What makes a good property manager?

As experienced Property Managers, managing residential blocks of flats in London, we have taken a look into what makes a successful Property Manager and how our staff differentiate themselves from your typical agents:

A property manager’s job is highly varied encompassing multiple disciplines from accounting and insurance to project management and contract facilitation. With such a varied role it is more important than ever to ensure the right type of person is managing your building.

What does a Property Manager do?

As we have mentioned, property management is a widely varied role. To give some idea of the variety within the role we have noted some of the responsibilities typically seen on job descriptions:

• overseeing day to day repairs and maintenance issues
• be proactive in managing cyclical works such as major repairs or re-decorations
• attending meetings for each client, typically quarterly
• liaise with all relevant parties such as Freeholders, Housing Associations, Councils and so on
• overseeing the financial health of the building including service charges, arrears, cash flow and budgeting
• management of onsite staff such as concierge / porters
• manage all insurance related issues as well as overseeing the insurance policy
• implement and review a health and safety strategy for the building including fire safety
• provide non professional legal advice where necessary
• ensure a consistent line of communication with all owners and residents

Property Management Software

As with any successful team, they require the tools to efficiently carry out their tasks and this starts with the property management software systems. Strangford Management use a combination of a marketing leading back office database which ‘speaks’ to a front end, cloud based, client portal. This means that information that is input by our property managers can then be automatically uploaded onto our clients portal so they receive frequent updates and automatic information downloads. With the ever increasing demands on the individual property manager to be the most proactive possible, a software system such as is used by Strangford Management will increase customer engagement and satisfaction.

Property Management Support

Property management tends to be a labour intensive role and as such, a client can require a supportive business model to effectively carry out its tasks as detailed above. A London property manager will be the first point of contact for clients. The business model supporting that property manager will typically include internal staff such as accounts and assistants but also external support from a wide range of contractors and professionals (surveyors, legal professionals etc). The business model looks like the below:

 

Strangford’s London Property Managers

At Strangford Management, we ensure that our property managers are qualified, skilled and professional, keeping each individual updated by attending the latest property management courses. As well as technical ability, property managers need to have the emotional capability to manage not only the property but also to nurture long lasting relationships, both professionally and personally as managing a persons home is a very personal process and one which many London property management companies fail to grasp.
Overall, it is so important to understand that aside from the professional technicalities of property management, the relationship building aspect is essential to the long term customer satisfaction.
Strangford Management not only ensures its property managers are qualified and updated with the latest property management information, but using data analysis we also focus on the levels of customer engagement and satisfaction. Reviewing feedback scores, time taken to resolve issues such as repairs and insurance claims, monitoring completion levels of contractors such as cleaners and gardeners, we are able to statistically provide the most beneficial property management service in the property market.
Contact Strangford Management today to be part of our exclusive portfolio and benefit from the many positive upgrades our current clients are receiving.
 
Related: 14 reasons why you should be using a london property management company