Think about what a property manager actually does. On any given day they are expected to have a working knowledge of plumbing, electrical systems, fire compartmentalisation, lift regulations, insurance schedules, lease law, and building surveying. The reality, of course, is that no single person can be a genuine expert in all of these areas. What a property manager truly is, and what they are genuinely expert at, is the procurement and coordination of specialist services. They are the connector between technical professionals and the people who live in the buildings they oversee.
That job is complicated enough on its own terms. But layer onto it the unique management structure of the residential block sector and the complexity multiplies significantly. A property manager does not simply report to a line manager. They work simultaneously to the demands of multiple boards of directors, sometimes just a handful of people, sometimes many more, across every block in their portfolio. Each board has its own priorities, its own personalities, its own appetite for expenditure and risk. Navigating that landscape requires exceptional interpersonal skill, patience, and judgment, day after day, across dozens of competing relationships.
"A property manager is not simply an employee. They are simultaneously answerable to as many directors as there are blocks in their portfolio - each with different expectations, different priorities, and different personalities."
A decade of disruption
If the structural complexity of the role were the only challenge, that would be demanding enough. But over the past nine years, property managers have had to adapt to a relentless sequence of change each one adding new demands, new expertise requirements, and new pressures.
2017
Grenfell Tower - The tragedy at Grenfell Tower changed everything. Almost overnight, property managers found themselves having to develop a genuine working understanding of building materials, fire stopping, and compartmentalisation - subjects that had previously been the preserve of specialist surveyors and fire engineers. Rightly so. The stakes could not be higher.
2020–21
The pandemic - The global pandemic brought a different kind of pressure. With leaseholders furloughed or out of work, the priority from many boards became clear: cut costs wherever possible. Yet the buildings still needed to be maintained. At the same time, with everyone at home - children out of school, neighbours sharing walls around the clock - complaints volumes increased dramatically. Noise disputes, maintenance requests, disputes over communal spaces: the workload surged at precisely the moment resources were being squeezed. And then came the insurance crisis: premiums rising by 15% or more, a direct ripple effect of Grenfell, compounded by mortgage lenders demanding EWS1 forms even for low-rise buildings where the risk profile simply did not warrant it. Timber balconies that had never presented a meaningful hazard suddenly rendered flats unsaleable. Common sense has since prevailed in many of these cases, but not before considerable harm was done.
2022
Ukraine & the Building Safety Act - The war in Ukraine sent utility costs soaring across many sites. Simultaneously, the Building Safety Act 2022 introduced a new framework of required checks, accountabilities, and compliance obligations, all of which add to the cost of running a building and all of which fall, in practical terms, on the property manager to implement and explain to clients.
Now
The service charge squeeze - The cumulative effect of all of the above is service charges that have risen significantly, often without any visible aesthetic improvement to the building. Leaseholders who open their annual accounts and see higher costs alongside the same corridors, the same lifts, the same car parks, are understandably frustrated. Many RTMs and RMCs, nervous about placing further financial pressure on residents, have become reluctant to commission the major works that buildings genuinely need. The consequence - deferred maintenance, a slow erosion of building quality, and an eventual reduction in property values, is one that is difficult to communicate, and difficult to act on, when budgets are already stretched.
