The growing influence of build to rent on the residential
management industry cannot be overstressed. The impact of tech-led, real time,
customer feedback and genuine community engagement is pushing managers to come
up with new and exciting delivery models that put the customer at the front and
centre of their activities. And this is not only in terms of communications and
transparency but now in genuine placemaking roles, creating activities and
events that add a further dimension to the environment.
Despite significant reforms making their way into the
leasehold sector, managing agents still retain the important role that should
see them acting not only as guardian of the asset and overseer of compliance
and risk, but as the genuine glue that brings people together and requires a collective
buy in. That must be a good thing for both customers, who have long been
deserving of better, and property managers, whose role now incorporates the very
important function of bringing communities together and really listening.
A wide mix of tenures, from leasehold, shared ownership,
market rented and social or fair rented the manager increasingly juggles a huge
range of differing expectations. Can these be brought together with strong
community and partnership values? I think they can and I think the best site
based teams are already demonstrating coherent strategies to run complex mixed
schemes and raise the inherent value of life on those properties. I am, of course, talking about larger
regeneration schemes - but there is no doubt that changes at this level have
always trickled down to smaller developments eventually.
We must see our role as more akin to running an excellent
hotel. All of the gritty hard and soft FM activity continues in the background
and for customers this as a given - so long as it represents fair value. It is
the added value front of house roles that important differentiators. They are changing the industry and driving
interest in successful schemes.
The future is likely to see us dealing with a wide range of
tenure types (and maybe even some new ones…) but our management will be valued
through branded living destinations, with the very best creating a loyalty and
positive feedback that reduces voids, has longer tenancies and creates real
customer loyalty.
In that environment, who are you recruiting next?
