The block manager who treats every pound as their own.
Independent block management for London right-to-manage companies, residents' associations and organised leaseholder groups. Founded and run by a chartered accountant who has been an active RTM director since 2018.
What this means in practice
When a managing agent gets paid by the block, every line on the budget is somebody else's money. Most agents handle that responsibility carefully. A few do not, and the structural problem is that leaseholders bear all the cost of being wrong.
Proper Blocks treats every pound that flows through your service-charge account the way it would treat money leaving its own account. Invoices scrutinised, line by line. Quotes compared against contracted scope. Debtors pursued proportionately. Reports filed on time. Audit trail visible to the leaseholder it concerns.
Financial diligence
Every supplier invoice checked against contracted scope, prior invoices, and a market comparator. Round numbers without breakdown get a query. Bank-detail changes get a fraud check before any payment leaves the account. Service-charge debtors pursued proportionately and firmly. Quarterly financial reports to directors. Annual service-charge accounts always filed on time.
Turnaround experience
Most blocks that come to Proper Blocks have been on autopilot for years. We treat them as turnaround projects until the basics are right: compliance documents up to date, accounts reconciled to the lease, debtors brought back to a normal age profile, the contractor roster benchmarked against the market. Our founder built a career fixing companies that needed fixing across seven entities and several sectors; the discipline transfers cleanly to a London block.
Outstanding communication
A proprietary leaseholder portal logs every message, every action, every response, visible to the leaseholder it concerns. Director meetings minuted. Contractor visit requests scheduled through a transparent flow. Tenant and managing-agent registrations approved through a documented process. A periodic newsletter to approved stakeholders.
What we have taken on
- Asbestos identified mid £250k Section 20 works. Re-inspection overdue for over a decade when we took over. Surveys scoped, licensed remediation arranged, budget honestly reset with leaseholders, works completed safely.
- No Fire Risk Assessment on file since 2017. Commissioned a competent FRA within weeks of taking over. Directors taken out of unknowing liability under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, remediation actions placed on a tracked plan.
- Inherited service-charge debtors, largest unpaid seven years. Balances reviewed, recovery pursued proportionately, the block kept solvent through the period. Disputed line-items revisited from the lease, not the prior agent's invoice.
- Months of unanswered leaseholder correspondence. Absolute refusal from the previous agent to share more than the legally required minimum. Replaced with a portal that logs every message, every action, every response, visible to its leaseholder.
Fees
One flat fee per unit per year. You can quote it from memory.
No project-management uplift on Section 20 works. No re-issue charge on statements. No premium on LPE1 enquiries. The Deed of Covenant fee passes through at cost. Talk to us about a number for your block.
Who we work with
Residential and mixed-use blocks in London. Whatever the legal structure - right-to-manage, residents' association, or an organised leaseholder group - the principle is the same: we work for the people who live in the block.
Mixed-use blocks are welcome where residential floor area exceeds commercial, so a Right to Manage company can be secured under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. Where RTM is not the chosen route, we work directly with Residents' Associations or organised leaseholder groups on the same basis.
Founder
Howard Stone. Chartered accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales). Active RTM director since 2018. Career CFO across seven companies. Lives in London.
Common questions
What does a London block manager actually do?
A block manager runs the financial and operational side of a residential block: collects service charges, pays suppliers, manages statutory compliance (fire risk assessment, asbestos, gas, electrical, lifts, water hygiene), oversees major works under Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, handles correspondence with leaseholders and tenants, files annual service charge accounts. A good block manager spots problems early and protects the directors of the RTM company from regulatory exposure.
How are Proper Blocks fees different from a managed-agent firm?
Proper Blocks charges one flat fee per unit per year, quotable from memory. Large managed-agent firms typically charge a management fee plus uplifts on project work (commonly 10% on Section 20 spend), plus per-document fees (LPE1, statement reissue, deed of covenant) and sometimes contractor-introduction commissions. A leaseholder paying a headline fee often pays substantially more across the year in cumulative add-ons.
How is RTM block management different from a freeholder-appointed agent?
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 directors and the block is then managed by people who live in it, not by the freeholder. Proper Blocks works for the RTM company, accountable to its leaseholder-elected board.
What if the block has commercial units as well as residential?
Proper Blocks works with mixed-use blocks where residential floor area exceeds 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.
Who is responsible if something goes wrong?
The RTM company is the contracting party for compliance and the directors are statutorily exposed. Proper Blocks carries professional indemnity insurance, but the responsibility chain ends with the RTM board. The job of the block manager is to keep directors out of unknowing liability and to surface anything that needs a board decision before it becomes an incident.
What is the smallest block Proper Blocks takes on?
Proper Blocks works best with blocks of around 20 units or more. Below that, the per-unit fee structure becomes difficult for leaseholders, and the operational case for an external manager weakens because the volume of work no longer justifies the role.
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