03/02/2025
Author : MaryAnne Bowring
The part of owning and managing a block of flats allows you to monitor the block finances and check the bank balances and arrears of the owners. So, you can easily figure out the areas where money is spent; besides, you can also spot the places where costs shall be decreased. The preparation of service charge accounts and company accounts is done on your behalf, ensuring they are accurate, compliant, and ready for review. This removes the administrative burden from your shoulders and reduces the need for external accountants, which can be expensive.
1. Set the Service Charge Budget you want to when you're in charge of managing your block of flats, you get to decide how the level of service charges and the service charge budget is set. You get to control how the money is being spent according to your priorities and the needs of the building’s residents. The self-management of the fund - which is determined by the residents and their needs - is, however, such, that it whether its primary function is replacing or repairing or its maintenance, insurance, or communal facilities, assists you to manage effectively according to the specific requirements of the block...
While working with the traditional managing agents, one can always receive the decision making from the agents without our notice. It can be the cause of higher costs or even non-essential services provided. In the self-managed system, you can be certain that every single penny is spent in the correct way. Budget freedom to look at and shift and then accept as required secures you to always be on the winning side with the handling of your finances.
2. Efficient Invoice Authorisation and Payments Online In the past, overseeing the receipts of a block of flats was a process that was quite likely to be long and full of paper work and communication with the professionals and suppliers going back and forth. But, with Service Charge Sorted, which is an online platform, you now can authorize invoices on the internet, send automatically an invitation to a second director to do the same, and have the invoice placed in the next BACS run. Paying invoices with Service Charge Sorted is as easy as online banking.
Once you have authorized the invoices through the internet, the next thing to do is to carry out the payment, by quickly checking the details, confirming the services rendered, and making sure that the amounts have matched the agreements. No more hunting paper files or waiting for the approvals from the managing agent. You have everything at your fingertips, and therefore, the whole process turns into a more efficient one, which will save you precious time and lower the risk of mistakes or disputes. Besides that, a streamlined system like this not only will you be able to keep a meticulous record of all the financial transactions but also will it be essential for both accountability and future planning.
3. Service Charge Payments Collected for you one of the most challenging parts of running an apartment complex is making sure that all of the tenants are paying their service charges on time. This process usually includes going after late payers, sending them reminders, and working out their disagreements. Nevertheless, when partnering with Service Charge Sorted (this is the creation of The Ringley Group, the top Managing Agents in the United Kingdom), these jobs are handled by the Ringley Law sister company a fully regulated. Solicitors practice. Thus nevermore you will have to resort to going to your neighbors to ask for money.
Service Charge Sorted is the platform, which does the job of collecting the service charge that is due, thereby reducing the amount of work it has to be done and ensuring that the payments are tracked and recorded properly. Ringley Law can take care of banking on your behalf, so, you will not have to face worries about sorting out the payments yourself. This professional service reduces many of the problems that come with flats management, providing peace of mind while also making sure that the money aspect is in order.
4. Companies House and Sales Paperwork Sorted Dealing with the legal stuff which usually goes with the management of a block of flats can leave you feeling pretty overwhelmed. Between filling up the forms and meeting the required standards, you will be engaged in heavy administration. The good thing is that Service Charge Sorted takes care of all the legal documentation for you, the entire process is now super simple and direct. For instance, Ringley Law shall look into Buyer's Solicitors enquiries which include service charge details and accounts when flats are bought or sold. Instead of having to deal with this on your own or rely on outside professionals, you can use the Service Charge Sorted platform which assures that every single thing is doing well. This minimizes the risk for the blocks and you will never again find yourself getting stuck in legal paperwork. In fact, instead of a flat owner who expects you to work for free, the selling flat will cover Ringley Law's fees.
Furthermore, Service Charge Sorted is entrusted with the task of filing the required annual confirmation statement at Companies House, which is compulsory for all property management companies. If not complied with, such a duty can lead to fines and possible problems with the property's legal status, like the freehold turning back to the crown if the Management Company is struck off the Companies Register. Together with Service Charge Sorted, this whole procedure becomes automatically and you have no stress and worries about the latest regulations as you are staying within the bounds of the law.
One of the other plus points of the self-management might be that you are certain of the adequacy and accuracy of your books. One of the scenarios when service charges are usually need to be prepared by a professional is when you are not an accountant. That is where an accountant fits in. Keeping tabs on the financial statements of the service charge and company is a daunting task. Luckily, Service Charge Sorted makes it very easy. The annual fee includes the preparation of the service charge accounts which start from £525 + Vat (£630) per year for up to 4 flats and the company accounts preparation, on the other hand, will be an additional of £60 + Vat (£72). One other benefit besides not having to hunt for an accountant, or gather the books, or worry if it can be late of the accounts and you forgot to serve a S20B Notice, is that the Service Charge Sorted team will help you make the finances clear and transparent. Furthermore, they will file these and send them to the service charge payers which are mandatory by law.
The platform is very well-structured and it provides all necessary materials that allow the tracking of your block’s finances. This definitely adds the ease of understanding where the money is spent and also cuts inefficiencies by flagging the areas where the costs can be reduced. Service charge accounts and company accounts are prepared for you, meaning that they are accurate, compliant, and ready for review. This waving away of the administrative duties from your shoulders and partly no need of external accountants who may be expensive.
5. Cost-Effectiveness It's possible that the biggest attraction for self-managing a block of flats is the reduction of cost. Hiring a managing agent could involve considerable costs, meaning the fees are in many cases in the thousands of pounds per annum. By assuming your own property management responsibilities, you can bring these amounts down to almost negligible levels.
Service Charge Sorted is the company that wisely offers a cheap and efficient solution as well as the more traditional management services. Their portal supports all the functions that are needed to oversee the financials, legal documentation, and invoicing, but still, it is much cheaper when compared to a managing agent. This will allow to reallocate the funds among the building which gives the service charges the best possible use.
6. Support When You Need it despite that the self-management has a plethora of pluses, it still carries with it some fear factor at times. This is when Service Charge Sorted steps in and offers you the necessary support at the right moment. Besides clarifying every property law detail, skilled are as well on hand to tutor you in the area of budgeting. They are a team of experts always available to be of help. Having a team to turn to for advice when you need it can boost your self-confidence in using your block and give you the peace of mind that you are managing everything for yourself. This support protects you are from the hassles of property management alone, which, in turn, shortens the whole process, making it more comfortable and more manageable.
Conclusion
Self-management of block of flats may be a very rewarding experience due to the fact that it brings more freedom of doing either the finances, budgeting, or legal requirements. Service Charge Sorted’s services, at the same time, being at your hand make the process much more convenient, therefore, all matter including service charge payments and legal procedures are always handled professionally and with higher assurance of a quick and smooth process. The capability of authorising invoices online, managing payments, and receiving expert support as well as a fraction of the cost of a managing agent makes Service Charge Sorted a vital one-stop tool for a property owner who wants to take charge of the block of flats. Ready to take the steering wheel, Service Charge Sorted is standing by to be the help that you need in keeping your building's management in order.
All membership levels get access to our national database of quality controlled contractors
Contractors across the UK are searchable by postcode and contractor type (gardeners, plumbers, electricians, general builders etc.)
Quality control is administered as every time a BlockCare 300 member instructs us to pay a bill the contractors performance is recorded.
Contractors need to get a "customer satisfaction form" signed by a person on site else in the event of a dispute we will act on your instructions not to pay the bill.
Contractors on our database are charged a nominal administration fee to cover the checking of public liability/contractors insurance, references and the management of customer service.
All membership levels also get access to our repairs liability matrix this will give you an inside the industry view of who should be liable for what.
Block Care members use the Pay Block Bills area to instruct us to pay their bills which we then pay by bank transfer, and, if so instructed can debit to an owner (if the problem was their responsibility).
All members get company secretarial support to ensure that they never miss the critical filing dates for filing both the Confirmation Statement and the Statutory Accounts.
To enable us to act and protect you from fines, we will be appointed as a Shadow Director with the following limited powers to:
*Excludes filing responsibilities prior to our appointment or for any part year if we are instructed during a service charge year.
All Blockcare100 members can access the forms they need online to prepare & File Accounts, Confirmation Statements and pass various Resolutions & More! You can use the 'email reminders tool' so you don't forget.
We have packaged the information the industry relies to make decisions...
Relax knowing that we are regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and will reconcile your bank account for you.
The objective of bank reconciliation is to ensure the manual/computerised cashbook ledger upon which decisions will be made, is accurate (because the cashbook ledger which records payments and receipts matches the physical bank account).
A cashbook is a ledger which shows the financial transactions being made into and out of an account.
Without a robust bank reconciliation process the integrity of credit control or arrears action is undermined.
Every company, including dormant and non trading companies, must file a confirmation statement. It confirms the information to Companies House hold about the company is up to date.
A confirmation statement must be filed at least once a year - or more often if there has been a significant change.
With BlockCare 300 we take care of this for you and debit the Companies House filing fee, currently £15, to the service charge bank account.
All Blockcare300 members get company secretarial support to ensure that they never miss the critical filing dates for filing both the Confirmation Statement and the Statutory Accounts, and, if we mess up we will pay any Companies House fines*.
To enable us to act and protect you from fines, we will be appointed as a Shadow Director with the following limited powers to:
*Excludes filing responsibilities prior to our appointment or for any part year if we are instructed during a service charge year.
All Blockcare100 members can access the forms they need online to prepare & File Accounts, Confirmation Statements and pass various Resolutions & More! You can use the 'email reminders tool' so you don't forget.
Blockcare300 members can pay their service charge by monthly direct debit, and, we will review payments when required, for example when:.
Blockcare300 members can update their ownership registers on-line at any time. This triggers RingleyLaw (our Solicitors) to review if there has been a notifiable event such as a change of owner or a sub-letting so they confirm the update.
Depending whether the property has been sold, or simply sub-let we will provide guidance on the selling or renting process.
Ringley Law will also deal with buyer's and seller's Solicitors and answer the preliminary enquiries to facilitate a sale, as well as dealing with share or membership transfers and updating both the ownership and shareholders or members registers also.
All Blockcare300 members get Company Secretarial support to:
To assist in executing documents, on set up Blockcare300 Members appoint us as a Shadow Director with the following limited powers:
What remains your responsibility as Client is to:
| a) | Minute meetings & keep any resolutions passed | |
| b) | Call the Annual General Meeting (AGM) | Downloadable from our helpdesk are:
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| c) | To tell us if a Director needs appointing or resigning | Downloadable from our helpdesk are:
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| d) | Pass company resolutions, e.g., to de-regulate and not need to call AGM's | Downloadable from our helpdesk are:
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For Blockcare300 members we deal with Solicitors enquiries when a property sells.
Ringley Law offer 2 service levels:
Or if you want to do it yourself, many of the documents you need can be easily stored in the
Blockcare300 members get FREE banking*. Your own Ringley administered Client account (holding only funds for your site).
You DO NOT GET CHARGED FOR:
...ALSO, there are no monthly or quarterly account management charges.
...AND, members get interest on credit balances.
As well as:
All Blockcare300 members receive the bank interest on any credit balance held.
Your funds will be held in trust in accordance with Section 42 of the 1987 Landlord & Tenant Act and the bank shall have no right of set off. Interest receivable on your discrete Client account is payable at a rate that reflects all funds held by Ringley and will be credited to your fund; no interest is payable for the 3 days that money passes through the DD, credit card, cheque clearing or internet banking transit account.
The bank that holds your funds does so in a discrete client account for the premises within which funds are held in trust in accordance with Section 42 of the 1987 Landlord & Tenant Act and the bank has no right of set off.
Blockcare300 members do not need a separate accountant to prepare their service charge accounts.
The 1985 Landord and Tenant Act requires that service charge accounts are prepared and served on those liable to contribute. The fine for not doing so is £2,500. To be compliant the accounts must contain the following:
Service Charge Accounts do not need to be filed with Companies House, but the statutory accounts DO!
Service charge accounts must reflect the provisions of any lease or transfer document and need to be correctly prepared to support any arrears action through the Courts or Tribunal service.
We bring all members access to our buying power through Towergate insurance. By joining our block policy, Towergate will give you rates that you may not be able to achieve as a buyer of one insurance policy. This because we procure and insure thousands of customers. Towergate offer policies to cover all your insurance needs including: Buildings Insurance, Diretors and Officers insurance, Public Liability insurance and Engineering Inspection insurance (for lifts etc..)
Blockcare300 members just need to quote their site ref to get a quote and put a property on cover.
No Win No Fee Litigation - Arrears CollectionIf you demand it wrong, then you cannot collect, so your demands need to:
What
members get is assurance that the service charge demands will stand up in a Court or Tribunal as we will demand the money correctly and prepare and present the service charge accounts to all owners. If necessary we will serve a Section 20B Notice to ensure that you are not prevented from collecting a deficit (should the accounts be late).*
For
members we will send out:
All BlockCare members get protection as Ringley Law will litigate any service charge and ground rent arrears on a no-win, no-fee basis.**
To be eligible
member.**Arrears accrued prior to becoming a
member, we can still collect these but this will be subject to a chargeable evidencial review to advise you if there any procedural flaws and weigh up the merits of your case. To do so you will need to provide us with:
*Our responsibility for serving Section 20B Notices only applies to each full service charge year that we are appointed.
What if the case needs to go to Court or Tribunal
The no-win no-fee litigation service includes:
If you are unsure about whether you are demanding service charges in accordance with the lease, you should choose so we manage this risk not you.
Blockcare300 members with a RTM, Freehold Company or Residents Management Company will need to prepare statutory accounts as well as service charge accounts. Service charge accounts are required where there are more than four owners paying service charge accounts to comply with the 1985 Landlord and Tenant Act and Company Accounts are required to comply with the Companies Acts.
For Resident Management Companies the company accounts that need to be prepared will be 'dormant company accounts' IF the these 3 tests are passed:
For Blockcare300 members as Company Secretarial support IS included, for any full accounting year we are appointed we will file your statutory accounts for free.
For part accounting years prior or post our administration, statutory accounts preparation is an optional extra.
Our service charge budget tool helps you prepare your budget and includes 8 best practice guidance notes referring you to the Code of Practice for Residential Managing Agents as prepared by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA).
For Blockcare300 Members authorising, adopting and splitting the budget is made easy, and, depends on the way you have asked to get set up initially. In short there are two authorisation scenarios:
For single person authorisation the lead person presses [SEND] to send the budget or payment request to us for payment, for dual person authorisation, person 1 emails the request to person 2 who then sends the request to us to action.
For Blockcare300 members we will split the budget between the owners according to the percentages we are given during site set up, then we will send:
ll membership levels can upload a lease to their private
And, Ringley Law also offer a
perhaps us bookmarking the 19 essential clauses is for you.
Ever been curious as to how much it might cost you to redecorate the block, replace the roof, repair windows etc... We have a tool that helps all BlockCare members
Because Leaseholder Support.co.uk is part of Ringley - a property company providing services in Building Engineering, Surveying, Valuing and much more - Ringley's Building Engineers have put together a reserves fund estimator specially designed for leaseholders in small blocks.
The tool will guide you through questions such as how wide and deep is your block? how many flats are there? how many windows are there to build up key data on quantities?
It then asks you to rate each key element in simple terms, ie:
From a rate card that our Engineers review each year your "reserves requirement" will then be estimated. You can expand each item to understand how it is made up, ie. the size dimensions that you entered against the rate. There is a guide explaining things like access/scaffolding. Finally you can print your recommended reserves requirement or email to a friend.
Blockcare300 members are protected as we will take care of filing the Statutory Accounts and Confirmation Statements and are responsible for any fines insurred in any full accounting year we are appointed.
To be able to give you this guarantee you appoint us as a Shadow Director just to enable the following:
The filing responsibilities for full or part years prior to, or post our appointment, remain your responsibility.
No Win No Fee Litigation - Arrears CollectionIf you demand it wrong, then you cannot collect, so your demands need to:
What Blockcare300 members get is assurance that the service charge demands will stand up in a Court or Tribunal as we will demand the money correctly and prepare and present the service charge accounts to all owners. If necessary we will serve a Section 20B Notice to ensure that you are not prevented from collecting a deficit (should the accounts be late).*
For Blockcare300 members we will send out:
All BlockCare members get protection as Ringley Law will litigate any service charge and ground rent arrears on a no-win, no-fee basis.**
To be eligible
**Arrears accrued prior to becoming a Blockcare300 member, we can still collect these but this will be subject to a chargeable evidencial review to advise you if there any procedural flaws and weigh up the merits of your case. To do so you will need to provide us with:
*Our responsibility for serving Section 20B Notices only applies to each full service charge year that we are appointed.
What if the case needs to go to Court or Tribunal
The no-win no-fee litigation service includes:
If you are unsure about whether you are demanding service charges in accordance with the lease, you should choose Blockcare300 so we manage this risk not you.
All BolckCare members get access to our 70+ Company Secretarial tools, which include:
Specifically:
For Blockcare300 members we will:
For members we will keep their company running. In short we will:
Members also get access to over 70 company secretarial tools:
members get everything they need to be able to take a professional non-payer to Court of Tribunal for service charge or ground rent arrears.
Members get NO WIN, NO FEE litigation on all arrears that accrue during a valid paid up subscription period.
For debts accruing prior to our appointment we can still act - but this will be subject to a chargeable evidencial review to weigh up the merits of your case. To do so you will need to provide us with:
What if the case needs to go to Court or Tribunal
The no-win no-fee litigation service includes:
If you are unsure about whether you are demanding service charges in accordance with the lease, you should choose so we manage this risk not you.
Click to see more about the legal routes available
You cant really put a price on over 100+ factsheets written by our Surveyors, Valuers, Building Engineers and Property Managers (written originally for our staff and free inside knowledge to you). Learn how we make decisions, know what action to take next.
Here's the 8 categories available:
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Cracks in Exterior Brickwork - "Tapered Cracks: Cracks which are thicker at one end tapering to a thinner crack at the other (often tapering to a hair line crack). Tapered cracks can indicate rotational settlement e.g. extension building is pulling away from main building leaving a gap..." |
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Concrete Problems in Buildings - "Why are buildings built before 1970 more at risk? All concrete will carbonate to a greater or lesser extent, but the degree of risk depends on how deep the steel is sunk into the concrete and the extent of the protection it has. The level of cover over reinforcing grids or rods, that is cover by way of concrete, should be 50mm minimum and this is now stipulated in building regulations. However, in post war buildings only 1 inch (25mm) was stipulated and therefore carbonation is more likely to be a problem in 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s buildings..." |
For
Credit control is included. We will save you from suffering the embarrasement of needing to chase your neighbour for their arrears. Stages 1 to 3 of debtchase are included in the subscription fee, thereafter, legal action is rechargeable to the debtor.
members can relax whilst we collect what the budgeted service charge.
For members credit control includes us sending out:
Our processes are compliant with the Civil Procedure Rules pre-action protocol and includes the 30 waiting period prior to which Court action can commence.
Thereafter the debt collection routes are as detailed on the flowcharts below:
All BlockCare members get protection as Ringley Law will litigate any service charge and ground rent arrears on a no-win, no-fee basis.**
To be eligible
member.Credit Control Notes
Note 1 : BlockCare 300 is not suitable where the lease requires retrospective billing.
Note 2 : If service charge is not properly demanded - it may not be recoverable.
Note 3 : If an expense is not presented to an owner within 18 months of it being incurred recovery of it is barred by law (save for where a Section 20B Notice is served). For BlockCare 300 Clients we will serve a Section 20B Notice (if required) for any full service charge year in which we are appointed.
As a Blockcare300 member Ringley Law can help you resolve defective lease issues and get you manageable.
Perhaps your lease
Perhaps it worked well until one owner decides not to pay and now you need to get a robust mechanism that works (after all a Court will only help you collect the arrears if you have done exactly what the lease says.
Using Section 37 of the 1987 Landlord and Tenant Act, so long as:
then Ringley Law can resolve the situation for you through the Tribunal. The decision can be registered against the title to be binding on future owners too.
Blockcare300 members can make payments to contractors and set up recurring payments for things like electricity, insurance premiums, cleaner, gardener etc.... It works a bit like online banking. You key who you want to pay, you can UPLOAD the invoice for safe storage, and then we make the payment for you.
In short there are two authorisation scenarios:
For single person authorisation the lead person presses [SEND] to send the budget or payment request to us for payment, for dual person authorisation, person 1 emails the request to person 2 who then sends the request to us to action.
So you choose the contractors you want and we will pay them, reconcile the bank account and produce the year end service charge accounts.
All BlockCare members get online tools to help them overcome problems that need strategic input.
The most common are:
Support for these services is available to all BlockCare members on a pay as you go basis.
Advice on the principles for controlling or approving alterations is on the members panel, so all BlockCare Members get advice on the processes:
Most leases require a leaseholder to obtain consent before making any alterations - the document that approves the alternations is known as a Licence to Alter.
For obvious reasons there are precautions and procedures that need to be followed before a Licence should be granted. All BlockCare members get access to Ringley Building Engineering who can, as a pay-as-you-go extra, scrutinise proposals, inspect works and recommend that a Licence is granted (or not with reasons). Fees are chargeable to the owner wanting to make the alterations.
The most common alterations that do require a "Licence to Alter" are:
All members can use
Ringley Building Engineering Team to provide: Ringley Law to:
All BlockCare members can set up email reminders.
For example
Blockcare300 members can relax as even IF you forget to log on and enter the service charge budget you want us to collect - we will simply apply a 10% increase to keep the block running, until you do