheap, and some could see lining out in the open country as a luxury, which is why prices are likely to be higher than those homes on the outskirts of towns and cities.

There are plenty of reasons why you may not want to move too far out in the country, and the main reason involves amenities. Bus routes, shops, supermarkets, schools and main roads are important to our daily lives. Commuting on long exhausting country roads can be problematic especially in the winter when the gritters may have ignored your area.

tree-402953_640

If you have children, the school run shouldn’t literally be a school ‘RUN’, and it’s always good to have one nearby within walking distance.

Before you make the move to rent or buy a home out in the open country think carefully about your daily  life, perhaps even your future, because while there is plenty of grass in the countryside, it may not be greener.

What to Look For in a Block Management Company

Property block management and estate management agents can offer professional guidance and advice about commercial and residential multi-unit and multi-floor properties. Experienced managing agents will be flexible in their terms and can fully manage or assist a person in managing his leasehold or freehold estate.

A block management company will have expertise in all the aspects of managing blocks of flats and apartment buildings and should also be able to demonstrate compliance and qualifications with regulations in this regard.
Some of the areas a person should consider when it comes to the property leasehold or freehold management agents are discussed below.
Employment and management of property staff- This can be staff employed for the maintenance and security of the building, estate and renovation staff, direct staff and subcontractors, or staff employed by the individual leaseholder.
Health and safety is a key consideration in the management of any property. This includes ensuring the estate or apartment block complies with all the required building regulations, as well as all aspects of risk assessments, fire safety and evacuation procedures and regulations. This should also include regular testing of the procedures and all fire safety equipment like emergency lighting, alarms and fire extinguishers.
Another important consideration is the need to perform an asbestos survey and to put in place a formal strategy for the management of asbestos in any structure. Any time work is needed on the structure the asbestos information and report must be made available to the contractors or suppliers so that that any particular safety arrangements can be made.
Security – This includes both infrastructural and staff security measures. Maintenance of phone systems, car parking, electronic gates, and building access controls are all essential elements of any security strategy for a leasehold or freehold property.
Building Maintenance and Repairs – This includes things like gardening, cleaning contracts, window cleaning, outdoor spaces and lighting. Regular maintenance and servicing of lifts, fire equipment, boilers, security equipment and fire escapes is not only necessary but in many cases is normally a legal requirement for the safe operation of the block in compliance with statutory regulations.
Service charge administration – It includes forecast expenditure budgeting, all aspects of customer responses and service, client reporting, management of cash flow and accounts. Arrears collection is a very important aspect where a robust system needs to be adopted in order to recover any unpaid service charge money owed by the leaseholders.
Lease compliance and management must form part of the block management. Problems with noise, nuisance, neighbour disputes and other breached of the lease must be dealt with properly and courteously by the professional block management agent.
If you still want to manage your block, luckily a block management firm can handle all these tasks and more, and no longer do people have to go through a painstaking decision process as to how much the service charge should be, or the contractors to hire as block management firms can help you with all of this.

Top 5 window cleaning tips

Have you ever encountered  difficulties in your window cleaning process? It may seem like an obvious task but we often overlook it. There are many ways of doing it but some are common to almost everybody. Here are the top widow cleaning tips that you may use to improve the neatness of a window.

Use a squeegee and the correct detergent. Use of improper tools will not tidy the window as required.
Note the sunlight direction. The sun causes streaking problems if the glass is washed under direct sunlight.
Use enough water during first window cleaning process. This will ensure that the dirt scrubber is washed away completely.
Use horizontal strokes when using the squeegee. If done otherwise, there will be marks or patterns left behind by strokes.
The window pane always has water marks at the edges. Ensure you wipe it completely with a soft cloth. Avoid using a cloth that will charge the window that will result to dust attraction.