NEWS

16th January 2012

ARMA APPOINTS NEW CEO

The Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA), the only body in England and Wales to focus exclusively on residential leasehold management, has today announced the appointment of Michelle Banks as its new chief executive. The appointment follows the announcement on 12th October that David Hewett would be retiring after 15 years. Read more...

19th December 2011

ARMA secures major agreement with energy companies to protect leaseholders from disconnections

The Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) has reached a major agreement with the big six energy companies to protect leaseholders from power disconnections to the communal areas of their property.

The groundbreaking initiative has been driven by ARMA in response to several recent concerns raised by some of its members after the power to communal areas of blocks of flats they manage was cut off. Read more...

8th November 2011

ARMA Promotes Best Practice for Service Charge Accounting

Following publication of the first detailed guidance on accounting for residential service charges, ARMA has issued advice for leaseholders on the key issues covered. ARMA intends this to help leaseholders understand what they should be expecting from their landlords or managing agents in terms of best practice when it comes to how their service charge money is spent. Read more...

6th October 2011

Property managers put consumers first at major leasehold conference

This year's annual conference of leasehold property managers, organised by ARMA, has focused even more closely on making life better for people living in blocks of flats. A ground-breaking initiative to further raise standards in the property management sector and fill the void left by government's failure to regulate, was announced to over 500 managing agent delegates. Read more...

12th September 2011

ARMA urges residents to take action on concealed flues during Gas Safety Week

As the very first Gas Safety Week gets under way, ARMA is urging people living in blocks of flats to act now to ensure concealed gas flue are safe. Read more...

3rd August 2011

Finally - National Guidance on Fire Safety in Purpose-Built Blocks of Flats

A new guide to fire safety in purpose built blocks of flats has just been published which ARMA hopes will bring some consistency to fire risk assessments in such buildings and help keep residents safe. Read more...

30th June 2011

ARMA and ESC produce crucial guidance on Electrical Safety in Communal Areas

The Electrical Safety Council (ESC) has teamed up with ARMA and a number of other organisations to produce a new guide promoting electrical safety in the communal areas of residential properties in England and Wales. Read more...

16th Feb 2011

First Guidance for Freeholders of Houses on Private Estates

The right to have service charge money held in trust, to challenge its reasonableness, to see a summary of costs and to be consulted on major works -­ these are just some of the protections open to leaseholders. Freeholders living on a private estate with obligations to pay service charges for the upkeep of common areas, on the other hand, do not enjoy the same protection even though they are paying for the same service and possibly even into the same fund as leaseholders. It is with this in mind that ARMA has published its first guidance for freeholders encouraging them to be  aware of the rights they do have when paying service charges. Read more...

9th Feb 2011

Residential Leaseholders Get Updated Guidance on the Leasehold System

It is estimated that there are over 1.8 million private leasehold flats in England and Wales. Unfortunately though, many lessees do not understand the system they have bought into nor are they fully aware of their rights and responsibilities. To help lessees better understand the leasehold system and how it works, ARMA and the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) have just updated and re-launched one of their key guidance booklets, Living in Leasehold Flats. Read more...