Daniel was asked to talk to the good folks at the Brentwood Gazette last week, and attached is a PDF file containing a scan of the resulting article, where he outlines the inspiration and philosophy surrounding Broadwalk Property Management Limited.
You can download the article here, or read the text from it reproduced below. A big thanks to Paul Ainsworth at the Brentwood Gazette for taking the time out to catch up with Daniel.
Company will be transparent
Property management firm ‘different’
A property management expert has launched his own company after becoming increasingly frustrated in an industry that he claims lacks transparency and where overcharging is rife.
Meet Daniel Hawkins, a man who labels his new venture, Broadwalk Property Management Ltd, the first in the UK to offer a fully transparent service to both landlords and their tenants.
Transactions
The father of one, who lives in The Broadwalk South, Brentwood, explained how through a new and unique approach, clients and their tenants could log on to the company’s very own cloud-based property management system to view service charge transactions and see every invoice.
He said: “The concept of property management is simple, just complicated and frustrated by an industry which at times overcharges, adds handling charges to work invoices, delays payments to contractors which lead to higher pricing and leaves landlords frustrated because their own requests are dealt with in an inefficient and usually time consuming manner.
“After talking to hundreds of block residents, directors of companies and landlords who use a managing agent, the usual complains that arose surrounded the financial side. How they were not sure on where their service charge money was being spent, was it value for money and how charges increase without better service.
“Some were very critical of their managing agents and in one case, a managing agent not only overcharged a residential development for the simplest of tasks, they ignored important health and safety issues and, without authority, put the residents in a 20 year lift contract that was significantly more expensive than other competitors.”
He added: “There is also one building we have taken over where the management agent was just wasting money. WE have saved the tenants over 50 per cent.”
The 35-year-old, who worked in the industry for ten years before launching his own business, said that through their cloud-based computer system clients and their tenants have 24/7 access to financial and business information.
He added: “Our bespoke system also allows for landlords and tenants to fault report and view relevant building documentation.
“This is especially useful for a conveyance of a new letting which a managing agent often charges around £300 for release of documentation and can take up to three weeks to supply.”
Visit broadwalkpm.co.uk or email info@broadwalkpm.co.uk. You can also call Mr Hawkins on 01277 204296 or 07769 694047
