Tim Darwall-Smith, Director, SBA Property Management
There’s an increasing amount of compliance regulations when managing residential blocks. This allows us to showcase our strengths in our role as property managers, working with our Health and Safety partners to ensure all our properties are fully compliant and align with our high standards.
As a member of ARMA, at SBA we act responsibly to protect our range of clients – including private landlords, developers, and Resident Management Companies (RMCs) – from any additional costs or risks associated with their building. Our role is to make sure a building meets and exceeds latest regulations, and we operate according to strict principles and the highest standards of client and customer service.
Placing health and safety at the top of our agenda, we take responsibility to ensure we have the necessary arrangements in place to meet building safety regulations and are compliant with the legal codes of practice.
That’s why we have recently undertaken a health and safety review of all properties within our portfolio acquired from Paul Samuel Associates. The checks reviewed asbestos, water hygiene, electricity at work and fire safety, displaying our commitment to providing the best service for our clients and helping them to feel more secure at home.
Health and safety standards have always been of the upmost importance to us, and due to recent amendments made by the government to the Building Safety Bill, holds even more prominence in our standards of building management services.
The amendments saw the scrapping of the legal requirement for building owners to appoint a Building Safety Manager, and the building safety charge used to pay for them. Aimed at improving buildings post-Grenfell, the changes have removed the legal requirement for leaseholders to pay for any building safety costs, protecting them from any exorbitant costs to remove flammable materials such as ACM cladding.
The removal of the building safety charge means that any costs associated with building remedial works will now be included in leaseholders service charge. Leaseholders in low-value properties will not be charged at all, with the responsibility lying with the owner of the building.
These are standards we are proud to uphold within our business. Following the recent assessment of one of our largest residential blocks located near Canary Wharf we successfully obtained an EWS1 form and whilst waiting for the result, carried out the necessary works while assuring that leaseholders didn’t have to spend a penny.
By maintaining our high values at every stage of the management process and delivering a careful and professional approach, we are proud to deliver the highest standard of tenant care to ensure continued safety and happiness of our residents.