Common Ground

As a leaseholder myself, I had sought to replace the managing agent of the block where I was living but was unable to find one offering the services I felt should be available. Having seen the service charge double in a two year period for no apparent reason, I wanted greater transparency and realised no one was offering this. In August 2008, getting nowhere and following a heated conversation with a representative of an estate management company, I realised I could do the job far, far better. It was a eureka moment!

Further investigation into the estate/block management market highlighted widespread poor levels of service, lack of communication and financial transparency. I set up Common Ground Estate & Property Management in October 2008 to address these shortcomings in the market and the rest, as they say, is history.

The business model is really quite simple. We visit the properties we manage regularly to ensure that standards of maintenance and repair are high. This approach also ensures that we understand the culture of each site we manage and we are able to tailor our approach accordingly. We focus on relationships with directors and residents and never lose sight of the fact that we are managing YOUR home.

We use cloud-based IT systems to enable clients to access financial data and information about their estate in real-time. These same systems ensure that our property managers are field-based rather than tied to the office.

Common Ground has grown year on year since its formation and now manages estates of all shapes and sizes across Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Middlesex, Hertfordshire, West London and Surrey.

Alan Draper

MIRPM AssocRICS, founder and Managing Director of Common Ground