Service Charge

Tips on keeping warm this winter……

How to save on heating bills!

With the temperatures dropping, everyone immediately turns the thermostat up, but that means higher bills…

To avoid sky high heating bills this winter here are some simple no cost to low cost tips and tricks to help keep your home warm:

• Move furniture away from vents to help heat circulate the room
• If you have a ceiling fan, set the rotation to a clockwise direction to help push heat down from the ceiling
• Roll up a towel to use as a make shift draught excluder and place at the bottom of doors and by windows to keep drafts at bay – other homemade draft excluders can be- an old pair of tights stuffed with old socks or newspaper, you can also use old trousers and sew up the legs, old curtains – the possibilities are endless… and cheap!
• Close the door in the room you’re in to trap in the heat and close doors to unused rooms. Think of all that wasted heat that’s travelling through those empty rooms… it just doesn’t make sense! Use your head and keep those doors shut!
• Purchase weather strips and use them on your windows; they seal in the heat and stop air escaping. These are fairly cheap to buy and easy to apply, making them cost efficient and effective at keeping those bills low…
• Keep your radiators clear; don’t block them with furniture as it will absorb the heat. So yes that may mean moving your favourite chair from in front of the radiator as really it was stealing all that radiator heat!
• Set a timer for your heating to come on when you’re in the house and to go off when you’re out or when you go to bed – it’s not necessarily true that you should keep it on all day – especially when nobody is at home. Think of the money you could be saving!
• Invest in some thick curtains and they trap in the heat, but make sure to open them during the day to let the sunlight in –  use as much as all of that natural heat from the sun! then close them once dusk hits to make sure that your home retains as much heat as possible.

 Communal bins are provided for apartment sites for general waste, although the bins are large these are not to be filled with other household items and furniture.

Larger items being dumped and items on the floor can result in the bin men not collecting any of the rubbish.

Arranging for removal of extra items comes at a cost in which the homeowner has to pay. Even if you rent you may find your rental fee increases as the landlords fees increase.

Here is a link for you to find your local- Recycling Centre.

Also you can help local charities by giving unwanted furniture to them. British Heart Foundation for example do a free-collection service.

If you see anyone fly tipping please inform us of any details as fly tipping is an offence.

KT-Management working together for a nice, clean and safe environment to live.

The services we provide to residents and owners is in a nutshell is making sure the communal areas are clean, tidy and in a good state of repair, helping to keep the estate a nice place to live. Communicating well with residents and managing cash flow for the best interests of the site for today and for the future.

We also work in accordance to the lease which can impact the services we provide. For example we have come across leases that state the owners themselves are to clean the windows and not the management company.

We like to take the proactive approach, here is some of what’s involved in property management;

Daily Management

• Communication with residents informing of site visits and AGMs
• Manage suppliers and contractors
• Make sure appropriate insurance is in place
• Regular site visits with a 30 point check list
• Annual fire and health and safety risk assessments
• Site meetings

Financial Management

• Produce budgets for the year ahead for the sites needs
• Lease reviews to make sure our service is compliant
• Work with an independent professionals to prepare a long term maintenance plan
• In addition to a current client account we set up a second account for the reserve fund
• We collect and hold service charges in clients accounts in accordance with section 42 of the Landlord and Tenants Act 1987
• We can also collect ground rent
• We secure all records in accordance to data protection
• We prepare financial accounts each year to ensure every penny is accounted for

Purchasing a property is often the biggest financial commitment we make and we work hard to make sure your investment is well looked after.

It is that time of year again when we put the wheels in motion for the 2015 Service Charge Budgets. Our Property Managers are busy bees identifying items on site that will need attention over the next 12-18 months as well as getting in the final quotes, ready for our Budget Meetings.

In order for a Service Charge demand to be valid by law, each demand must be made in writing and accompanied by the up to date version of the summary of tenants’ rights and obligations in England.

Southwark Crown Court found Brian Copsey, 60, guilty of fraud by abusing his position as Finance Chairman and Company Director back in April. Copsey was jailed for 8 years and disqualified for 12 years from being a Company Director.

Copsey was entrusted with the position of Finance Chairman and Director of two companies that were set up to manage the funds collected from tenants’of Bryanston Court in Westminster for Service Charge and Reserve Funds; and in turn Copsey controlled the bank accounts where these funds were held.

The board of Bryanston Court, Westminster involved the police when they found out a cheque for the sum of £1.8 million had bounced! Copsey was arrested and an investigation was undertaken revealing that over a two year period Copsey had made a number of bank transfers from the two accounts to him and a number of recipients including his wife.

It appears that the total amount taken amounted to £1,160,525.

The victims of Copsey’s act were neighbours and friends all living in the same block as him, some elderly and retired. It was also noted that some had to take out loans to pay for their contribution to the Service Charge and Reserve Fund.

Did you know that a “Summary of tenants’ rights and obligations” must by law accompany a demand for service charge.