Block Management Harlow | Managing Agent for Flats & Estates

In short

Essex Block Management manages blocks of flats and estates of houses in Harlow and nearby, including Epping, Old Harlow and Sawbridgeworth, 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. Harlow has the highest share of households in purpose-built flats in Essex, one in four.

Harlow's new-town blocks, built in the 1950s and 1960s, are reaching the age where roofs, windows and communal services come round together, and the service charge has to be planned years ahead to meet them. Newer estates such as Newhall add shared plant, landscaping and estate roads.

Harlow and Gilston Garden Town is planned at around 23,000 new homes across new neighbourhoods to the east, west and south of Harlow and seven villages at Gilston. That is a generation of estate charges and new management companies.

01The buildings we look after in Harlow

First-generation new-town blocks. Harlow was one of the first post-war new towns. The work here is a condition survey, a ten-year plan built from it, a reserve fund that can carry the plan, and section 20 consultation done properly for each phase.
Newhall and the newer estates. Architect-designed streets with shared plant, landscaping and estate roads. The work is grounds and plant contracts on a written specification, and an estate charge people can read.
Harlow and Gilston Garden Town. A generation of new neighbourhoods and villages, each with estate charges and management companies to set up and run.

Harlow falls under Harlow Council, whose planning and building control teams we deal with when repairs need consent.

02Harlow in figures

Harlow has the highest share of households in purpose-built flats in Essex: one in four at the 2021 census, and 10,233 households in flats altogether. It also has the highest share renting from the council, almost one household in four. Many of the new town's blocks are owned by the council, with leaseholders who bought under the right to buy, and the council manages them and sends the major works bills itself.

Alongside them are private blocks and estates, from the new town's courts to newer developments at Newhall, with the Harlow and Gilston Garden Town planned at around 23,000 homes. Harlow leaseholders take their service charges to the tribunal more than most: we found eight Harlow service charge decisions since 2020, against two in Chelmsford, a city with twice as many households.

03What the tribunal has decided on Harlow buildings

Building	What happened	What the tribunal decided
Magnolia House, Wych Elm CAM/22UJ/LSC/2025/0638, 2026	Management fees, car park charges, window cleaning, lifts.	Management fee cut to £240 plus VAT a flat. Nothing for a car park space the leaseholder could not use. Window cleaning halved.
Ackroyd House, Edinburgh Gate CAM/22UJ/LSC/2025/0655, 2026	Three years of service charges and late-payment charges.	Every service charge payable in full. The late-payment charges had been waived.
Allis Mews CAM/22UJ/LIS/2024/0600, 2025	Arrears claims sent from the county court to the tribunal.	Payable, except money on account for a tree survey. Late-payment charges not payable.
Amberry Court CAM/22UJ/LSC/2023/0055, 2025	Major works, audited accounts and a year's charges.	No refunds. The leaseholders lost.
Edinburgh House, Edinburgh Gate CAM/22UJ/LDC/2020/0030, 2021	Faults found by an EWS1 external wall survey, and urgent works to fix them.	Allowed without full consultation, on terms, although the management company repeatedly missed the tribunal's directions.
The Hornbeams CAM/22UJ/LSC/2021/0055, 2021	A council block. Major works, £6,136.13 for one flat.	Payable.
The Hides CAM/22UJ/LSC/2020/0003, 2020	A council block. Major works, £10,631.85 for one flat.	Payable, less the insulation and a store room door the council agreed to take off.
Aylets Field, Southern Way CAM/22UJ/LVT/2019/0001, 2019	The leases defined the buildings and the service charge shares in a way that did not work.	The tribunal varied the leases on a second application. The first, in 2017, was refused.

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

A tribunal will cut a fee it thinks too high, as at Magnolia House, even where it has no complaint about the work. It will not refund properly consulted major works, as the council blocks at The Hides and The Hornbeams found, or charges that are simply disliked, as at Amberry Court. And leases with shares that do not add up cost years to put right, as at Aylets Field. We check every lease's share before the first demand goes out.

05Block and estate management in Harlow

We look after blocks of flats and estates of houses across Harlow and the villages around it, including Old Harlow, Epping, Sawbridgeworth, Roydon and North Weald. 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 Harlow 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 Harlow

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

09Questions

Our 1960s block needs roofs and windows at the same time. What do we do?

Get a condition survey, build a ten-year plan from it, and phase the work so the service charge can carry it. We run the section 20 consultation for each phase.

Do you cover Epping and Sawbridgeworth?

Yes. We cover Harlow and the towns and villages around it.

How much does block management cost in Harlow?

£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 Harlow?

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 Harlow.

How do I choose a managing agent in Harlow?

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 Harlow?

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.

What is a reasonable management fee in Harlow?

In 2026 the tribunal allowed £240 plus VAT a flat at Magnolia House, a large Harlow development with lifts and building safety duties, after finding the fee charged too high. Our full management fee is £240 a flat a year plus VAT.

Can Harlow Council leaseholders challenge major works bills?

Yes, at the First-tier Tribunal, but properly consulted works are usually payable. At The Hides and The Hornbeams the council's major works bills of £10,631.85 and £6,136.13 for one flat were found payable.

How many flats are there in Harlow?

At the 2021 census 10,233 Harlow households lived in a flat, more than one in four, the highest share in purpose-built flats of any Essex council.

Block management in Harlow