Property Management2

Scenario Your client, Summer Property Holdings Ltd, owns a row of three properties on a busy high street in South West London. The ground and basement are retail units and the upper parts are let to offices. Part of the tenancy schedule is as follows (you must make your own assumptions on other lease terms): Property Floor Tenant Use Lease Start Date Lease End Date Service Charge % 1954 Act 26 High Street Ground & Basement Hardware & Rope Supplies Ltd A1 / Retail March2014 December2024 16.67% Inside 1st Floor Rabbit Courier Service B1 / Office Space August2016 December2024 16.67% Outside 27 High Street Ground & Basement VACANT A1 / Retail 16.67% 1st Floor Racoon Office Supplies B1 / Office Space December2014 December2024 16.67% Outside 28 High Street Ground & Basement Lamb & Mince A3 / Restaurant March2015 December2024 16.67% Outside 1st Floor Flying Pheasant Transport Services B1 / Office Space September2015 December2024 16.67% Outside The long-term goal of the client is to sell the property portfolio with vacant possession in January 2025. You are the property manager for this property portfolio. There are a number of management problems that have occurred: Offer on the Vacant Unit A potential tenant has put forward the following offer on the vacant unit: Tenant: Clean Dogs Ltd Use: Dog Grooming Parlour Term: 5 Year lease Act: Outside the Act Rent: £25,000 per annum exclusive (pax) Assignment of the Leasehold Interest Hardware & Rope Supplies Ltd has been suffering recently, they claim footfall is dwindling and are struggling to pay their rent. They have found an assignee, Dougal & Barney’s Café, a small coffee shop, who would be interested in taking the lease on the same terms. Hardware & Rope Supplies Ltd would like your approval to complete the assignment of the lease as soon as possible. Property Management Records Your client has written to you asking that you provide details of how your firm is complying with the new ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ (GDPR) when storing tenants’ data. Service Charge Ahead of the September Quarter Day, you sent out the rent and service charge demands to all of the tenants. Whilst Flying Pheasant Transport Services have paid their rent, they are refusing to pay the service charge because they do not think it is reasonable that every tenant pays the same percentage, when they have a small office and have never requested maintenance on their part of the building. Task Prepare a fully referenced client-facing professional style report (in-text citations using the UCEM Harvard referencing system) with recommendations / conclusions to present to your employer on the following four tasks: a. Consider the offer made by Clean Dogs Ltd and critically assess the suitability of this tenant for the vacant unit. Provide a recommendation to your client, Summer Property Holdings Ltd, as to whether the offer should be accepted, declined or a counter offer proposed, taking into account the clients long term goals. b. Appraise the steps you would take to determine whether the assignment of the leasehold interest should go ahead. Provide a detailed recommendation to the client, advising on what should happen in this scenario. c. Discuss the importance of ‘General Data Protection Regulation’ (GDPR) and as a property manager, what measures must be implemented to make sure that tenants’ data is kept secure. d. Critically discuss why service charges are such a contentious issue and provide detailed recommendations of how to respond to the tenant so that they feel comfortable paying the service charge invoice.