What does my management fee pay for?

This is paid to FirstPort and covers the costs of a wide range of activities that we carry out to efficiently manage your development. This can include everything from financial and management tasks that we undertake to the communication we have with you such as the annual budget or arranging tenders for maintenance and repair work. Our management fee can cover many of the below activities in these four areas:

Financial

• Running the development specific bank account, (which benefits from trust status) daily reconciliation and handling, preparing and issuing service charge budgets/estimates
• Collecting service charges and transferring funds to the development’s bank account.

Communications

• Providing management information to our customers Keeping in touch with individual customers on management correspondence
• Provision of our customer service team to deal with all customer enquiries
• ‘Your Property Online’; our online customer account tool

Development management

• Preparing specifications for works (such as cleaning, window cleaning and gardening) and arranging to tender for, and administering of, maintenance contracts
• Property inspections and general visits and dealing with matters that arise
• Arranging for ad-hoc repairs and managing contractor/supplier performance
• Employing and working with specialist advisors such as building surveyors or structural engineers
• Providing an out of hours duty Development/Property Manager, 365 days per year
• Managing, developing and administration of on-site staff (where appropriate).

Regulatory compliance

• Placing insurance claims with the relevant broker (communal claims)
• Administering public liability insurance and provision of professional indemnity insurance
• Arranging periodic health and safety and fire risk assessments of the communal areas
• Reviewing and arranging works resulting from the risk assessments taken
• Liaison with third parties, such as local authorities, fire safety officers, neighbouring property owners, developers and community groups.