Our highly professional and experienced team will ensure your property is managed efficiently, and cost-effectively, with a clear focus on communication and customer service. You can rest assured we have the expertise to ensure that statutory requirements and other regulations will be met, and our strong accounting team will ensure your funds are never at risk while in our care.

We aim to be a one stop service for our customers. Our standard property management service, for which an annual management fee is charged, includes:

• Agreeing the annual budget
• Collection of service charges
• Instruction for the recovery of unpaid service charges
• Preparation of service charge statements
• Payment for general maintenance out of service charge funds
• Administration of building and other insurance required
• Attendance at Annual General Meetings
• Supervision of staff, such as concierge, cleaners and gardeners
• Administration of annual contracts such as lifts, communal boilers, water pumps etc.
• Arranging periodic health and safety and fire risk assessments
• Periodic property and estate inspections to check condition
• Arranging minor repairs to buildings, plant, fixtures and fittings
• Dealing promptly with enquiries from leasehold owners and residents
• Maintaining records on ownership

Every development has an appointed property manager, who will often be your first point of contact, but they are always supported by a large team with knowledge and experience in all the various facets of property management.

At Hazelvine, we recognise the importance strong financial management plays in a quality Property Management solution. We have an experienced accounts team based in Letchworth, operating on the industry leading Qube property management software. Confidence in our service comes from the following:-

• The annual S/C budget, on which the on-account service charge demands are based, is set in consultation with the Directors.
• We maintain individual bank accounts for every property we manage to ensure funds from different sites are never mixed.
• Regular monthly reports of expenditure incurred can be provided to the Directors.
• Additional reporting on service charge receipts and debtors can be provided to the Directors.
• Fully reconciled, and independently verified, service charge accounts are produced annually. These show all monies received and expended, and any amounts set aside to reserves.

Security of your money is very important to us, and so we have robust systems and processes in place. You can also be confident in the fact that Hazelvine and the Qdime Group have a very strong financial base.

We employ our own handymen to attend to minor reactive repairs which many contractors are slow to respond to as minor in value. We also employ electricians to manage all cyclical works such as emergency light tests, bulb replacements, and periodic inspection reports that are mandatory.

All of our maintenance team are highly skilled and time-served tradesmen in their own discipline of electrician, carpenter and joiner, plumber etc.

When we have a concentration of sites in an area we have established cleaning and gardening teams to raise the standards of our sites by ensuring that regular visits are made. All our teams wear branded clothing and drive liveried vehicles to ensure we are being totally transparent with our customers.

All work is tendered for to ensure our charges are reasonable and competitive.

All our work comes with a guarantee that if not done to a high standard it will be put right at our expense.

At Hazelvine, we understand the complexities of major works so we don’t ask our property managers to try and manage them, we get our experienced Building surveyors to do so instead. This leaves our managers free to focus on communication with our customers.

With Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) work, or complex roofing works for instance, a property manager is unlikely to have the necessary experience to discuss works of that nature let alone prepare a specification of works and administer a building contract through to completion. We manage simple contracts of a few thousand pounds up to more major works running into millions.

Our surveyors will carry out a detailed inspection and survey of the building or M&E installation, prepare a detailed specification of works and contract conditions and obtain competitive tenders. We will involve landlords or resident directors throughout the process and will meet with residents to discuss complicated works and any implications such as disruption or security concerns.

Working for you, and mindful of obtaining best value for money, we always look for alternative solutions to problems and the surveying team come together to pool experience where necessary. We are also careful to keep each contract as simple as it needs to be for the work involved, so won’t always recommend a JCT Form of Contract if a simple agreement by letter is adequate.

Using our buying power we have agreed a bespoke policy wording for our Block Insurance policy which is the most comprehensive in the market. Our policy wording is underwritten by one of the major insurers who operate in the property sector.

We guard the performance of our Block Policy very closely to ensure all claims are fully validated before acceptance.  This protects the majority of our customers from the few sites that have a major claim and helps those sites maintain a sensible premium level.

Every year we meet with our brokers to review the policy wording to ensure we keep up to date with changes in the market.  We agree with them which insurers we are happy for them to approach to quote and they arrange that and negotiate with us to achieve a sensible premium for the risk involved.  We meet with the insurers to finalise terms and then through the year to review how the policy is performing.

Well over half of the developments we manage are for Resident Management Companies (RMC’s) where residents from the site, who are members of the company, voluntarily take on the role of directors.

Being a director can be quite an onerous role and often you get little support or thanks from your neighbours for all that you do. As a volunteer we recommend that all resident directors should have the protection of Directors and Officers insurance which is a legitimate service charge expense under most leases and Transfers.

We act as the company secretary and the Registered Office for many resident management companies and help to fulfil the estate management and legal obligations for which each is responsible. It’s part of our commitment to a total property management service that just makes life easier.

We’ll help ensure consistent, timely and accurate administration with effective communications. Our annual resident management company compliance services include:

• Acting as Company Secretary (through our incorporated secretarial company)
• Preparing and maintaining shareholder registers, directors, members and other statutory records.
• Advice on dispensing with selected administrative formalities under the Companies Act 2006.

Providing a registered office address, the storage of company statutory files and setting up new accounts with the landlord.