Block Property Management in Cambridge

GREAT VALUES IN ESTATE MANAGEMENT

As one of the UK's leading providers of property management services, we look after residential, mixed-use and commercial developments direct from our office which is conveniently situated in Cambridge’s city centre. If you are a resident management company director, a property developer , a freeholder or an existing customer looking to recommend our services - please contact us for more information on our block property management and facilities management services.

Working with resident management companies:

When you buy an apartment - or sometimes a freehold house - within a development, there are common factors that need to be maintained. In an apartment block for example, the hallways need to be cleaned, a lift will need to be serviced and maybe the exterior or parts of the building will need to be repainted/maintained from time to time. In a housing development, garden areas will need to be maintained and in some cases security gates will require maintenance.
All of this will typically be documented in a lease (for an apartment) or TP1 (for a freehold house), and all of these obligations will need to be organised by someone. A maintenance plan will need to be developed, a budget will need to be prepared, funds need to be raised and various tradespeople need to be contracted and all managed in accordance with the lease and the law. This is the role of the estate manager or managing agent and this is where you hand over and rely on our expertise.

Working together with Property Developers

We work closely with property developers at each and every stage, and across every type of residential block, including those that incorporate freehold units and mixed-use developments. Our involvement can begin from the outset - well in advance of the planned handover.
By bringing us in at the early planning stages of your build, we can offer expert pre-instruction advice on design and construction issues that may affect the future management of the property, helping you to avoid situation before they ever occur.
We will create a comprehensive budget estimate and management proposal, liaise directly with solicitors as necessary and supply information packs to potential buyers where required. 
We will also work closely with sales teams to ensure their clients are aware of the services available and fully understand the annual service charge. We understand that every development is unique, so for a completely tailored mangement proposal, please give our team a call, We are here and ready to help. 

Protecting your property investment:

We understand that as a landlord you need a managing agent who will provide you with complete peace of mind; peace of mind that your property is being professionally managed and in good repair at all times, and that all legal and financial requirements are being met.
As property management specialists we are able to tailor our services according to your needs. We will look after the day to day issues as well as the long term ones, ensuring financial matters are in order and keeping you informed where ever and when ever is appropriate, keeping you up to speed without giving you the headache that comes with it.

only a 4.5% yield but an easy one?

Do you have a spare £300,000 and are you looking to invest it in something that will give you a decent return on your money with ease? If the answers to both questions are yes then this is the one for you?

This two bed flat for sale in The Beeches, Woodhead drive, central Cambridge is up for sale with Cheffins with a guide price of £295,000 and to be honest its ready to go! Just take a look at the pictures on Zoopla the property appears to be in mint condition and believe me its situated perfectly to capture a great professional tenant with a rental value of £1100pcm so it offers a minimum and pretty much immediate yield of 4.5%, all you need is a tenant.

So that leaves you £5000 - why did i then ask if you have £300,000 right? Well i thought you might like to use your spare £5000 to take yourself off to a nice caribbean destination where you can relax whilst we find you your brand new tenants, what are you waiting for? We will have your tenant fully referenced and moved in before you land back in the UK.

Business Rates to replace Council Tax for Houses in Multiple Occupation?

Good morning guys, I stumbled on this piece of future information on council tax this morning, thanks to Council Tax Guy on Twitter and thought my current and future HMO landlords may find the views interesting? I'd be interested to hear your views? And as an HMO specialist I may be able to help further.

A lot has been made about recent calls for landlords to be treat as businesses for the purpose of House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) property rentals but how might it affect you as landlords?

The changes are only a suggestion at present but with the localisation of Business Rates it may well be that changes are made to allow the local authorities to raise and keep more monies.
Current situation regarding Council Tax and Business Rates

All residential properties are currently banded for Council Tax purposes , rather than Business Rates – this includes HMO’s. By being banded for Council Tax purposes the property is entitled to any discounts or exemptions which apply.

The average Band D Council Tax band within England for the 2016/17 year is £1,530 – With Cambridge band D coming out at £1,597.54 - this means that any Council Tax charge due for a landlord is restricted to no more than £30 per week (on average) £30.72 in Cambridge.

A large proportion of HMO’s are student accommodation and as such the property is subject to a Class N exemption. This currently results in no Council Tax being due for the period the students are in occupation - this of course means that you can only have students in these HMO's - In Cambridge I am currently 50/50 filling my HMO's with students and professional workers and have to decide which HMO is suited for which as obviously I cannot put 1 professional worker in with 5 students as that one would be responsible for paying the entire council tax (they do get a 25% reduction).
How would the suggested changes affect property ?

Business Rates are (in general) based on the open market rental value of a property. Residential property rental rates are not directly comparable however the average rent for a room in a HMO is £77 per week – for a 4 bed property this is roughly rent £16,000 per annum. - ok so these figures are well of for Cambridge as my average room is £125 per week meaning the average 4 bed property is £24,000 which is some significant difference but you get the gist.

Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) currently exempts some smaller properties from Business Rates. From April 2017 a business property with a rateable value of less than £12,000 will receive full rates relief. Above this figure the amount will be tapered on the next £3,000 however properties above £16,000 will not be eligible. This means that SBRR would not apply to the average HMO property. It should also be noted that a landlord with more than one property would likely not be eligible for SBRR regardless of the value of those properties.

A property worth £16,000 would be assessed using the standard multiplier – this has not yet been confirmed for 2017/18 however it would not be expected to be too dissimilar to the current rate of 49.7p This would incur business rates of £7,900 per annum or £152 per week – the equivalent of 2 rooms worth of rent each week or an average increase of £38 per week per tenant in rent, considerably more for Cambridge and lets remember that students only receive a capped amount and are indeed our future?
Conclusion

If Business Rates was applied in its current format, without any adjustments, then it’s clear that landlords would be forced to up rents on a property. Significant extra charges would have to be recouped. Many legislative changes would be required and the figures should be a worst case scenario but only time will tell as to what the situation may be.
My Concern

If Business Rates are applied and on top of that tenant fees are abolished - thus both causing rental increases then how is the average Joe going to be able to afford to rent in this beautiful city? I know 100% this will not effect properties from being occupied as I have a massive back log of tenants ready to fill properties however I firmly believe in offering the right rates!
HMO Advice?

I'm here to help - should you need free advice or indeed would like to let your property through somebody that knows, please do feel free to get in touch. Lets grab a coffee and see where I can help you next ;-)

Is the Cambridge property bubble about to burst?

I was reading an article written by Cambridge News which reported on "Your" say on the state of the housing market and thought some of you may be interested on what was said, for once an opinion other than just mine but of course ill chip in with a opinion or two of my own ;-)

Nothing gets people British talking quite like the cost of housing, and it seems 'News' readers are no exception and in this particular article Cambridge News revealed property prices in the city had fallen for the first time in years, prompting a possible end to the city's booming market.

For some or their readers they state that this has been a long time coming, with many commenters on their website looking forward to more affordable property.

But with Cambridge still the third most expensive city in the UK in which to buy, and the average house price still close to twice the national average, many were sceptical as to whether it would really make a significant difference.

Many estate agents they spoke to said uncertainty caused by June's Brexit vote has caused problems in the city's market, but many of the online commentariat were not so sure, my opinion on this based upon actual facts is that I am not experiencing any significant changes, yes there was a few months of uncertainty but directly after I sold a 2 bedroom house with a market value of £350,000 for an astonishing £23,000 over the asking price suggesting that indeed Brexit will not be as big an influence as originally expected.

hyeresman wrote: “I would suggest this downturn is due to the 3% surcharge on second homes brought in on 1st April, Cambridge & London both being large markets for buy to let properties". - I may be inclined to agree with this however when you take into consideration that you will still be making around a 6% yield you for one will be making money whilst your property still will increase in value as prove above still making an investment in Cambridge Property a lucrative one.

One reader wrote “Strange that there is no mention of this from the 'experts', or just more biased reporting against Brexit?" - which was a prompt for me to share my thoughts with you guys, here's an expert opinion ;-)

Peck0 said: “The house prices in Cambridge were absolutely stupid and benefited only the estate and property agents...............and it's those who are up in arms now - I completely disagree with this, I have many professional tenants that are extremely happy with their accommodation, sometimes its necessary to pay a little more for those extra luxuries in life and keeping properties in great condition is what I'm all about after all we all know that 'A good property breeds a good tenant'.

“Brexit has nothing to do with it; like all 'good' things, there comes a point where it has to end and now is that time". - I'm not sure that now's the time as I believe property values will still increase for the next couple of years at least, there are still advantages in Cambridge that will help the increase for example the new train station in Chesterton making Chesterton properties a direct link to the likes of Kings Cross station in London.

totalastronom said: “Reduction of 20% is on the cards given the huge amount of new builds everywhere. - Sorry totalastronom I couldn't disagree more, I can't get enough properties to house the influx of new businesses in Cambridge and with the likes of Astrazeneca and Microsoft looking to rehouse employees into Cambridge we are going to need all the properties we can lay our hands on and in turn we will fill them with great tenants.

Another reader wrote “In my neighborhood (Castle) landlords are selling up wholesale because of the new tax arrangements that the Tories brought in to put them out of business, plus the colleges are building to achieve 100% accommodation for their students on college property" - Although colleges indeed are building on site, this is 1 something that will not happen over night and 2 I am filling my landlords properties with either family's or working professionals and I have no where near enough properties compared to the list of working professionals I have waiting so this is not a concern of mine or my landlords it simply means your properties would be filled with a better clientele.

LLoyd said: “surely that must be good thing Brexit =less immigration= less demand = realistic house prices for those that need to get on the ladder or move up it" - Cambridge is a beautiful place to live and the fact is sometimes you have to pay for what you get but rest assured that the beauty is here to stay.

opaque wrote: “Be realistic, with an average price of £404,000 unless it's a 50% reduction in price there is going to be no change most people who would like to stay in the city they were born in." To this my response is I was bourn in Cambridge and not only am I staying here, I'm offering free advise to others that want to stay here too. In content it's achievable.

hahahaha said: “i seriously hope so! stupid prices in Cambridge for a house. - hahahaha I will treat this comment with the contempt it deserves and merely ignore it?

Christine Butler said: “Can't see what the problem is .... over priced anyway due to outside interest and the properties still won't be affordable." - my response to Christine is that although I do have outside investors in Cambridge I would estimate that at least 85% of my landlords indeed lived in their properties for many years in Cambridge before either retiring to quieter villages or moving with work keeping them as investments, it's not all about outside interest.

Martin Worship replied: “They'll only go down temporarily and then just rise again. Property will always go up" - I personally don't think they will even go down". - They will steady off but I agree for now, I don't forecast any loss within Cambridge for the foreseeable future.

John Clifford Bird wrote: “Nothing to worry about, house prices go up and down like the price of gold." - Maybe we should look at building Gold houses :-)

Of course I'd be interested in your views and as always I'm here to help so if you need me simply ping me a message and I will get back to you as soon as I have chance, I'm here to help.

Contact Cambridge Property Investments Ltd ® for advise with investing in Cambridge and letting your property whilst reaching your maximum yield, We're here to help!

Heres a nice property investment for you with a 5.6% Yield.

Looking through Zoopla just now i have stumbled upon this stunning building with heaps of potential.

It's currently on the market for £475,000 with elevation and is a 4 bedroom terrace house in the pristine location of Beaconsfield Terrace which is situated centrally in Cambridge. Not only is the location key but should the rooms be in good condition you could easily reach £550pcm per room on the rental market - thats a whopping £2200pcm offering you an instant yield of 5.6%.

Now imagine this how about checking out the size of the rooms and being a victorian house i would expect them to be huge and i would also expect that you could make at least two of them ensuite increasing those two rentals to say £650pcm, give it a year and they pay for themselves so year two and three become extra profit let alone the increase you have instantly created in your property value?
All in all this property is certainly worth giving elevation a call.

Contact Cambridge Property Investments Ltd ® for advise with investing in Cambridge and letting your property whilst reaching your maximum yield, We're here to help!

Property Valuers drop Brexit clauses from most contracts as markets steady.

Let me share the views of Esha Vaish with you my friends because I think you'll find them interesting.

Five big property services firms are dropping Brexit uncertainty clauses from their valuation reports for most UK assets as market conditions steady after a sharp drop immediately after Britain's vote in June to leave the EU.

The original Brexit clause, seen by Reuters, stated there was a reduced probability that valuers' opinions of the worth of a UK property would exactly coincide with the price its potential sale fetched.

British property was among the sectors hardest hit by the vote in favour of Brexit and at one point commercial property funds worth over 18 billion pounds were suspended amid high redemptions from investors concerned that property demand and prices would plummet.

Concerns have since eased with four of the seven closed funds reopening and data from the widest UK commercial property index showing that property values fell less sharply in August than the month before.

"We feel now there's enough certainty in most sectors for us to withdraw that clause from all our valuation reporting," said Robert Gray, head of fund valuations at Knight Frank.

CBRE, Jones Lang LaSalle, Savills and Colliers said that for some subsectors with greater uncertainty, they had retained reworded clauses that reflected a less cautious tone.

"Savills considers the uncertainty clause is redundant for most markets. However, there is a lack of post-Brexit evidence in some sectors ... and we will reference this in our reports as necessary," said Ian Malden, Savills' divisional head of valuation.

The sectors involve central London offices, development land and buildings, retail parks and large shopping centres.

A revised clause from JLL, seen by Reuters, said there was still a lack of comparable deals in such sectors and therefore valuations reflected a "greater degree of judgment".

Andrew Renshaw, JLL's lead director for UK valuations and professional advisory, said the concerns were largely around the larger asset sizes. He expected the revised clause to disappear completely during October as conditions become more transparent.

For less risky properties, JLL dropped clauses completely from Sept. 19, following a meeting of top property valuers and firms last Wednesday, Renshaw said.

Russell Francis, head of valuation and advisory services at Colliers, said the firm had begun dropping clauses many weeks ago, referencing areas of the housing market that had seen strong levels of activity even after Brexit.

In recent weeks, several builders have said sales have risen, and data has suggested prices are climbing again.

On the commercial end of the market, valuers have dropped clauses for properties with long leases and steady incomes, often seen in sectors such as student flats and care homes.

Knight Frank's Gray said the firm's valuations for risky properties would on average be 2-6 percent lower than pre-Brexit levels.

There are some concerns that such clauses may resurface once Britain begins formal negotiations to exit the EU.

Gray said he did not envisage reintroducing the clause in the short term, though altered market conditions could prompt their return.

Knight Frank and CBRE value around two-thirds of UK commercial real estate market, according to Mike Prew, property analysts at Jefferies. Reuters could not immediate verify how much market share the rest of the valuers held.

(Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

Now I don't really want to get into the whole Brexit debate as I like/prefer to concentrate on future tense and not past tense (yes I understand its our future) but where I'm going with this is that with Cambridge being vastly a student city and student accommodation still experiencing a rise and not a fall despite the Brexit then Cambridge is still the city to invest in!

Contact Cambridge Property Investments Ltd ® for advise with investing in Cambridge and letting your property whilst reaching your maximum yield, We're here to help!