Landlords and boards ask the same question in different words: what does “property management” actually mean once you sign up for it? The phrase gets used loosely, and it covers noticeably different jobs depending on who is offering it. This is what property management covers when it is delivered by a contractor rather than a letting agent, and where the line sits between the two.
One number for whatever goes wrong
The core of the service is simple. A fault gets reported once, to one place, and it gets closed out. A dripping tap, a communal light that has failed, a lock that has started sticking: whatever it is, you are not the one finding a plumber, chasing them for a time, or checking the job was actually done. We appoint and manage the trade that attends, and you get a written record of what was done and what it cost.
That single point of contact is the main thing landlords are buying. It replaces a personal list of trades you have built up over years, half of whom do not answer on a Tuesday, with a managed network we already have relationships with. The honest way to describe it: we hold those relationships so you do not have to.
What falls under day-to-day management
For a tenanted flat or house, that typically covers:
- Reactive repairs reported by the tenant or by you, arranged and closed out
- Planned and seasonal maintenance, so servicing and redecoration happen on a schedule rather than after something fails
- Access arranged directly with the occupier, unless you would rather do that yourself
- A written history kept against the property, so you can see what has been spent and when
For a block, the same shape applies to the communal areas: entrance halls, stairwells, external fabric, communal lighting and the rest of what belongs to the building rather than to any one flat. More on that in our article on block management for RMCs and freeholders, which covers how that side works for a board rather than an individual owner.
What it does not cover, and why that matters
This is the part worth being explicit about, because it is a genuine difference and not just a legal formality. Systasis Properties does not collect rent. We do not find or vet tenants, negotiate tenancies, or serve notices. We do not hold deposits, and we hold no client money of any kind, whether that is rent, a deposit, or service charge funds. Our invoices cover the work we have carried out for you, and nothing else passes through us.
That means if you want a full letting service, tenant referencing, rent collection and deposit protection, you need a letting agent alongside us, or you need to run that side yourself. What we take off your hands is the building, not the tenancy. Many landlords run both in parallel: a letting agent for the tenancy, and us for the fabric and the repairs behind it. Where an agent already holds the client relationship, we can act as the maintenance contractor behind it, with reporting shaped to their own records rather than duplicating what they already do.
If you are weighing up what to keep and what to hand over as a landlord specifically, our article on landlord property management goes through that split in more detail, including where tenancy management and property maintenance genuinely need to stay separate.
Blocks and communal areas versus a single let
The two situations look similar from the outside, both involve reactive repairs and planned works, but the reporting line is different. For a single let, the reporting goes to the landlord. For a block, quoted works go to the freeholder, the residents’ management company (RMC) or the right to manage (RTM) company in writing before anything is instructed, so a board decision can be minuted and shown to leaseholders who ask what their money went on. Inspections of the shared areas are recorded on a schedule, so a board hears about a problem from us before a leaseholder raises it.
Where a communal job is large enough to trigger the consultation requirements under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, that is a matter for the freeholder or the managing party to run correctly, and we would recommend a board takes its own legal advice on whether a specific job falls within it. What we can do is time our written quotes so the board has the figures it needs at each stage of that process.
How it is priced
Property management is quoted rather than taken from a standard tariff. We look at the property or the block, agree what the arrangement needs to cover, and put the basis of charge in writing before it starts.
Where the work itself is being priced rather than the arrangement, the same rule applies as everywhere else on our site. Most jobs are quoted as a fixed price after the site visit. Where a scope genuinely cannot be pinned down in advance, we say so at the visit and agree in writing how it will be charged before any work starts. We go through what makes a scope fixable at all in our article on fixed price property maintenance, which is worth reading before you ask several contractors for a like-for-like quote.
Talk to us about a property or a block
The consultation, the site visit and the written quote are free and carry no obligation. If you own a flat or a house in central London, or you sit on a board responsible for a block, the best way to see how this would work for your building is to describe it to us. Read the full detail on our property management service page, or go straight to request a free quote and tell us what needs looking after.