wide dark blue website background service charge
Blockcare 300
BlockCare 300

BlockCare 300 is like a low cost Managing Agent. A package where you are the manager, and we take care of all the financial and legal admin to support you.

You set the budget and arrange any repairs. We manage the service charge demands, collect and banking, the money prepare the service charge accounts and deal with Companies House.

Normally a managing agent's minimum fee is too expensive for small blocks and small housing estates, so, we stripped services back to the essentials, starting from £630 per year, with extras available on a pay-as-you-go basis.

The pains that BlockCare 300 solves

We collect the service charge and prepare the service charge accounts

No more chasing neighbours for arrears - Ringley Law will do that for you

We'll deal with Companies House, Manage solicitor's enquiries and prepare the Service Charge Accounts

Service Charges Sorted is the brainchild of The Ringley Group: An expert Managing Agent

We take care of the financial and legal admin for small blocks of flats and private housing estates, you stay in control and we support you enabling you to save time, save money and save your block.
save time logo service charge
Save ~40 hours a year
  • Clone last year's budget & e-sign
  • We send demands, reminders etc...
  • We bank your money & reconcile it
  • We litigate any arrears
  • We pay contractors for you
  • We prepare & serve the accounts
  • We apply the balancing charges
  • We file the accounts & confirmation statements at Companies House
  • For sales - we handle the paperwork
You can use our DocuStore to share;
  • leases, budgets, demands, invoices
  • factsheets to guide you through estate management issues
save money logo service charge
Save money on...

Admin cost/time
(40 hrs per year)

£800

Accounts
(Service Charge)

£350

Buildings Insurance
(assume 20% saved)

£120

Bank charges
(assume £70pa)

£70

Total

£1,350

BlockCare 300 can save ££££’s

It suits houses & flats

There is no such thing as a low cost Managing Agent, however, our BlockCare 300 takes care of all the legal and financial admin needed to run the service charges.

The brains behind BlockCare 300 is The Ringley Group, a leading managing agent. So it is like having a low cost managing agent, but you are the manager and decision maker (setting the budget and deciding who to pay). We are the service charge administrators making light work of demands, money management, accounts and legal work.

save your block logo service charge
Avoid legal pitfalls e.g.
  • Companies House fines.
  • A £2,500 fine for failing to serve compliant service charge accounts
  • Being unable to collect monies due to the 18 month rule.
  • Not serving balancing charges & breaching of S19(2)of the 1985 Act

And, we underwrite bad debts with our no win no fee service charge litigation

Service charges are an amount that a leaseholder pays to cover the cost of providing communal or shared services to a building and, if applicable, the surrounding estate. The way charges are calculated and what they cover are set out in the lease.

For estates of houses the money collected is often called an 'estate charge' instead of service charge, similarly it is collected to cover the cost of shared services to run the estate.

WHAT IS BLOCKCARE?

BlockCare 100, 300 & 500 are our service levels for blocks of flats and private housing estates,

large and small.

  • BlockCare 100:

    our expertise shared with all for FREE

  • BlockCare 300:

    is ‘service charge sorted’ (demands, arrears, accounts & legal
    admin - with you as the Manager)

  • BlockCare 500:

    is full management 24/7 (your own Relationship Manager,
    Legal Officer & Accountant)

FREE HELP & OTHER PACKAGES

As an expert Managing Agent, The Ringley Group offers different block property management service levels

blue website background
service charge sorted logo

Start for FREE now
Knowledge base & tools

light blue website background

demands, arrears, accounts & legal admin with you as Manager

light green website background

full management 24/7 your own ...

  • Relationship Manager,
  • Legal Officer &
  • Final Accountant
dark green website background

step by step guides

  • Right to Manage
  • Lease Extensions
  • Buying the Freehold
wide dark blue website background service charge
Blockcare 100
BlockCare 100

Blockcare 100 Virtual Managing Agent: BlockCare 100 is free access to the knowledge base part of our portal. Yes, the stuff you need to know to do property management right, shared by The Ringley Group, London's leading Managing Agent.

Sign up today for instant property management know-how. You can upgrade to BlockCare300 later if you want us to run things for you. In the meantime, you can pay-as-you-go for help if you need it.

wide green website background service charge
Blockcare 500
BlockCare 500

A Managing Agent on call 24/7. Bigger more complex blocks need a Managing Agent, with their own Property Manager to take care of plant, compliance, meetings, reserve planning and more.

Need a Managing Agent 24/7?

As a Managing Agent the Ringley Group manage tens of thousands of homes. We like to improve the buildings we manage and work with the communities who live in them in partnership. We manage blocks of flats and housing estates throughout the UK. Our brand promise is 100% transparency and we are focused on managing risk, cash, repairs and relationships.

green check sign
green check sign
green check sign
Sit Back & get a 24/7 service from the Professionals
  • green check signProperty inspections
  • green check sign Budgets prepared
  • green check sign Reserves planned
  • green check sign Insurance arranged
  • green check sign Risk & compliance managed
  • green check sign Repairs service
  • green check sign Tendering to contractors
  • green check sign Contracts negotiated
  • green check sign Gateway™ owners portal
  • green check sign Contracts dealt with
  • green check sign Arrears collected
  • green check sign Leases interpreted
wide dark green website background service charge
LeaseholdGuidance

LeaseholdGuidance is our jargon free website that
explains the options available IF you want to take control and ‘run your block’.

green check sign Right to Manage

The good news is that claiming your Right to Manage is a NO FAULT process. You just need to pass the “physical test” and set up a company with 50% of owners participating.

Then usually you serve notices on the landlord and take over a few months after at which point you can manage the block yourselves, or appoint a Managing Agent of your choice.

green check sign Buy the Freehold

Buying the Freehold is not too expensive when everyone participates, and leases have 80+ years unexpired. The more who join in, the cheaper it is.

To get started, you need 50% of owners and any commercial space to be small. Even if you have an absentee Freeholder with a Tribunal processes buying the freehold is still possible.

green check sign Short leases extended

Long leaseholders can claim a statutory 90 year lease extension if they have owned the property for 2 years. It is cheaper if there are 80+ years left.

If you are buying a short lease flat and don't want to wait 2 years, get the seller to serve a Section 43 Notice then you can take a claim they start forwards.

transparent cross service charge
Quote & Enquiry

Thank you

Close
transparent double left arrow service charge

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:

  1. We will pay any Companies House fines should we be at fault. This excludes share transfers when a property is sold;
  2. sign and submit the accounts to Companies House;
  3. sign and submit the Confirmation Statement to verify the shareholder or members register.

*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...

  1. All BlockCare members are just a click away from all key property legistlation since 1998.
  2. The pest control, environmental health & planning departments of every Council in England.
  3. Statistical data such as interest rates, retail prices index, house prices in your street.
  4. Research data such as tools to compare Utility prices, Environmental reports, Listed building & Heritage information
  5. Professional bodies such as ARMA, RICS, RIBA, SPAB

Relax knowing that we are regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and will reconcile your bank account for you.

Why reconcile a bank account?

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).

Transactions that may need to be adjusted include
  1. receipts which bounced, (i.e. cheques returned by the bank, direct debits that failed collection due to insufficient funds).
  2. direct receipts, (e.g., bank interest).
  3. failed payments, (e.g., a cheque older than 6 months so cannot be cashed).
What is a cashbook?

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:

  1. execute share transfers when a property is sold;
  2. sign and submit the accounts to Companies House;
  3. sign and submit the Confirmation Statement to verify the shareholder or members register.

*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:.

  1. there is a new budget, or
  2. a year end balancing charge has been split

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:

  1. be your appointed Company Secretary
  2. become your registered office
  3. keep abreast of the role and legal changes
  4. maintain the Directors register
  5. maintain the Members or Shareholders register
  6. prepare and file the Annual Confirmation Statement
  7. prepare and execute share certificate transfers
  8. execute Licences to Assign (if the lease requires one when selling a flat)
  9. execute the Purchasers' Deed of Covenant (if the lease requires one when selling a flat)
  10. execute Compliance Certificates (if required by HM Land Registry to register a change in title)
  11. Receipt Notices of Transfer.
  12. Execute Licences to Alter (when so instructed by the Client)
  13. File the statutory accounts with Companies House **
  • Preparation of service charge accounts IS part of the Blockcare300 service, preparation of dormant company accounts or trading company accounts are a chargeable disbursement as are any other additional duties.

    To assist in executing documents, on set up Blockcare300 Members appoint us as a Shadow Director with the following limited powers:

  • To
    1. execute share transfers when a property is sold;
    2. sign and submit the accounts to Companies House;
    3. sign and submit the Confirmation Statement to verify the shareholder or members register.

    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:
    • Draft AGM Notice and Agenda
    • Draft AGM Proxy form
    • AGM minutes template
    c) To tell us if a Director needs appointing or resigning Downloadable from our helpdesk are:
    • Forms to appoint a Director &
    • Forms to terminate an Officer
    d) Pass company resolutions, e.g., to de-regulate and not need to call AGM's Downloadable from our helpdesk are:
    • Draft Special & Extraordinary Meeting Notices (with a selection of pre drafted resolutions)
    • Draft Proxy forms
    • Minutes template

    For Blockcare300 members we deal with Solicitors enquiries when a property sells.

    Ringley Law offer 2 service levels:

    1. A complete preliminary enquiries service
    2. Support on a question by question basis as required

    Or if you want to do it yourself, many of the documents you need can be easily stored in the Document Upload Centre

    Blockcare300 members get FREE banking*. Your own Ringley administered Client account (holding only funds for your site).

    You DO NOT GET CHARGED FOR:

    1. your own bank account
    2. bank payments
    3. direct debit collections
    4. paying in receipts via a bank's postal or counter service

     

    ...ALSO, there are no monthly or quarterly account management charges.

    ...AND, members get interest on credit balances.

  • *provided it does not become overdrawn.
  • As well as:

    1. your own bank account (just for their block/estate),
    2. instant access to funds, and
    3. your funds are protected by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' Clients Money Protection Scheme (RICS)

    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.

    small barclays logo service charge
    rics small logo service charge

    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:

    1. a schedule of debtors confirming each owners' arrears (if any) as at the year end date
    2. a breakdown of expenses - to enable a comparison against the budget
    3. the surplus or deficit
    4. a schedule showing which expenses have been apportioned to which owner

    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..)

  • Towergate are a major insurance provider for Management Companies and Residents Associations and reflect the needs of such entities.
  • Cover is offered at highly competitve rates and include many features that others charge for as extra.
  • Towergate support owners with their insurance claims by phone.
  • Blockcare300 members just need to quote their site ref to get a quote and put a property on cover.

  • To find out more call Robin Gleeson on 01442 2281236 TODAY
  • No_win_no_fee_litigation No Win No Fee Litigation - Arrears Collection

    If you demand it wrong, then you cannot collect, so your demands need to:

    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:

    1. the company does not have a bank account OTHER THAN the Ringley Client account we operate for you, and
    2. no assets have been bought or sold, and
    3. no income has been received (e.g., no ground rent or land sales)

    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:

    1. casting chairman - single person authorisation
    2. any 2 Directors - dual authorisation

    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:

    • the 1st demand (by post and email)
    • polite reminder (by email)
    • final notice (by email)
    • our financial hardship policy (by email)
    • pre-action letter to correspondence address
    • pre-action letter to the property

    ll membership levels can upload a lease to their private upload centre"

    And, Ringley Law also offer a "Bookmark your lease" service"
    for just £40 + Vat and can advise you on key clauses and the exact service charge collection requirements for your site. So, if you want answers to questions like

    • when should we next decorate?
    • can Flat 3 really sublet to anyone they like?
    • 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:

    • New or in excellent order
    • Some repair or maintenance required
    • Renewal required
    • Timber OK, putty replace & decoration

    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:

  • To
    1. execute share transfers when a property is sold;
    2. sign and submit the accounts to Companies House;
    3. sign and submit the Confirmation Statement to verify the shareholder or members register.

    The filing responsibilities for full or part years prior to, or post our appointment, remain your responsibility.

    No_win_no_fee_litigation No Win No Fee Litigation - Arrears Collection

    If you demand it wrong, then you cannot collect, so your demands need to:

    • include the prescribed notes
    • state the service address of landlord
    • reflect the correct demand dates
    • be budgeted to the correct year end....
    • reflect charges that fall within the 18 month rule
    • be reflected in a correctly prepared set of service charge accounts
    • 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).*

    • You will still need to ensure that you adhere to statutory consultation procedures for any big works (any spend the liability for an owner exceeds £250) - or can instruct Ringley Law to run the Section 20 Consultation process for you.
    • For Blockcare300 members we will send out:

      • the 1st demand (by post and email)
      • polite reminder (by email)
      • final notice (by email)
      • our financial hardship policy (by email)
      • pre-action letter to correspondence address
      • pre-action letter to the property

      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

      1. The debt must have accrued after you became a Blockcare300 member.
      2. Your annual subscription fee must be paid up to date.
      3. The service charge and/or ground rent must have been demanded in accordance with the lease.

      **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:

      1. A copy of the lease
      2. A copy of the service charge budget(s) for the period in which the debt accrued
      3. Audit trail of payments being received into a trust or client account
      4. Ledgers for the property with arrears
      5. payment to cover the court fee

      *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:

      1. all casework (advocacy is an extra but don't worry, less than 1% of cases proceed to hearing)
      2. arguments on reasonableness and recoverability

      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:

    • Forms to incorporate a new company to buy your freehold to resolutions to de-regulate the management company.

      Specifically:

      • 12 forms for day to day running of the company
      • 37 resolutions pre-incorporated into either AGM or EGM Notices covering almost every transaction from buying the freehold to removing a Director
      • 4 forms you may need to fulfil the annual filing requirements
      • 9 forms to change the structure of the company
      • 8 forms/information notices
      • 6 forms for issue or satisfaction of debentures, mortgages & dividends

    For Blockcare300 members we will:

    • be appointed Secretary of the Company
    • become the registered office
    • maintain the register of Directors and Members / Shareholders
    • file the Annual Confirmation Statement with Companies House
    • deal with appointments & resignations

    For Blockcare300 members we will keep their company running. In short we will:

    1. be your appointed Company Secretary
    2. become your registered office
    3. keep abreast of the role and legal changes
    4. maintain the Directors register
    5. maintain the Members or Shareholders register
    6. prepare and file the Annual Confirmation Statement
    7. prepare and execute share certificate transfers
    8. execute Licences to Assign (if the lease requires one when selling a flat)
    9. execute the Purchasers' Deed of Covenant (if the lease requires one when selling a flat)
    10. execute Compliance Certificates (if required by HM Land Registry to register a change in title)
    11. Receipt Notices of Transfer.
    12. Execute Licences to Alter (when so instructed by the Client)
    13. File the statutory accounts with Companies House **

    Members also get access to over 70 company secretarial tools:

    Forms to run your company
    • 2 Forms required to incorporate a company
    • 12 Forms used for day to day running of the company
    • 3 Forms to fulfil annual filing requirements
    • 9 Forms to change the structure of the company
    • 8 Forms declaring the whereabouts of information and notices
    • 6 Forms for use when contemplating Debentures, mortgages and dividends
    Resolutions
    • 74 pre-prepared Notices to call meetings to pass almost any resolutions you could need in the life of your Freehold or Management Company
    Meetings
    • 6 blank templates for minutes, meeting notices & proxy forms should you wish to draft an alternative to the 37 resolutions pre-prepared for you

     

    Blockcare300 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:

    1. A copy of the lease
    2. A copy of the service charge budget(s) for the period in which the debt accrued
    3. Audit trail of payments being received into a trust or client account
    4. Ledgers for the property with arrears
    5. payment to cover the court fee

    What if the case needs to go to Court or Tribunal

    The no-win no-fee litigation service includes:

    1. all casework (advocacy is an extra but don't worry, less than 1% of cases proceed to hearing)
    2. arguments on reasonableness and recoverability

    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.

    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:

    Knowledge
    Previews
    Bd003 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..."
    Bd002 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 Blockcare300 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.

    Blockcare300 members can relax whilst we collect what the budgeted service charge.

    For Blockcare300 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:

    Blockcare300


    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

    1. The debt must have accrued after you became a Blockcare300 member.
    2. Your annual subscription fee must be paid up to date.
    3. 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

    1. only lets you collect service charges after you have spent the money, or
    2. does not mention something that you need to collect money for e.g., the lift, or
    3. is silent on the dates to collect the service charges, or
    4. does not allow you to collect a reserve fund, or
    5. caps the service charge collectable at an outdated amount (too low), or
    6. omits to say who repairs the windows, or
    7. only makes expenditure recoverable if certified by a surveyor/accountant

    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:

    1. 100% of owners consent to the proposed change, or
    2. 75% consent and not more than 10% oppose, (for blocks of 8+ flats), or
    3. all but 1 consent (for blocks of less than 8 flats)
    4. 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.

    Sign up for BlockCare 100

    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.

    Pay block bills

    In short there are two authorisation scenarios:

    1. casting chairman - single person authorisation
    2. any 2 Directors - dual authorisation

    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:

    1. collecting arrears (accrued prior to you becoming a member)
    2. preparing accounts (for years prior to you becoming a member)
    3. changing lease(s) so you can collect money in advance
    4. extending leases to 999 years (where you own the freehold)
    5. post freehold purchase, deciding whether to collect ground rent
    6. de-regularise to not need to call Annual General Meetings (AGM's)

    Support for these services is available to all BlockCare members on a pay as you go basis.

    Help with alterations

    Advice on the principles for controlling or approving alterations is on the members panel, so all BlockCare Members get advice on the processes:

    • to get alterations approved, and
    • to deal with unauthorised alterations that could adversely affect on the building.

    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:

    • installing an additional bathroom, shower or WC
    • installing a new boiler flue (cutting through an external wall)
    • installing a flue liner in a chimney shaft
    • removing any wall, solid or partition wall within a flat
    • changing any windows (where materials, transiems and mullions differ from the existing windows)

    All members can use

    • small red tick service charge Ringley Building Engineering Team to provide:
      • provide a "desktop determination" to determine if a licence would be required,
      • provide a list of due diligence requirements,
      • assess information provided,
      • assess works on site.
      • small red tick service charge two Ringley Law to:
        • prepare and execute the Licence to Alter (permission to carry out the works). This then forms part of the lease and will be relied upon in conveyancing during Solicitors pre-sale enquiries.
        • deal with unauthorised alterations

    All BlockCare members can set up email reminders.

    For example

    • set the budget reminder, or
    • renew the insurance, or
    • call the Annual General Meeting

    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