Common Ground Estate & Property Management Ltd

09/10/2026

Pleased to have been quoted in This is Money - https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-15965155/How-freeholders-agents-using-secret-commissions-kickbacks-make-money-leaseholders.html

Your complete guide to personal finance and investing with news, predictions, advice, guides and opinion from the financial website of the year.

26/09/2026

Levelling Up Leasehold is delighted to announce the launch of a research project to assess the scale of contractual entrenchment in England and Wales. This is where a managing agent is written into the lease and, in effect, monopolises their position. Government lacks information and statistics on this issue which is where levelling up leasehold comes in. We are putting together a database and need your help in compiling it. Please see -

Our article entitled “Gaming the leasehold system no. 5 – Being written into the lease as a party” is possibly the least understood and potentially biggest issue in leasehold management today. Many of the other abilities to game the system emanate from this one issue and, if anything, it maxim...

31/07/2026

The first in a series of articles describing how other managing agents game the system.

No1. Gaming The Leasehold System – Undeclared Commissions From Contractors.

This is widespread practice throughout the industry and is wholly unethical if not downright illegal. I know several contractors across five counties who do work for managing agents and they report that they are asked to add 10%-15% or more to any invoice they produce (which is paid for out of clien...

26/07/2026

I both own and run a managing agency and have previously campaigned with my managing agent hat on. However, the day to day of Common Ground is now run by a general manager and my plan for the Common Ground long term is to transfer a controlling interest to the staff via an Employee Ownership Trust…..I’m proud of what my staff and I have achieved and I’ll not have it gobbled up by an unscrupulous 500lb gorilla who would almost certainly kill what is unique about the business.

In order to keep my political and business activities separate, I have set up a separate platform called Levelling Up Leasehold

It's the perspective of an industry insider incensed by the ways managing agents protect their business via sharp practice so I have set up https://www.levellingupleasehold.co.uk/ to expose this and pressure Government to make the requisite changes in law to achieve the big, hairy ambition: giving leaseholder groups real power to dismiss poorly performing agents with 90 days’ notice and choose their own managing agent.

I’d appreciate a follow on Facebook, Linkedin and X.

08/07/2026

It's been nearly two years since I've seen a resignation letter from a member of Common Ground's staff but we did add five further members of staff in 2025 and one so far in 2026.............and we are, once again, growing quickly and we will shortly have openings in finance and property management.

So if you want to work for a company that values it's staff ahead of it's customers (on the premise of happy staff, happy customers), then please send a CV and covering letter to [email protected] - 3 of the last 6 hires came via direct approaches. No Agencies