block_2.jpg Estate Management
Butterfly_v5.jpg Estate Management

Introduction

Mainstay has a great deal of experience in managing residential and mixed-use estates nationwide.  Changes in planning requirements has led to more and more private housing estates that require a communal service charge to be paid, often by freehold home owners.  These developments require a different style of management to an apartment complex.  Every site is different and a management strategy prepared prior to construction can really assist in the long term.

Our Solution
Mainstay works closely with developers to minimise the service charge liability where possible and to provide guidance on the complex service charge structures that are often required to ensure that service charges are fair and equitable.

Where a development has already commenced or is occupied and running, Mainstay will work with the Client, (whether a Resident Management Company or Freeholder), to ensure that service charges are collected in accordance with the legal documentation for the site.  We will also ensure that requisite services are in place and represent good value.

Mainstay believes that services have to be tailored to meet the needs of the residents. For this reason, each development under management is run by an experienced property manager who has clear responsibility for every aspect of management.  Our managers are assisted by an office-based advisor who knows each development and client and is available throughout the day to pass on guidance, advice and organise repairs.  

Behind the scenes, these property managers are supported by numerous expert teams including service charge accountants, health & safety and compliance, insurance and company secretarial services ensuring access to all relevant expertise across a wide range of disciplines.  This allows our managers to maintain a one-to-one relationship with their customers and provide excellent management services.

Day to Day Support
Mainstay’s unique structure ensures that our customers have a recognised and contactable team looking after them.  We provide all our sites with a local property manager supported by a team at head office providing technical and administrative support.

Our managers, each supportd by thier own property service advisor (PSA) manages on average between 15-20 schemes each.  This ensures that they can devote sufficient time to each development and establish long-term working relationships with their customers.

Mainstay maintains accurate and ongoing records of all our sites from correspondence with individual customers to inspection and maintenance reports for site equipment. 

System Maintenance
Mainstay will ensure that all systems present on the communal areas of the estate are maintained to the manufacturer’s recommendations and in line with British Standards.

Health and Safety is of utmost importance to our Clients and to Mainstay as a professional managing agent.  All maintenance contracts and inspections are centrally tracked and diarised at Head Office and detailed documentation retained.

On Estate schemes, maintenance contracts may be required for grounds maintenance, tree surgery, water pumps, interceptor tanks, flood systems, vehicle gates, lighting etc.  Mainstay manages a large number of estate schemes and has experience of all these systems and a bank of accredited contractors to maintain them.

Information Technology
Information Technology plays a major part in delivering cost effective FM solutions to our clients and Mainstay has operated arguably the industry’s leading property management software, Qube, for some 10 years.  We have invested in the latest telephone technology to ensure rapid customer response and call monitoring so that we can accurately predict future resource requirements.

Our website provides us with an instant and central means of communication with our customers and we are constantly improving this to increase our services and provide helpful guidance to our customers.

Appointing Mainstay will provide access to a number of secure pages dedicated to your development.  These pages provide valuable information on the key points of contact within Mainstay, important dates for the development and ongoing works updates together with downloadable copies of Insurance documents, accounts and budgets.

Leaseholders are also able to make payments for service charges and ground rent, order security FOBS and report faults online.

Electronic Site Inspection
Mainstay Property Managers are equipped with a PDA-based site inspection tool which provides them with a fast and accurate way of recording their site observations, taking photographs and reporting instantly any repair jobs that are required back to head office.  The site inspection reports are stored electronically and can be shared with clients.

Head Office staff have instant access to the jobs reported.  These are then passed to contractors for action and a record kept of actions taken to remedy. The system allows us to track and monitor all site inspections and review outstanding jobs ensuring that we meet and exceed our contractual obligations to our clients.

Emergency Assistance
Outside of normal office hours, Mainstay provides emergency support for any repairs or maintenance that affects either the communal areas of the development or a number of apartments, for example in instances of fire or major flood.  We also provide a make-safe service for the development.

For our developer and investor clients we are also able to offer an out of hours service to support any warranty obligations.  Please let us know if this is a service that you would be interested in.

Financial Budgets
Mainstay recognises that we are an agent working on behalf of our client and whilst we will provide our best advice and guidance, ultimately the decision-making rests with our clients.  As a result, we will provide our clients with a copy of the financial budget in advance of the financial year in order that the details can be checked and signed off in plenty of time.

Our budgets are primarily based on previous year’s expenditure and our knowledge of other sites and other influencing factors.  By working as a team, we allow our clients to control their expenditure whilst ensuring that the lease is adhered to and all statutory obligations fulfilled.

Financial Reports
Financial information is key to successful property management and Mainstay employs financial accountants to ensure our accounts are kept fully up to date and compliant.   Most managing agents comply with current RICS Code of Practice and the lease requirements in providing annual audited service charge accounts  at the end of the financial year.  Mainstay goes further by providing its clients with regular financial reports.  This way our clients are able to track and influence expenditure against budget at an early stage improving financial decision making at the development.

Fully Audited Annual Financial Accounts
Mainstay has a team of qualified and committed service charge accountants with direct responsibility for a number of residential developments.  Each accountant is ably assisted by a purchase ledger assistant and cashier to ensure that our financial records are in good order.

Mainstay aims to provide all service charge accounts within four months of the financial year end although the industry standard is six months.  Where this is not possible for any reason, we will issue Section 20B Notices ensuring that service charges remain payable and that the management company is compliant.

Service Charge Monies
Mainstay holds all client monies in ring-fenced trust accounts which are held securely and purely for the benefit of your development.  Interest that is payable on the account is payable to the benefit of the service charge also.

Resident Group Meetings
Our general management contract builds in a series of meetings that are included within our fees.  Mainstay is flexible in its approach and the times and frequencies of meetings can be changed according to the needs of our clients.  We strongly beleive that resident meetings and accompanied site inspections are a necessity for good site management.

Health & SafetyHealth and safety management is an important and time-intensive activity and the penalties for breaches of Health and Safety Law are of serious concern.  As a result Mainstay invests heavily in ensuring that all our managements are completely compliant and safe.

Mainstay has a dedicated team who track and control all maintenance contracts and statutory inspections to ensure that these take place and any resultant works are completed.  We ensure that all systems comply with relevant legislation, any British Standards and the manufacturer’s recommendations.  Through proactive maintenance and inspection, we believe this protects our managements and customers and ultimately prolongs the working life of the equipment.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, 2005 requires for the operator of a building to ensure that a regular risk assessment is carried out on the structure and communal facilities.  Mainstay directly employs its own team of Health & Safety consultants to carry out these activities and will ensure full compliance with this and other regulations.

Contractor MonitoringThere are many contractors around who will carry out work at a low cost but provide no reassurance on their methods and often hold no insurance if the worst should happen.  It is important to both Mainstay and our Clients that contractors provide a good quality service and represent value for money.

Good contractors are yet another key element to successful property management. They are often the most regular visitors to a development and their services need to be strictly defined and closely monitored.

In 2008, Mainstay took the bold decision to bring our contractor accreditation in house.  This allows us to check and maintain all control systems for all contractors working on our sites including working method statements and insurance. 

Credit Control
Managing property with funds can be challenging.  Managing property without fund is impossible.  The strain that funding issues can cause our clients and developments is one that can often be avoided.  No funds in the service charge account means we cannot do our job – if we can’t do our job then residents are reluctant to pay and this creates a vicious circle that is very difficult to escape.

Collecting service charges is one of the main reasons we are employed by our clients, so we should not be apologetic for being good at chasing money that is owed.  Mainstay operates a highly prespcriptive arrears policy across our sites.  This often makes us unpopular with individual lessees but ultimately is to the benefit of the development and the management company.

Handover of the Management Company
Many of the developments under our management are instructed by a Resident Management Company client.  For new developments, this company is usually under the directorship of the developer or freeholder but once the last unit is sold, the companu is often handed over to a group of resident directors.

The prospect of becoming a resident director can be a daunting experience, and it can be difficult to obtain volunteers from the residents.  Mainstay is experienced at management company handovers and are happy to work with both parties to ensure a smooth transition.

Mainstay offers Directors and Officers Insurance Cover through our brokers and we can also take on the role of Company Secretary through our subsidiary company, Mainstay (Secretaries) Limited.