Our dynamic and driven team of experienced staff draw upon their range of specialist skills in property, building consultancy and accounting to provide robust professional advice. We are experts in portfolio management, pre-contract negotiations and dispute resolution.
Real Estate Consultancy
Our real estate services are delivered by industry experts in property cost management, service charge & insurance consultancy and estates management. We provide long-term support and guidance to unlock your estate and workplace ambitions.
Service Charge Consultancy
Occupiers
Across all sectors, but specifically the Office, Retail and Leisure markets, we help ensure costs are accurate, reasonable, lease compliant and apportioned correctly. If you are being incorrectly charged, we will negotiate on your behalf to ensure value for money services and improve lease compliance. We provide ongoing expert analysis and management of service charges across your property portfolio. Our technical and accounting specialists liaise with landlords and managing agents to improve communications and compliance, which often results in year on year savings.
Landlords & Portfolio Stakeholders
We improve tenant retention, assist in reducing time-consuming service charge disputes and in recovering the full cost of lease-compliant services. We can help with efficient service charge cost recovery; identification of unrecovered costs, capital works, pre-acquisition due diligence; vulnerabilities and risks and ensure best RICS practice and governance is being followed. We provide sound consultancy services including best practice for procurement, administration and accounting.
The Service Charge Operating Reports (SCOR) for Offices and Shopping Centres are the main source of cost benchmarking data in the industry and can now be downloaded from this website here. The advent of the RICS Professional Statement on Service Charges in Commercial Property which came into effect on 1 April 2019 will undoubtedly concentrate the minds of those within the sector in respect of compliance with best practice.
Expert Witness
Our experts’ specialist knowledge qualifies them to give their professional opinion on service charge disputes during legal proceedings. They have an in-depth understanding of legal procedure and the responsibilities of acting as an expert witness. They are equipped to prepare authoritative reports, communicate evidence clearly in court and withstand cross-examination.
They draw on our unique research, which benchmarks service charge costs nationally and promotes the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ industry standards. You can view the latest Service Charge Operating Report here.
Transaction Management
We provide expert technical and management advise on budget and service charge preparation using current cost data from our technology systems and years of experience in the property industry.
Budget Preparation
Both occupiers and landlords prepare budgets for properties. We gather service charge cost data and create a budget, compliant with RICS standards, on behalf of landlords. At year-end, we prepare certificates reflecting costs properly incurred, in compliance with the lease terms. This activity can complement the management process, ISA audits or accountants’ reports.
Accounts Management
We can manage your real estate accounts function for all costs; principle rent, service charge rent, insurance and utilities. This includes raising demands, processing receipts, transferring funds to clients, debtor management and a full suite of management reports tailored to individual client requirements. We certify the year-end service charge accounts and issue both the certificates and the resulting reconciliation statements.
Lease Audits
Effective strategic management depends on accessible and accurate lease data. We extract and record the following information on our bespoke database; parties, lease commencement date, rent commencement date, lease expiry date, rent review date, break notice date, the demise, area held, liability for buildings insurance, service charge year-end, service charge caps/indexations. We maintain the data following renewals or other change events and provide summary reports to assist asset management decisions.
Insurance Management
Insurance is an essential cost of managing any property. Our highly experienced team assesses the cover you need and benchmarks premiums to calculate best value. This service incorporates data from lease obligations and premium rates, to sums insured and apportionment calculations. We consult and pursue savings either on individual or multiple cases. Our in-house technical experts undertake insurance reinstatement assessments on behalf of tenants, determining the suitability of the landlords’ valuation.
Estates & Portfolio Management
We provide impartial, objective advice to both owners and occupiers of property across all major asset classes in the commercial property sector. We support clients in formulating and implementing estate management and portfolio management solutions which deliver tangible value to their day to day operations. We identify opportunities to drive occupational efficiency through improved space utilisation whilst also reducing costs. Our RICS qualified real estate team manage the whole process on behalf of our clients. Our facilities management experts work with clients to ensure that their real estate portfolio is aligned with and fully supports their business operations. We work with large organisations which own complex portfolios or estates in relation to the management systems and processes which are critical to the correct recovery of service charge costs. We also act for occupier organisations in different sectors with leasehold property portfolios which require effective service charge management to support operational needs and mitigate liability.
Security Risk Management
It is widely recognised that the security threat in the UK is diverse and constantly evolving. It is therefore essential to carefully consider site specific critical assets, security threats and security vulnerabilities, to specify an appropriate and proportionate physical protection system. This process should involve all stakeholders, to ensure countermeasures are well communicated and endorsed.
To be effective, a security risk management strategy must be fully integrated with everyday operations and needs to be ‘multi-layered’, where each measure is reinforced by the next. Security counter-measures can be resource intensive, costly and if not carefully managed, disrupt routines and alienate members of staff. This is why careful consideration and planning is required when choosing the right overall security risk management strategy and why specialist advice should be sought.