Property Manager with 17 years’ experience joins Principle

An experienced property manager who worked for bosses at Principle Estate Management earlier in her career has now been recruited by the company.

Catherine Ghaffoori was first appointed by Principle’s managing director Brett Williams when he worked at what was then known as Curry & Partners back in 2004.

Mrs Ghaffoori developed her career with what become CPBigwood and latterly SDL , working in property management and then business integration until 2016, before moving to Savills in Lichfield as a property manager.

While at Savills, she looked after residential rented properties, including overseeing refurbishment, compliance and re-letting, and was also involved also in managing agricultural tenancies and buying residential properties.

She is a Member of the Institute of Residential Property Managers and an Associate of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Andrew Winstanley, property operations manager at Principle, who has also previously worked with Mrs Ghaffoori, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Catherine to our team, and it’s great to be able to recruit a known person to the team.

“She has a wealth of experience, is naturally charming and will be great at customer service, which is so important to us.

“It reflects our growing stature in the sector that we can recruit another member of staff from a blue-chip property advisor such as Savills.”

Mrs Ghaffoori will be working on a portfolio of freeholder and residential management company (RMC) instructions across the country, supported by Principle’s regional property inspectors, dedicated customer services and finance teams.

Mr Winstanley added: “Catherine’s recent experience in managing residential rented property will be useful as we have expanded into this area and see it as a potential for future growth as the build-to-rent sector continues to mature.

“Our portfolio freeholders continue to instruct us on new properties and we are winning more RMC and developer instructions, so it’s important to have people with the right skills and mindset to manage these properties.”

Mrs Ghaffoori, married with two daughters and living in Lichfield, will be working in Principle’s new ‘hybrid’ style, partly from home and partly in the office.

She said: “Having watched Principle’s reputation grow, it’s wonderful to now be working at the company.

“I was attracted by what I think is a superb structure that allows property managers to concentrate on the more strategic side of property management, such as long-term maintenance and financial planning to push through major works.

“It’s great to be one of a team of seven property managers, and an exciting time to be joining Principle as it continues to grow and refine its property management services.”

Mrs Ghaffoori added: “I like the idea of hybrid working as it’s the best of both worlds, working at home for projects and in the office for collaboration with colleagues.”

Principle Estate Management has more than 35 staff who look after well over 7,500 units in more than 300 developments across the UK.