Posted 12 November 2015 by
Keith OsborneOur weekly series of interviews with senior figures from the UK property industry continues with Marc Da Silva putting the questions to with Richard Daver, managing director of Rendall & Rittner, a property management and residential lettings agency based in London.
What is your area of operation?
Primarily, our main area of operation is within and throughout London. However, we have expanded into other areas of the country. Over the last seven years we have established services within Manchester, and more recently within the Midlands and the Southern regions.
What services do you include?
Our services include the residential and mixed-use management of small, high-end buildings, through to some of London’s largest regeneration schemes. That encompasses financial control and reporting, contract negotiation and management, staff management and development, health and safety compliance, implementation of sustainability initiatives, insurance handling, legal services, building inspections and repairs management and capital expenditure planning.
We also provide consultancy services to developers ranging from assistance with management strategies for planning submissions, through to moving in strategies. We also undertake design for management reviews, service charge assessment, staffing strategies, and so forth.
How many residential properties do you manage?
At the moment we manage just shy of 40,000 residential properties throughout UK.
What types of new build properties do you manage?
We manage every and any variety of new build, whether that be: small high-end new build, converted listed buildings, a large number of warehouse and wharf conversions, residential high-rise towers, developments with substantial public realm, through to large regeneration projects, such as the Royal Arsenal Riverside, Kidbrooke Village, and Elephant & Castle regenerations.
We can and do look after communal boiler plant and associated renewable energy plant; swimming pools, spas, gyms and treatment facilities; wine cellars; snooker rooms; a virtual golf facility; and residents’ cinemas, clubs and lounges.
What housebuilders is your firm currently working with?
We work with a large and varied group of property developers. Currently we work with Berkeley Group (Berkeley Homes, St George, St James, St Edward), Taylor Wimpey, Telford Homes, Lendlease, Quintain, London Square and London & Regional.
Are there many new build homes within any of the PRS portfolios that your firm manages?
There are, and this number is increasing. We have recently been appointed on a substantial standalone PRS building and have a couple of smaller buildings as part of large developments. A number of the new schemes we are working on have PRS buildings in the pipeline.
Why should more rental investors consider investing in new build homes?
Rental investors should definitely consider investing in new-build homes for a number of reasons: the values of new build homes are maintained; there are enhanced resident facilities in many schemes, which will serve to enhance rental levels; new builds are often located in regeneration areas, and therefore provide scope for capital growth, especially so where there are Tube line extensions or Crossrail; and new builds are larger schemes and deliver higher levels of service and additional facilities, with service charge costs diluted across more units. All of this together allows for improved rental yields
What is Rendall & Rittner’s USP?
We are one of a few agents who are regulated by RICS. We are an Investor in People Gold Accredited, offering staff investment and training an apprenticeship scheme and the Chartered Surveyors Training Trust Employer of the Year Award.
We have also twice been named Resi Award Property manager of the Year winner over the last four years. We provide bulk procurement initiatives, solely for the benefit of our clients and we have a technically experienced, hands-on senior management team and board.
We also run a ‘Back to the Floor’ initiative – I spent a day as a concierge at our Stanmore Place development!