Mercury Mansions

Instruction: Mercury Mansions, Putney, London

Client: GVA

We were instructed by the Law of Property Act receivers, GVA, to provide insolvent property management for Mercury Mansions, a block of thirteen apartments in Putney, London which had gone into receivership. We inherited the existing tenants and were initially required to manage current and new lettings at the property, any vacating tenants, and to take control of rent collection.

Following the success within our initial management responsibilities for the insolvent property, we were subsequently asked to assist with the sale of the individual apartments and managing service charges and the running of a management company.

The decision was made to sell the individual apartments, in order to maximise the return on the asset. The implications of this approach to the disposal of the property were various, but the prolonging of the disposal process was perhaps the most notable.

We needed to become the secretaries of the block’s management company. When taking on this responsibility, we brought the accounts of the management company into good standing – ensuring that accounts, which primarily document the service charge finances, were being filed to HMRC.

With the virtual freehold interest of the block being sold off in pieces, rather than a whole, ensuring that the overall management and accounts of the whole development were present and correct was crucial for the apartments to appeal to buyers and investors.

Our work for Law of Property Act Receivers added value to the scheme and aided the sale of all flats and the remainder of the freehold interest.