Questions, answered.

Independent block management for London leaseholders who run their own building: right-to-manage companies, residents' associations and organised leaseholder groups. It is founded and run by a chartered accountant who has been an active RTM director since 2018. The leaseholder portal is the tool we use to run a block openly; the service itself is the management.

Howard Stone, a chartered accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) and an active RTM director since 2018, with a career as a turnaround CFO across seven companies. London-based.

Yes. We are not owned by a developer, a freeholder or a contractor, so the only people we answer to are the leaseholders who appoint us. We take no introduction fees or commissions from the contractors or partners we instruct; they are chosen on merit, not on what they pay us.

Residential and mixed-use blocks across London, whatever the legal structure: RTM company, residents' association, or an organised leaseholder group.

From around 10 units upwards. Many managing agents focus on larger blocks because the per-unit economics suit them better, which leaves a lot of smaller London blocks underserved. We deliberately take them on - a flat per-unit fee and the portal make a well-run small block perfectly workable.

One flat fee per unit per year, quotable from memory and published in full on our pricing page. Every charge - the annual fee and any specific extras - is listed openly, so there are no surprises across the year.

A fee that rises with spending rewards a manager for spending more of your money. A flat fee per unit does not, so our incentive is to run the block well rather than to run up the bill. Major works carry a transparent 3% administration charge, against the 10-15% large firms typically take, and every other charge is listed openly - so the year-end total holds no surprises.

No. We take no introduction fees or commissions from the contractors or partners we instruct. Insurance is placed through an independent broker, and we do not take a cut of the premium out of your service charge.

A small number of specific items are charged separately and listed openly: administering major works (3% of the works value, against the 10-15% large firms charge), Tribunal & Legal prep (£50 an hour, timesheeted and agreed with the board in advance), and a sales enquiry pack when a flat is sold. The full list and rates are on our pricing page.

Three steps. A conversation and a review of your documents, so you see exactly where you stand before committing to anything. An orderly handover of the records, funds, contracts and compliance from your current agent. Then full visibility from day one, with every action logged in your portal.

We run the handover ourselves, so the switch is orderly and you are never left exposed while control passes across.

Yes. If you are not yet in control of your block, we can help you set up a Right to Manage company under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, then manage it for you.

Fire risk assessment, asbestos, electrical, water hygiene, lifts and fire doors - the duties that carry personal liability for directors - kept current on a tracked plan.

We keep the statutory duties met and surface anything that needs a board decision before it becomes an incident, so directors are not carrying liability they do not know about.

Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 is the consultation a block must run before carrying out qualifying major works or entering a long-term agreement. Run properly, it keeps the cost recoverable from leaseholders; run badly, recovery can be capped.

Works are scoped and administered with chartered building surveyors, with the Section 20 consultation run properly so the cost stays recoverable, and a reserve built steadily against the big jobs so leaseholders are not hit with sudden, painful demands.

No, and that is deliberate. The surveyor who scopes major works and checks what they should cost shouldn't work for the firm running them. So we use independent external chartered surveyors, appointed by the RTM. Our 3% administration fee covers running the programme and the consultation; the surveyor is a separate appointment.

Every supplier invoice is checked against contracted scope, prior invoices and a market comparator. Quarterly financial reports go to the directors. The annual service-charge accounts are filed on time and independently certified by a qualified accountant, so the figures leaseholders are billed are checked, not taken on trust.

Service-charge debts are pursued proportionately and firmly, and disputed items are revisited against the lease rather than carried over from the previous agent's figures. The aim is to keep the block solvent while treating leaseholders fairly.

A Right to Manage company is a leaseholder-controlled company that acquires the freeholder's management functions under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. The leaseholders elect the directors and the block is then run by people who live in it, not by the freeholder. Proper Blocks works for the RTM company, accountable to its leaseholder-elected board.

Yes, where the residential floor area exceeds the commercial. The statutory Right to Manage threshold under the 2002 Act requires residential to be the majority. Commercial leaseholders pay into the same service-charge account on the proportions set by their leases.

The RTM company is the contracting party for compliance and its directors are statutorily exposed. Proper Blocks carries professional indemnity insurance, but the responsibility chain ends with the RTM board. Our job is to keep directors out of unknowing liability and to surface anything that needs a board decision before it becomes an incident.

A proprietary portal that logs every message, every action and every response, visible to the leaseholder it concerns. Director meetings are minuted, contractor visits are documented through a transparent flow, and a regular newsletter goes to approved residents and directors.

Yes. The RTM company is the data controller for leaseholder information and we handle it under UK data-protection law. Our full privacy notice sets out what we hold, why, and your rights.