Overview
Position: Senior Estates Manager
Location: Hybrid (Home /Office – 74 King Edward St, Macclesfield)
Working Hours: Monday – Friday, 0900 – 1730 with some travel and work outside of normal working hours required
Contract: Full time, permanent
About Us:
Premier Estates is an award-winning managing agent that successfully maintains one of the largest and most diverse residential property portfolios in the UK. Our success is founded on the fundamental principal of effective communication and unsurpassed customer service, establishing rewarding and lasting relationships with our many satisfied clients.
Benefits:
- Hybrid Working (after probation)
- Complimentary fruit in the office
- Birthday leave
- Exclusive staff events
- Westfield Health cashback plan, inclusive of surgical options
- Payday Butties (available in the office)
- 25 days of annual leave, with the opportunity to purchase additional holiday days
- Company-wide closure during the Christmas period
Role purpose
Responsible for ensuring complete and effective operational management of a portfolio of residential developments, whilst line managing, mentoring and advising Estates Managers and overseeing Estates Coordinators in their duties.
To assist the Regional Estates Directors as required, and in the absence of the Regional Estates Directors, to provide mentoring, training and advice to others within the department. To work with other SEMs in the effective provision of mentoring, training and advice to EMs and ECs across the team, and to support the Regional Estates Directors and Estates Directors as required.
Main duties
Portfolio Management
- Ensure that correspondence, emails and telephone calls are responded to within the timeframes set out within the Customer Service Charter.
- Visit schemes within the portfolio on a monthly basis, and additionally as necessary.
- Provide bespoke monthly updates to each scheme within the portfolio, promoting and demonstrating good management.
- Liaise with RMC directors, RAs, residents, contractors and third parties regarding proactive and reactive maintenance, and regarding any other important matters.
- Action and progress repair and maintenance requests / observations through to completion, updating all parties as necessary throughout.
- Monitor the performance of regular routine contractors (e.g. grounds maintenance, communal area cleaning and window cleaning), taking necessary action where contractor efforts are lacking.
- Recognise, log, monitor and complete insurance claims, liaising with all necessary parties throughout.
- Plan, specify, tender and oversee cyclical maintenance projects, major repairs and routine contracts, monitoring through to completion and liaising will all necessary parties throughout.
- Be familiar with and be able to interpret individual leases and transfer agreements, and be able to confidently provide advice accordingly.
- Be familiar with Company, Landlord & Tenant, and all Health & Safety Legislation affecting the business, incl. Health & Safety at Work Act 1974, Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Landlord & Tenant Act 1985, Law of Property Act 1925, Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, Companies Act 1985 & 2006, etc., recognising the need to escalate concerns and incidents.
- Familiarity with statutory codes including those of RICS and ARHM and the requirements of ARMA-Q.
- Assist in the audit of service charge accounts at scheme financial year end, ensuring accuracy, and liaising with RMCs, RAs and clients as required during the approval process, always recognising the associated legislative time constraints.
- Prepare a service charge estimate for each scheme in advance of the financial year start date, allowing time for RMC, RA and client approval as required, always recognising associated time constraints. Ensure service charge estimates are set to achieve a reflective and realistic forecast of funds required to manage each scheme.
- Arrange, give notice, attend, chair and minute AGMs, EGMs, and other resident meetings, ensuring that statutory meetings are conducted in accordance with company law.
- Regularly liaise with the Credit Control team in order to understand and instruct in regard to the collection of service charge debt across the portfolio.
- Review, query and ultimately approve contractor invoices in accordance with company policy, ensuring prompt payment and query resolution.
- Recognise the expected standards of Premier Estates in terms of scheme presentation and compliance, and ensure that such standards are maintained and insisted upon at all times. Schemes managed by SEMs should be maintained to an above average standard.
- Produce quality reports as required by freehold clients, ensuring that the efforts and achievements of Premier Estates, and individuals, are promoted within.
Management of Estates Managers
- Provide support, advice and training to EMs within the team.
- Ensure that all Portfolio Management duties and general duties undertaken by EMs are done in a compliant and effective manner, reacting to deviations from expectation and liaising with the Regional Estates Directors accordingly.
- Assist with the implementation of training for procedures as required, in consultation with the Regional Estates Directors.
- Ensure EMs are motivated and managed to ensure effective operational performance, time and task management and effective communications.
- Provide support to EMs in achieving deadlines, whether company deadlines or those defined by legislation, and recognising the need and time required for onward review and approval, as required.
- Gauge workload constraints and difficulties and feedback to the Regional Estates Directors accordingly.
- Ensure compliance with health and safety legislation, further ensuring that all M&E equipment throughout the portfolio is maintained and serviced in accordance with best practice, seeking advice and guidance from internal Compliance staff.
- Gauge contractor performance throughout the department, feeding back to the Regional Estates Directors where contractor accreditation requires review or termination. Also considering where contractor availability requires bolstering and feedback back to the Regional Estates Directors.
- Provide support to EMs when planning, specifying, tendering and overseeing cyclical maintenance projects and major repairs, ensuring that all required consultation has occurred in accordance with legislation, company policy and best practice.
- Provide support to EMs in interpreting and in confidently advising in regard to specific leases and transfer agreements.
- Ensure regular attendance at EM schemes (both with, and without the EM) for the purpose of assessing standards and in order to provide any specific advice or guidance requested by the EM. Ensure familiarity with key schemes within EM portfolios, ensuring that a good working knowledge exists in the event that an EM is absent or unavailable.
- Promote full adherence to Premier Estates specifications and policies, ensuring that EMs achieve high standards across their portfolio.
- Liaise with EMs to ensure that training needs are brought to the attention of the Regional Estates Directors.
- Deputise for the Regional Estates Directors, as possible, when the Regional Estates Directors are absent from the office and when on annual leave, ensuring that the Estates Director is kept fully appraised of all ongoing situations of note.
- Consider and generate innovative ideas for bettering and modernising current procedures, bringing these to the attention of the Regional Estates Directors, or directly to the Estates Director.
- Provide assistance to EMs when liaising with RMC directors, RAs and clients.
- Review and approval of AGM minutes for EM.
- Approval of all accounts letters for EM. Any complex examples, including those that will cause significant impact, to be escalated to Regional Estates Directors.
- Provide assistance (as required) to EM, and to any other EM in the department, at AGMs, RA meetings, or any other meetings.
- Manage the production and review of Freeholder Reporting to all Freehold clients to whom PEL reports. Diarise, task, review and submit reporting to the highest standard, and in line with the expectations of the PEL board, and of the various clients.
General
- Other general duties as required from time to time commensurate with the management of Premier Estates’ portfolio.
- Undertake other general duties as required from time to time to assist in the success of Premier Estates.
What We Ask From You:
Essential
- English GCSE level 4 (grade C) or above
- Math’s GCSE level 4 (grade C) or above
- Minimum 3 years of experience working for a reputable managing agent or in a similar role/industry.
- Experience of multi-purpose / residential property management
- Delivering excellent customer service
- Dealing with complaints
- Able to prioritise workload
- Delivering excellent customer service
- Dealing with complaints
- Able to prioritise workload
- Ability and confidence in arranging and chairing meetings
- Microsoft Office, basic
- In depth knowledge of service charge accounting
- Ability to read residential leases
- Familiarity with relevant leasehold legislation
- Proactive, positive, friendly and flexible attitude
- Professional and firm when required
- Can-do attitude
Desirable
- IRPM
- IOSH or NEBOSH
- Degree or comparable
- Leadership experience
- Client liaison experience
- Industry awareness
- Government policy interest and awareness
For further details about this position or to gain deeper insights into Premier Estates, please visit our website. To contact us or make inquiries, please reach out to our recruitment team at recruitment@odevo.com, who will be delighted to provide additional information.
Eligibility:
All applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK without restrictions, and documented evidence of eligibility will be required from all candidates.
Salary: Depending on experience
