Bohemia Village Voice

A door to be moved? No problem for property manager George.

How do you move a door? One way is to do it yourself, which is what property manager George Okines decided when faced with the problem. ‘Hands on’ George is pictured here moving his door – not a five minute job – prior to taking on new staff. He’s expanding his business and taking on two part-time staff who will be joining the business soon – one starting in August, the other on September.

Why is the door being moved? “To allow the desks to be re-arranged so that a second person can work in the front office,” says George. “The business has grown recently to the point where I need a book-keeper and another admin person.”  George started his business of property management four years ago and now has 40 blocks of flats under his management and 25 of these are ‘Right to Manage’ companies. He has helped set up ‘Right to Manage’ companies for many groups of leaseholders who have decided that they’d rather manage their properties themselves than have a landlord to it for them. “The new legislation, contained in the The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act of 2002 makes this a very easy procedure,” says George. It seems that if just half the leaseholders in a block of flats want to take over the management of the building, they only have to form a ‘Right to Manage’ company and request the right to manage from the freeholders – and this cannot be withheld.”

• George Okines, Arko Property Management, 123, Bohemia Road, Bohemia Village, Sussex, TN37 6RL. 01424 439786. E-mail: arkoproperty@aol.com

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