Author: ResiDev

Evolve by name, Evolve by nature.  This Hampshire based Block and Estate Management Agency is already managing over 600 units; considering they only opened their doors in 2016 this is an extraordinary achievement. 

Award winning Founder and MD, Benjamin Hume, explains his forward-thinking approach:

“Of course, experience is important.  But I don’t accept that because something has always been done in a certain way we should carry on doing it that way.  I believe that has led to complacency within the property management sector, even laziness in some cases.  I get excited by technological advances and as a business we are determined to utilise proptech solutions to deliver outstanding personal service”

Evolve was looking for an agile block management software solution that could be tailored to their specific requirements.

“We would much rather over-communicate with our clients.  Resident’s Director and Leaseholder portals means our clients can access financial information, maintenance plans and budgets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

Benjamin, who also represents Managing Agents on the Leasehold Management Professionals Committee, told us that Evolve is on a mission to embrace cutting edge technology to remain at the forefront of regulatory compliance.  However, cost was an important factor when choosing Resident Block Management Software.

“One of our core values is to provide value for money.  While we were committed to choosing the best system on the market, we needed a solution with a realistic price tag.  I’m delighted that Resident continuously improves its functionality because they really listen to their clients’ feedback, and not so they can add extra costs to their service.”

Resident’s cloud based software, with its powerful time saving features, such as live bank feeds and digital end of service charge year packs, fully supports Evolve’s mission to provide forward thinking, block and estate management services.  

For more information please contact Jon Burrough – jon@resident.uk.com 0203 7515 628 www.resident.uk.com

We are a busy, award winning and dynamic property software business aiming to simplify and modernise the property management process for both managing agents and those who choose to self-manage.

Our mission is to be the industry leading, cloud based, property management platform. Driven by the belief that we can make property management better for everyone by sharing knowledge, striving for transparency of information and encouraging compliance, and by the desire to set the highest professional standards.

This is a great opportunity for an organised, independent thinker with excellent communication skills and the ability to support clients with their technical issues. Resident offers good career progression, training and the opportunity to constantly learn information and new skills as well as travel to meet our lovely clients.

You will be the first point of contact for all clients regarding technical issues i.e. user errors / bugs, this is an extremely varied role focussed on communication, product understanding/ knowledge (training will be given) and research.

Responsibilities:

• In-depth knowledge of products (training given).

• Maintain the support system – answer all support queries by phones or email / ticketing. We currently operate using the Freshdesk ticketing system.

• Help with maintaining our user knowledge-base, glossary and training videos.

• Maintain a FAQ or other client facing material, with the focus to reduce support and add-value to clients. 

• Produce feedback of new features and bugs to address.

• Other ad hoc duties – research, admin etc.

– Progress to onsite & in-house training & workshops with Clients

Ideal candidate:

• Self-starter (will and capacity to learn new things and think ambitiously).

• Resourceful (able to learn-on-the-job and independently).

• Personable (engage effectively with clients).

• Positive (bring to light the best products to clients).

• Ambition to learn more about support processes and tools.

• Sense of humour essential.

– Driving licence required

Additional information: 

• The position is for a five-day week. Your office hours would be 9.00 – 5.30 pm Monday to Friday, however due to the nature of the business you may be expected to work outside these hours when the necessity arises.
• The annual holiday entitlement is 20 days plus bank holidays in a complete year – 1^st January – 31^st December. The holiday entitlement will increase by 1 day for every two complete years worked up to a maximum of 30 days.
• You will be reporting directly to Head of Customer Service and Support

Benefits: Company pension, opportunity to travel, good office environment – beers with the boss on a Friday, etc.

Please send your CV to kate@resident.uk.com

Once again, KDL Law has produced a very useful update “Replacement of flammable cladding – who bears the cost of fire safety?”

“After the tragic events of the Grenfell Tower fire in the early hours of 14 June 2017, fire safety and in particular the issue of dangerous cladding has dominated headlines and, quite rightly, become a serious concern for owners, landlords, managing agents and not least tenants or occupiers of tower blocks.

“Liability for the cost to replace flammable cladding will always depend on the relevant circumstances and, in particular, the wording of the lease. However, a recent First Tier Tribunal (FTT) decision, the first of its kind on this issue, offers little comfort to leaseholders who find themselves in such an unenviable position.”

To read KDL Law’s full update click here.

Resident property management software will now automatically import transactions from multiple client accounts showcasing potential of Open Banking for proptech companies.

TrueLayer, a leading provider of financial APIs, has partnered with cloud-based block management software Resident.

The partnership will allow Resident to automatically import bank feeds into its platform – the first such service offered by a proptech company. This will save Resident’s customers – property managers, owners, landlords and leaseholders – a significant amount of time as they will no longer need to manually input financial data. Bank account information displayed on Resident’s platform will also be provided in real-time.  
The service has been made possible by using TrueLayer’s platform and data made available by PSD2 and Open Banking.
 
TrueLayer provides an interface between financial institutions and third-party applications over an API. This enables companies to capitalise on Open Banking and PSD2 rules by providing secure access to banking infrastructure.
 
Francesco Simoneschi, CEO and Co-founder of TrueLayer, said: “This partnership showcases the benefits and promising future of Open Banking. Resident has quickly developed an innovative solution that provides tangible benefits to its customers who manage their own block properties.  
“Before Open Banking, such a move for proptech startup would have been incredibly challenging both technically and financially. Now, it is straightforward and enables Resident to gain a competitive edge – precisely how Open Banking was intended to operate.
 
Kate Boyes, CEO and Founder of Resident, said: “By working with TrueLayer we’ve been able to develop a new solution for our customer’s that will save them time, provide more accurate up-to-date information and allow them to get the most out of our solution. This is just the first of a host of enhancements we plan to build to make Resident the best technology platform for managing agents and leaseholders.”
 
The partnership follows TrueLayer’s partnership with Zopa, Monzo and Starling Bank.  

TrueLayer became one of the first UK companies to be authorised and registered by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide APIs under Open Banking and PSD2. The confirmation means that it has passed rigorous security, management and operations assessments. 

Resident securely stores financial, legal and maintenance information on one platform, allowing property managers and leaseholders to view and manage their properties and communicate efficiently.

For more information contact hello@resident.uk.com

Resident began our GDPR journey two years ago and we have been working hard to make sure that as a business we will be GDPR compliant by May 2018.

Together with our legal team, we are currently bringing up to date our software licence and privacy agreements, to ensure we are doing all that is required.  We will be in touch with our existing clients directly to provide relevant updates to their service contracts.  Below are some answers to frequently asked questions.

Is my data secure?
Yes. Resident’s online database is built with encrypted software from Microsoft’s Azure.  Microsoft designed Azure with industry-leading security measures and privacy policies to safeguard data in the cloud, including the categories of personal data identified by the GDPR.
 
Resident block management software, in conjunction with Azure follows the GDPR’s principles of Security by Design (SbD) and Privacy by Design (PbD). 

Do you back up my data?
Yes.  We back up our servers all the time and can restore data to any point within the last week.

Can I back up my data?
Yes.  Upon request we will give you access to your database so you can archive your data.

Is Resident registered with the Information Commissions Office (ICO)?
Yes.  Our registration number is ZA330595.

What happens to my data if I leave?
Resident may destroy or otherwise dispose of any Customer Data in our possession, unless we receive a written request to deliver to you the most recent back-up of your data.
 
What data does Resident collect?
Through the process of providing our Resident Block Management Software services, we collect data.  This includes personal information that could identify you, such as name, work/billing address, email address, phone number, username and password, taxation details and accounting details (which may include account holder name, account number, sort code).  Such information is collected for the purposes of providing Resident Block Management Software and to store the contact details of each individual user against the Client’s Resident Block Management Software account.

Through your use of Resident Block Management Software, we may also collect data from you about someone else (such as a client, supplier, landlord or leaseholder). It is your responsibility to ensure that you are authorised to disclose this information to us and that Resident Block Management Software may collect and process this data for the purposes of providing our services.

What is the purpose of your data collection?
We process personal data in order to provide our clients and their  invited users with Resident Block Management Software. We also use the personal data we hold to improve our service, to provide support, to communicate updates to the software, notify when planned maintenance is scheduled, new features and similar related purposes.

We do not provide personal data we hold to advertising agencies, research companies or to other parties for similar, unconnected purposes.

The deal will see Hunters Block Management administer their 140 blocks, totalling around 3,000 units, using the Resident platform. It is a further example of Hunters’ continued investment in property technology to enhance its core business and deliver exceptional customer service.

Resident currently provides block management software to over 250 managing agents across the UK & Ireland.  It was founded by proptech entrepreneur and Chartered Surveyor Kate Boyes, after her frustration with the cost and lack of options in other available software.

Andrew Egerton, director of Hunters Block Management, said: ‘Resident provides a huge amount of functionality to our managing agents and additional transparency to our leaseholders.  In an unregulated market, Hunters has always been committed to providing a quality driven service.  Resident’s RICS compliance and accounting features perfectly enables us to do this.’

Kate Boyes, Founder of Resident, commented: ‘I’m thrilled Hunters Block Management has chosen Resident; It is always rewarding when such a high calibre business endorses our software.  We woke up to the possibilities of ‘prop-tech’ some years ago, not least because I was looking for a better way to manage property and provide greater transparency.  Far from removing the need for human interaction our technology is an enabler.  It gives property managers more time to develop genuine relationships with their clients’.

KDL Law has produced this very useful update “When will landlord’s insurance premiums be ‘reasonably incurred’?”, following a case in which leaseholders of a block challenged the renewal of the landlord’s block insurance policy.  Click here to view the update.

RESIDENT recognise that as your software provider we have a responsibility to help you with your business continuity and compliance objectives.  We take this responsibility seriously and strive to continuously demonstrate commitment to software security protocols.

This is why we have partnered with a global information assurance provider to offer our clients business continuity protection through a software escrow agreement.  The purpose of the agreement is to mitigate risk and protect all those involved in the supply and use of business-critical software.

How it works

For an agreed fee, a contractual agreement is put in place between Resident Block Management Software and a Resident Licensee (Client) and our Escrow Provider.  Under the terms of the escrow agreement we will supply the Escrow Provider with a copy of the Resident Block Management Software source code, which they will hold securely on our Client’s behalf.

This will be updated at regular agreed intervals to ensure the source code held is always up to date and reflects the current version of your application.  

By ensuring our software is held securely in this way, clients with a software escrow agreement know that the Resident software they use is securely protected and accessible via a third party, thereby minimising business disruption. Benefits to you

• Provides vital input into disaster recovery and continuity planning
• Provides independent assurance that all materials deposited are virus free, accessible and as expected
• Demonstrates a proactive approach to risk mitigation

If you are interested in putting an escrow agreement with Resident Block Management Software in place and would like to discuss costs, please contact Kate Boyes.