agentmanaging

[agentmanaging]

I attended a development today that has a mixture of apartment blocks and houses that will require the estates to be managed. The properties in the development are in various stages of construction.

[agentmanaging]

I went to the Kent Construction Expo near Maidstone today. Met many companies that I will need to use, including surveyors and utility network providers as well as made some other great contacts. There were also some very useful seminars on construction as well as legislation.

[agentmanaging]

I attended a new client property for the first time yesterday afternoon.  Dry risers, lifts, as well as plenty of items being stored where they should not be.  Lots to work with the client to deal with.  Pictures are of an area of stored items (hiding under the stairwell) and me just about to test the lift alarm/line.

[agentmanaging]

I went to the London Excel today for the 2022 Facilities Management Show. I listened in on talks about PAS9980, met some new contacts and discussed other things property management.

[agentmanaging]

At the IRPM 2022 Seminar. Learning more about what is happening in our job, making new relationships and meeting people I already know.

[agentmanaging]

Final day at the #oxfordweekender

Final day at the #oxfordweekender

[agentmanaging]

I’m on the train to Oxford today. I’m doing a three day/weekend course on some of the joys of property management.

[agentmanaging]

Reading up on various topics, this one in particular being in regard to emergency light testing. We have ELT on most of our developments.

[agentmanaging]

English learning today, so I can type well done did.

[agentmanaging]

Windy day today and we have reports of broken windows, fences down and roofs having issues.

[agentmanaging]

Part of my job currently involves the filing of basic accounts for some of our clients. These are filed yearly and in most cases involve just a small shares and/or reserve value. There is still some talk on whether the companies are dormant or non-trading, as the client management companies are just a vehicle to deal with the covenant’s within the transfers and leases.

[agentmanaging]

Door closures have two sections to them that get a door to close. The closing or swing distance goes from 90 degrees to about 12 degrees, at which point the latching speed kicks in. Both are adjusted separately and depend on weight of the door as well as weather conditions (heat and cold affect them, as well as winds). I believe that the door I’ve found today needs the latching speed adjusted as the latch is not meeting the strike plate.

[agentmanaging]

Recently took on a new client. There are many historical issues to sort, this being one of them. Other than being externally unsightly, leaks that aren’t dealt with could be dealing damage to the building internally. I have sent this to a contractor to take a look at. It could be from a balcony, could be a slightly cracked waste pipe or anything else relating to that waste pipe. It’s been like this for more than a year because that was when I was here to see if we were interested I taking it over. Now I’m instructed I can get into looking at things like this.

[agentmanaging]

Every client we have need forms created for when there is a dwelling sale. An LPE1 for leasehold property enquiries and an FME1 for freehold property enquiries. They list a number of questions relating to the property and any related estate etc. In January the layout has changed, it includes more information. Sounds great until I’m the one replacing around 38 of them, each with there own very individual responses and additional attachments.

[agentmanaging]

During the pandemic I seem to have gone out of date in regard to my Asbestos awareness training. A number of my clients have ACMs and I visit other buildings, including potential new clients that also are of an age that could have asbestos. Many people are still not aware of the risks of asbestos and especially how often asbestos should be checked, managed. It is estimated that 1.5m buildings in the UK have asbestos in it. I have to be cautious when attending a potential new client and have a number of times had to leave an area because I was unaware of the asbestos management on a building.

This course does not allow me to do works with Asbestos, but keeps me aware of the risks and what I need to do if I suspect there is any where I am.

[agentmanaging]

This afternoon I am spending a small amount of time on trying to get our website back up and running. Seems that our hosts went out of business and we simply lost our website. The above was what I managed to get our IT company to knock up but it’s all about finding the time to create a new website. I shall end up just getting some basic things down just to be functional rather than too much. We need things like privacy policies and complaints procedures out there as they are on our external signs at developments, so something is better than nothing for now.

[agentmanaging]

I attended a potential new client today. Let three of the client directors with one of my colleagues. The property was built in the 1980s and currently has an agent managing it. It has a small amount of managed asbestos, some private walkways, underground parking and a mixture of houses and apartments. Based in London with around 90 dwellings it has a large number of small sized issues. I noted a few no smoking signs missing, the fire policy in the receptions was wrong, some issues with fire stopping, security, amongst other things. Seems that they have some issues with communication with their current agent and they are therefore out testing the market. Not sure whether we both will agree to work together at this stage but we gave them plenty to think about. The picture above is of a dipped vehicle space, which has given rise to a trip hazard.