Case study: London Court retirement development in Oxford

London Court is an independent retirement development of 43 one and two-bedroom leasehold apartments close to the centre of Oxford. The development features communal landscaped gardens, car parking, a residents’ lounge, Careline monitoring and a guest apartment. A resident general manager takes care of the day-to-day running of the building and liaises with the managing agent.  

Brian Hall is one of the directors at London Court who oversaw their Right to Manage (RTM) process in 2021. He explains how this has benefited the residents: 

“The building has been well looked after but it’s now 30 years old and so requires regular maintenance and repairs as well as measures to ensure it remains in good condition well into the future. As we are an RTM development, we can work with a managing agent of our choice and work with them to ensure we have more control over the short- and long-term needs of the building. 

We have regular meetings with all the residents to explain what needs to be done, what work has been carried out and what's been spent. Residents feel a lot more comfortable knowing what's going on in their building and how their service charge is being used.” 

Following the RTM process, London Court appointed two different managing agents before appointing Principle. Brian says, “The first one didn’t meet our standards, and the second one sold their portfolio to a large national agent, which wasn’t how we wanted to work.  

Principle was recommended by our accountants. We held some initial meetings and were quite clear about what we wanted and how we wanted to work, and we asked whether that would fit into the Principle way of working. We then spent some time with the team, discussing our ideas around management and how we could develop a management agreement that would work for both sides. We started with a short-term contract to fit in with the end of our financial year to see how that would work in practice. Over that period, it bedded in extremely well and we now have an annual management contract.” 

At Principle Estate Management we are proud to be independent and to have a positive impact on the communities we work with. It’s our belief that our wide range of expertise and extra-personal service within our business development and property management teams lends itself particularly well to the needs of a retirement development.  

Brian share more about the working relationship: “It was a case of finding a managing agent who could work with us in the way that we wanted. We're extremely happy with our working relationship and Principle is always open for discussions whether it’s about the building, the lease, our agreement, or advice on compliance.  

Leasehold can be complicated, but we are very pleased that we went down the RTM route and that we appointed Principle. From our first meeting with them, to signing a management agreement, we found them to be honest and thorough regarding their terms of engagement and helpful when we needed clarification on any specific issues that needed addressing. 

Communication with the whole team at Principle has been very good, with queries being answered quickly and fully. As the RTM company that is responsible for the safety and well-being of our residents and their financial security, I am confident that we are working with a great team at Principle.” 

We’re looking forward to developing our relationship with London Court. If you’re interested in appointing Principle Estate Management on your retirement development, please contact Joe Jobson.