Day-to-day operating brief
What Block Manager work looks like in practice
A Block Manager manages communal residential buildings for freeholders, management companies or resident clients. Work can include budgets, service-charge queries, contractor performance, inspections, repairs, insurance liaison, fire and building-safety records, meetings, consultations and arrears referral. Terms should specify portfolio, home working and travel, meeting hours, expenditure authority, procurement, conflicts, resident data and the boundary between practical management and legal, surveying or accounting advice requiring specialist input. A block portfolio may include lifts, gates, fire doors, roofs, communal heating, drainage and landscaped grounds, each with different inspection and contractor expertise. The manager should maintain a clear action trail from resident report to client decision and completed work. Employers should address access to individual flats for communal-system investigations, emergency contact trees, insurance claims, reserve-fund information and meetings with directors or residents. Major-works communication must remain within the authorised legal and surveying process rather than being improvised through ordinary repair correspondence.
Responsibilities reflected in the contract
- Inspect assigned blocks and record communal-area, repair, safety and service issues.
- Coordinate authorised contractors, repairs and planned works and monitor completion evidence.
- Prepare or maintain service-charge budgets, expenditure records and variance information for review.
- Respond professionally to leaseholders, residents, clients and contractors and maintain clear case records.
- Support consultation, client meetings and major-works processes within the Employer's approved procedures.
- Escalate safety, legal, technical, budget, complaint or lease-interpretation issues requiring specialist or senior authority.
A realistic working scenario
Residents request urgent façade work outside the approved budget, so the manager gathers technical evidence and follows the client approval and consultation route.
Outputs to agree
- maintained communal buildings
- transparent client and service-charge reporting
- controlled contractor and resident casework
Records and evidence
- Block inspections, defects, repairs, contractor instructions, expenditure, service-charge information, resident or leaseholder communications, consultations and decisions.
Reporting relationship
Typically reports to Senior Property Manager, Head of Property Management, Director or designated client lead. Confirm the employer's actual reporting structure in the builder.
Authority and escalation
- Do not determine lease disputes, commit unapproved major expenditure, vary client instructions or present technical or legal opinion as expert advice.
Supervision
- Coordinate assigned contractors and service providers; any employee supervision remains subject to documented delegated authority.
Tools and systems
- Property-management, contractor, finance, document, communication and case-record systems authorised by the Employer.
Workplace context
- Office, managed residential blocks, client meetings and agreed remote workplace where applicable.
Contract priorities
- portfolio clients and leasehold services
- budgets service charges and procurement
- repairs major works and contractors
- residents meetings safety and specialist referral
Information the employer should prepare
- the blocks units and client structures
- the budget spend and procurement limits
- the inspection repair and emergency arrangements
- the meeting consultation and reporting duties
- the legal surveying accounting and complaint routes
Individually written and reviewed against the maintained role record.