Money in the Bank?

13th November 2019 - 2:53pm

Money in the Bank?

Considering benefits of maintaining the common interests of your property.

While the UK remains a nation of home owners, our pastime for talking about house values will continue to be a central part of everyday life.  For the majority of homeowners, the value of their property is exceptionally important to them and will represent a significant part of their working life, investing in that property and paying off the associated mortgage.   If the optimum market value of their property is very important to the homeowner, how does that influence their thinking towards maintaining the common interests of the development in which their property is located?  Common interests are home owner interests shared in common with other home owners such as garden amenity areas, private play parks, boundary walls and for flatted properties common access stairs, lifts, common stair lighting, roof and rainwater goods and in many instances the insurance of the block.

Research by property specialists Retties indicates average house prices in the Scottish capital have over the last 10 years risen by around 36% to £259,148 and in Glasgow by around 20% to £152,010 with rentals in the two cities rising by 46% and 36% respectively.  Across Scotland average house prices have risen to £181,820 which represents a 14.2% uplift over the same 10 year period.

For residential property owners with common maintenance interests, is maximising the market value of their property closely associated with maintenance of the common interests?  The benefits of routine and proactive maintenance are many including enjoyment of the amenity areas, benefits for comfort and safety, meeting statutory requirements, legal requirements, minimising insurance premium costs and maximising property resale value.  Across a basket of property types with common maintenance interests, average common areas maintenance costs per property including insurance currently equate to around £825 per annum.   Expressed as a percentage of average property values in Scotland, Edinburgh and Glasgow in June 2019 this equates to 0.45%, 0.32% and 0.54% respectively per annum.  Maintaining such properties for between a 0.3% and 0.5% per annum of their market value of the property should represent a very sound investment if maximising the value of the property is of primary importance.  The relationship with and service provided by the managing agent or factor helping home owner clients maintain their common area interests is key element to maximising the value of their property and obtain best return.  Building positive working relationships with our clients is core at CWL.

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