Block Management
Block Management
Block Management for RMCs
Introduction
Mainstay prides itself on the quality and scope of services that we offer to our residential management company clients. Whilst many companies are looking to cut costs on their development, having a good quality managing agent will provide you with reassurance and comfort that your obligations as a director are being met.
Many smaller local agents can offer a low priced service but do not offer the service levels, inspection regimes, health & safety compliance and documentation records that larger national agents can provide. To quote the common adage - “You get what you pay for….”
Our solution
Mainstay gives management companies the best solution - a national agent and a property manager with local knowledge. This allows us to provide our customers with all the benefits that a large company brings, such as cost savings from bulk purchasing of utilities and national contracts, and centralised records whilst also giving our residents a visible site presence and a contact who knows their development, the residents and the contractors working on their site.
Mainstay prides itself on its knowledge of the residential management sector. We are keen and active members of the Association of Residential Managing Agents and fully subscribe to their code of practice and that of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.
We are also able to draw on our experience from our large portfolio and apply lessons and best practices across our sites to the benefit of all our customers.
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 supported by their 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.
Information TechnologyInformation 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 InspectionsMainstay 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 passed to contractors for action and a record kept of actions taken to remedy. The system enables 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.
Financial BudgetsMainstay 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.
Regular 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 finalncial decision-making at the development.
Fully Audited 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 maintained 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 charges also.
Resident Group MeetingsOur 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 believe 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 to Resident Directors 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 fire 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 complaince 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 funds 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 prescriptive arrears policy across our sites. This can make us unpopular with individual lessees but ultimately is to the benefit of the development and the management company.
Handover of the Management CompanyThe prospect of becoming a resident director can be a daunting experience, however, Mainstay is experienced at management company handovers and we are here to help with any questions or guidance that you may need.
Appointing an experienced managing agent will ensure that your obligations can be met and your liabilities as a director reduced. To ease the burden, 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.
Site Staff and TrainingMany residential developments benefit from having onsite staff either through a concierge, caretaker or cleaner. Mainstay is able to take on employment and supervision of site staff through Mainstay Facilities Management (MFM).
MFM supply staff to a large number of sites across the country. Our site staff are often the first point of call for our customers and as a result their knowledge and attitude are particularly important in creating a good corporate image both for Mainstay and our Clients.
Each member of staff is provided with customer service support, site specific training and training in all relevant health and safety law and procedural requirements.
We closely monitor all our staff and work hard to continuously improve the services we can provide.
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