Our services
Client
Communication
Financial
Management
Long Term
Maintenance
General
Maintenance
Buildings
Insurance
Project
Management
First-class factoring services
When you want your surroundings to look and feel good, you can trust Charles White to deliver. We take an individual approach to your development to set high standards and ensure they’re maintained.
It’s difficult to relax if there’s a nagging issue in your development. Whether you need the grass cut, play park inspections, car park or roof repairs, all your property management needs will be taken care of.
Keep reading to discover what we can do for you.
General maintenance
All residential developments need regular, routine maintenance. Our job is to ensure the right contractors carry this out at the right time and to the correct specifications.
The maintenance list is extensive and will depend on the needs of your development.
Tasks may include:
● Landscape maintenance – grass cutting, weeding and edging
● Internal cleaning – corridors, communal entrances, windows and bin store areas
● External maintenance – gutter cleans
We’ll work with you and our contractors to ensure these tasks are carried out in a timely and professional manner.
Health and Safety
Feeling safe where you live is of the highest priority. We’ll act quickly when a health and safety issue arises to make things secure. Once this has been done, we’ll work to get things repaired/replaced as necessary.
We’ll instruct communal safety and security compliance checks, including electrical testing, fire safety and equipment testing, lift servicing and secure car park access.
Long-term maintenance
Buildings don’t look after themselves, so our detailed, proactive planning is vital. We can provide a long-term (5-10 year) rolling maintenance programme to stay one step ahead of future renewals, enhancements and replacements.
Keeping one eye on the future enables better budgeting for projects, effective tendering and staged collection of funds from you and your neighbours.
Our services include:
● Replacing everything from light fittings to lift parts as and when required
● Planned painting of internal communal areas
● Maintaining the exterior of buildings to keep them looking good and prevent future problems
Our in-house Developments Team is experienced in looking after the structure and workings of residential buildings which helps identify and understand any works required.
Client communication
Building strong client relationships is important to us, so we can understand your priorities and work in partnership with you for everyone’s benefit. We’ll treat you the way we’d like to be treated ourselves.
We enjoy meeting people face-to-face, and your Client Relationship Manager will aim to check in with you when on-site and by attending regular homeowners’ meetings.
The ‘My Charles White’ portal is the best place to keep up to date on detailed information regarding the management of your property, including:
● Viewing your account balance, invoices and insurance details
● Making online payments when they’re due
● Reviewing contractor specifications and the status of current projects
● Voting on proposed works
● Accessing your development-specific newsletter
● Reviewing our site inspection reports
Financial management
Looking after your money is a responsibility we take seriously. The timely collection of funds is essential so we can arrange and carry out all maintenance for everyone's benefit as it’s needed.
You can rest assured that all monies collected are ring-fenced for the specific use of your development only. We have robust measures to ensure every individual’s client balance is accurate and up to date, and all funds are fully protected in designated client accounts.
You’ll benefit from complete transparency in everything we do:
● We’ll estimate annual costs to ensure adequate cash flow is available for all required projects
● You’ll get a regular individual invoice with a detailed breakdown of how funds have been spent
● As well as your dedicated Client Relationship Manager, you also have a Client Account Manager who can answer any questions you may have
Project management
In addition to routine maintenance, non-routine work will also be required from time to time. This can arise due to long-term planning, emergencies or other unforeseen events. Examples include extensive paintworks, major roof repair, CCTV installation or door entry replacement.
Here’s what we do:
● Use our working knowledge of your development to provide a detailed project specification
● Go through a tendering process which assesses the balance of contractor expertise, expense and proposed solution
● Make our recommendations for the best option for your development
Upon agreement from homeowners, we’ll progress by collecting funds, engaging the preferred contractor and signing off on completed works.
Buildings insurance
It makes sense to have a single block insurance policy for communally owned areas in residential developments. This policy covers the fabric of a building as well as communal areas such as entrances, landscaped areas and roofs. We’ll source a suitable policy for homeowners in terms of cover and cost. This policy doesn’t cover contents within individual properties.
In many cases, it’s a stated requirement in your Deed of Conditions. However, having one collective policy instead of many individual policies ensures the building is adequately insured overall and leads to fewer complications in dealing with claims, particularly when more than one flat is damaged.
A block buildings insurance policy covers two main cost elements:
● The cost to the insurer of insuring the risk
● The cost of placing and administering the policy, including underwriting, risk management, claims handling, adjustments for property sales, renewal communication, premium collection and arrears control
It’s common practice for the insurance provider to outsource responsibility for these tasks to the broker. Our broker, Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Brokers Limited, in turn, outsources many of these tasks (renewal communication, premium collection, arrears control, management of communal claims) to Charles White on our portfolio.
*Policy limits and exclusions may apply. Please see the policy wording for full terms and conditions.
Zurich Policy Document for Residential Property Owners (01/23 version)
Charles White Limited is appointed representatives of Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Brokers Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: Spectrum Building, 55 Blythswood Street, Glasgow, G2 7AT. Registered in Scotland. Company Number: SC108909.
