Essex Block Management manages blocks of flats and estates of houses in Brentwood and nearby, including Shenfield, Hutton and Ingatestone, from our office in Chelmsford. Full management is £240 a flat a year plus VAT, minimum £2,400, with a named manager, four site visits a year and the service charge held in a client account in your building's own name. We are regulated by RICS and members of The Property Ombudsman. More than one Brentwood household in five lives in a flat.
Brentwood and Shenfield have a steady supply of newer blocks close to the stations on the Elizabeth line, many of them with an agent appointed by the developer that the residents inherited rather than chose. The right to change agent is the same whoever made the appointment, and a residents' company can do it on three months' notice under most agreements.
Dunton Hills Garden Village, approved for up to 3,700 homes on the Basildon border, will add a whole new community of estate charges, shared open space and neighbourhood centres over the coming years.
01The buildings we look after in Brentwood
- Blocks near Brentwood and Shenfield stations. Commuter apartments on the Elizabeth line, often with an agent the developer appointed. The residents' company can appoint its own on three months' notice under most agreements.
- Period conversions in the town and Warley. Large houses split into flats, with small boards and older fabric. The work is a proper reserve fund and insurance that matches the rebuild cost.
- Dunton Hills Garden Village. A new community on the Basildon border that will be run through estate charges and a management company as it is built.
Brentwood falls under Brentwood Borough Council, whose planning and building control teams we deal with when repairs need consent.
02Flats in Brentwood, in numbers
At the 2021 census 7,292 households in Brentwood borough lived in a flat, 22.5% of the total and a higher share than Chelmsford or Basildon. Only 8.2% rented from the council, so most Brentwood blocks are privately owned and run by a residents' company, a right to manage company or a freeholder's agent. Census 2021, Office for National Statistics.
03What the tribunal has decided on Brentwood buildings
| Building | What happened | What the tribunal decided |
|---|---|---|
| Brackenwood estate, Warley (Consort Close, Brakens Drive, Wellington Place, Queens Street) CAM/22UD/LSC/2022/0034, 2022 | Leaseholders of 88 maisonettes challenged three years of buildings insurance as too high, with cheaper quotes of their own. | Payable as charged. Their quotes were not for the same cover. The landlord's group took 4.75% commission on its whole portfolio, which the tribunal did not treat as a reason to cut the premium. |
| Brunswick Court, The Galleries CAM/22UD/LAM/2025/0005, 2025 | The residents' company moved redecoration from the five-year cycle in the leases to seven years. Two owners asked the tribunal to appoint a manager. | Struck out: no reasonable prospect of an appointment on that ground. |
| Lions Row, Avenue Road CAM/22UD/LAM/2019/0011, 2020 | Leaseholders of nine flats asked for a manager over the reserve fund and the service charges. | Refused, but the landlord could not put its costs of the case through the service charge. |
| 87 Warley Hill CAM/22UD/LDC/2026/0009, 2026 | Emergency roof repair for six flats, £2,400 including VAT, done before consultation to stop water reaching a flat. | Consultation dispensed with. |
| Danes Way, Pilgrims Hatch CAM/22UD/LDC/2022/0028, 2023 | A supply pipe losing over 24,000 litres of water a day. The water company gave ten days to fix it. | Consultation dispensed with. |
| Old Market Terrace, Hart Street CAM/22UD/LDC/2021/0007, 2021 | An EWS1 external wall survey commissioned without consultation, because three flat sales were held up waiting for it. | Consultation dispensed with, after the event. |
| Rose Valley CAM/22UD/LDC/2023/0008, 2023 | Part of a chimney taken out inside one flat without support, damaging the roof structure. | Urgent repairs allowed without consultation. |
From decisions of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), Eastern region, published on GOV.UK. Search a case reference there to read the decision in full.
04What we take from them
Most Brentwood cases are about urgent work: a roof, a burst main, a survey holding up sales. The tribunal allows that work without the usual consultation when it is genuinely urgent, but the application costs the building time and money. On our buildings an urgent repair is reported to the board the same day with the quote, and anything that can wait is consulted on properly.
Insurance is tested on like-for-like cover, as the Brackenwood leaseholders found. We send every board the quotes we obtained each year, so the comparison is made before renewal, not at tribunal.
05Block and estate management in Brentwood
We look after blocks of flats and estates of houses across Brentwood and the villages around it, including Shenfield, Hutton, Ingatestone, Billericay and Upminster. Every building has a named manager with a direct line, four site visits a year on full management, a client bank account in the building's own name, and every question answered in writing.
Our fees. Full management £240 a flat a year, minimum £2,400. Director Desk £895 a year for two to six flats, then £110 a flat. Estates of houses £100 a home for the first hundred homes and £40 after that, minimum £1,000. All plus VAT, twelve-month rolling agreement, three months' notice. How our fees work.
06Block management, not lettings
Most firms that come up for property management in Brentwood are letting agents, who look after one landlord's flat and its tenant. Block management is different. We act for the residents' company, the right to manage company or the freeholder that runs the whole building: the shared parts, the service charge and the company itself.
07Changing managing agent in Brentwood
Boards stay with agents who do not answer because switching sounds hard. It is not, if it is done in order: read the notice clause, get written quotations, resolve it at a board meeting, serve notice, and hand over. How to change managing agent sets out each step. We publish the handover checklist we send an outgoing agent and the three letters a board needs, and the free switching pack puts it all in one PDF.
08Other areas we cover
- Block management Chelmsford
- Block management Southend-on-Sea
- Block management Colchester
- Block management Basildon
- Block management Harlow
- Block management Braintree
- Block management Billericay
- Block management Maldon
- Block management Witham
- Estate management in Essex
09Questions
The developer chose our managing agent. Can we change it?
Yes. The right to change agent is the same whoever made the first appointment. Read the notice clause, get written quotations and resolve it at a board meeting.
Do you cover Shenfield, Hutton and Ingatestone?
Yes, and the rest of Brentwood borough.
How much does block management cost in Brentwood?
£240 a flat a year plus VAT for full management, with a £2,400 minimum. Director Desk, for boards who run the building themselves, is £895 a year for two to six flats and £110 a flat above that. Estates of houses are £100 a home for the first hundred homes and £40 after that, minimum £1,000.
Who manages blocks of flats in Brentwood?
Essex Block Management is a RICS regulated managing agent based in Chelmsford. Full management is £240 a flat a year plus VAT (minimum £2,400), with a named manager, four site visits a year and the service charge held in a client account in the building's own name. We manage residents' management companies, right to manage companies and freeholders' buildings in Brentwood.
How do I choose a managing agent in Brentwood?
Ask four things in writing: the fee per flat and every charge on top of it, whether the firm is regulated by RICS and protects client money, who your named manager will be and how many buildings they run, and how often they visit. A firm that will not put its fee in writing before a meeting is worth questioning.
How do we change managing agent for our block in Brentwood?
Check the notice clause in your current management agreement, usually one to three months, then serve notice in writing from the company that appointed the agent. The new agent arranges the handover of the money, accounts and records. Our free switching pack has the letters and the handover checklist.
Have Brentwood leaseholders challenged their insurance at tribunal?
Yes. On the Brackenwood estate in Warley the tribunal found three years of buildings insurance payable as charged in 2022, because the leaseholders' cheaper quotes were not for the same cover.
How many flats are there in Brentwood?
At the 2021 census 7,292 Brentwood households lived in a flat, 22.5%, and only 8.2% rented from the council, so most blocks are privately owned.
10Guides for directors
- Service charge estimate
- RICS regulated block managers in Essex
- The reserve fund
- Service charge arrears
- Service charge accounts
- Directors' duties in an RMC
- How to choose a managing agent
- A free service charge check
- Service charges explained
- Buildings insurance for blocks
- Fire safety in blocks of flats
- The Directors' Library
- What is block management?
- How to change managing agent
- Residents' management companies
- Right to manage
- Block management fees
- Section 20 major works
- Service charge disputes
- New-build estate fees
- Estate management in Essex