Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis, and Jonathan Lewis MP for North Swindon, recently joined forces to try and create an All Party Group, with the aim to make financial education compulsory in schools.

A staggering 35 legislations have been passed since 2002 and many people don't know what to do when it comes to trying to find a solution to a problem without it being a financial burden on them.

Ringley Chartered Surveyors is a double-award winning property company who believes that knowledge should be shared and that companies should be working with leaseholders to educate and help them make sense of what it means to live in a leasehold property and how to address common problems, pitfalls to avoid and how to cope with all the legislation - for FREE, which it has created through its Blockcare Product, www.leaseholdersupport.co.uk and friendly giant, Flatie - www.flatie.co.uk.

Small blocks are often seen as a nuisance for management companies as they take up a lot of time for little return when compared to big blocks, but there still needs to be someone to collect the service charges and do the account for the small blocks.

As a consumer champion, Ringley believe in giving power back to the people and that small blocks should have access the same quality of information and services that big blocks receive, at affordable prices. Ringley are bold enough to say that small blocks don't need a Managing Agent. Instead, what they need is a Service Charge Administrator to keep the block finances running and help leaseholders avoid numerous legal pitfalls. Ringley have repackaged their property expertise and given it away for FREE.

BlockCare 100 is the free package. In this, users can read information on how to handle a dispute with a neighbour, before wasting unnecessary financial information, how to manage your finances effectively, how to change your managing agent if you feel they are charging you too much money and cutting out the technical jargon into simple wording, making it easier for people to understand information relating to finance.

Upgrading to BlockCare 200 could save leaseholders 90% of their management costs per year, allowing the user to create budgets, print out service charge demands and do the year end accounts without the worry that they will fall foul of legislation, as well as getting access to all the information and protection they need. The software even reminds them what needs doing and when.

Or for about 30% of the cost of a Managing Agent, BlockCare 300 means Ringley takes care of all the administrative procedures and runs the block for you.

A summary of the product can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkWrywYoPGs.

Notes To Editors For Further Information please contact: Mary-Anne Bowring, Managing Director, The Ringley Group 020 7267 2900 (switchboard) - 020 7428 1976 (direct dial) - maryanne.bowring@ringley.co.uk

Girish Tailor, Communications Officer, The Ringley Group 020 7267 2900 (switchboard) - 020 7428 1982 (direct dial) - girish.tailor@ringley.co.uk

About Ringley

Established in 1997, Ringley is a double-award winning property services company that provides consumers and business clients alike with a comprehensive range of property solutions including surveys, valuations, property/facilities management and sales and lettings. With a head-office in Camden Town, London NW1, Ringley's managed portfolio covers 250 blocks in England. There are 4.5 million flats in the UK and 1.5 million are leasehold. Ringley represents just under 10,000 properties and spends over £7 million each year on maintenance and refurbishment, preferring to restore than replace.

Green Champion Of The Year 2010 The company were awarded Green Champion Of The Year 2010 by The Negotiator Magazine for "green initiatives in property management" including buying locally, auditing buildings, switching to energy-saving lightbulbs, installing vertically mounted bike racks to save space, cleaners using environmentally friendly products and using green transport where possible. Further information on the award is available upon request.

London Property Management Company Of The Year 2010 Ringley were awarded London Property Management Company of The Year 2010 by News On The Block Magazine for their customer innovations. This includes being the first managing agent to offer a money-back guarantee and encouraging its supply chain to do the same, donating debtchase cost savings to Wateraid when owners pay their service charge on time, systems encourage staff to prefer to use contractors who offer a money-back-guarantee, and every team member at Ringley is a 'mystery shopper' of a managed block, this helps us take on the role of property owner and receive all relevant communications from Ringley so teams can evaluate their own impact. On-site cleaners are awarded 'stars' following a "white glove test" so contractor performance is actively measured. Further information on the award is available upon request.

www.ringley.co.uk The company's official website

www.leaseholdersupport.co.uk All 1.5 million leasehold flats will benefit from this product, saving leaseholders between 30-90% per year on what they would pay a Managing Agent.

Small blocks are often seen as a nuisance for management companies as they take up a lot of time for little return when compared to big blocks, but there still needs to be someone to collect the service charges and running of a small block.

As a consumer champion, Ringley believe in giving power back to the people and that small blocks should have access the same quality of information and services that big blocks receive, at affordable prices. They do this with the help of their friendly giant, Flatie (as mentioned below.)

Ringley are bold enough to say that small blocks don't need a Managing Agent. Instead, what they need is a Service Charge Administrator to keep the block finances running and help leaseholders avoid numerous legal pitfalls. Ringley believe that knowledge should be shared and that companies should be working with leaseholders to educate and help them make sense of what it means to live in a leasehold property, how to address common problems and how to cope with all the legislation.

Ringley have repackaged their property expertise and given it away for FREE. They also provide online property management accounting software (BlockCare 200) or can act as a "Service Charge Administrator" (BlockCare 300.)

BlockCare 100 is the free package. Signing up to BlockCare 200 could save leaseholders 90% of their management costs per year, allowing the user to create budgets, print out service charge demands and do the year end accounts without the worry that they will fall foul of legislation, as well as getting access to all the information and protection they need. The software even reminds them what needs doing and when.

Or for about 30% of the cost of a Managing Agent, BlockCare 300 means Ringley takes care of all the administrative procedures and runs the block for you.

A summary of the product can be seen at www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkWrywYoPGs.

www.flatie.co.uk Flatie is the 'face' of www.leadeholdersupport.co.uk. He was born in 2010, is a friendly chap and has travelled all over London with his campaign message. Flatie appears in a large green property costume, he is a friendly giant!

He also had his own X-Factor styled video audition of "Cool For Flats," featuring his campaign message. His video can be seen at www.youtube.com/user/RingleyFlatie.

The Facebook Flatie Page can be seen at www.facebook.com/Cool4Flats.

www.ringleypanel.co.uk This is Ringley's supply chain procurement channel, created to ensure work is distributed fairly. Suppliers upload their certificates and insurances, the Board approves them, invoices are uploaded and authorised electronically saving office space and time looking for invoices. Contractors get confirmation of payment dates and get to see which Property Manager is dealing with their invoice and jobs placed by staff go to contractors with the highest stars.

www.ringleygroup.co.uk/ringleyestatemanagement/ http://www.ringleyestatemanagement.co.uk/demo At Ringley property management could not be more transparent. We are the only company that delivers arrears lists, expenditure lists, budgets and spending against them as well as lots of other interactive tools on line. We have been providing an on-line client web area for each and every fully managed block since 2003. In 2007 we totally opened up our Property Finance Team to meticulous scrutiny and instant Directors reporting tools. All information is updated and only 24 hours behind our real-time systems, so if you want to know if we have got in Flat 5's arrears, whether the budget is on track, see the last 20 payments made or want to play with the rolling reserves plan its all there.

http://www.ringleygroup.co.uk/leaseholdguidance/ http://www.leaseholdguidance.co.uk/ This was formed to give practical and commonsense advice to leaseholders contemplating lease extension, the right to manage (RTM) or buying the freehold of their property collectively with other leaseholders in the building. Ringley believes in delivering an understanding of the procedures and parameters involved in the process, for free. This can be achieved on the website by learning about lease extentions, right to manage applications and collective enfranchisement (buying your freehold.) The site is designed so that leaseholders can reduce the money they spend on professional advice by giving model questionnaires, newsletter templates etc that can be adapted to suit their purpose and put them in control of the communication between themselves and their fellow leaseholders.

http://www.ringleygroup.co.uk/ringleypay/ http://www.ringleypay.co.uk/ RingleyPay enables transactions to happen when it suits the client, bringing together all of the Ringley Group's family of websites. It enables Ringley's Property Management Clients and thousands of leaseholders to pay online and make financial transactions by setting up a direct debit to pay their service charges. RingleyPay also supports Ringley's Survey and Valuation Teams and these services are delivered through Ringley trading as Ringley Chartered Surveyors, as well as through the company's dedicated consumer Leasehold Guuidance interface. Clients looking to rent a flat or put down a deposit on a house can use Ringley's Client PC to pay their deposit in the office or at home.

About Mary-Anne Bowring, Ringley's Managing Director

Mary-Anne Bowring FBEng, FIRPM, MRICS, MIRPM

The Ringley Group 0207 428 1976 m@ringley.co.uk (Ringley Chartered Surveyors, MBMRingley Estate Agents, Ringley Legal Services LLP)

Governor IRPM (Institute of Residential Property Management) ARMA Committee Member (Association of Residential Managing Agents)

Fellow - Association of Building Engineers Member - Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Fellow - Institute of Residential Property Managers. Mary-Anne Bowring is the founding director of Ringley Chartered Surveyors, a comprehensive property consultancy based in Camden Town, London. She was elected to the Board of Governors of the Institute of Residential Property Management in 2007, has been involved in residential property management since 1990, is a qualified Building Engineer, Chartered Surveyor and Fellow of the aforementioned Institute of Residential Property Management.

Over the last ten years Mary-Anne has grown the Ringley Group to now manage just under 10,000 leasehold properties, provide valuation and building engineering services to 12 banks and the company boasts an in-house legal team to assist with upholding the covenants of the varied leases and in the niche work the Ringley Group provides in the fields of lease extensions and Freehold Enfranchisement.

As Managing Director and founder Director of Ringley, it is Mary-Anne's energy, technical expertise, and love of helping see personnel achieve their true potential, that has become the bedrock of Ringley. Mary-Anne's philosophy is that Ringley will achieve its vision, "good advice, great service from brilliant people every time" by remaining true to its core values and listening and innovating at every opportunity.

As Engineer, Chartered Surveyor and qualified Property Manager, Mary-Anne has a good grasp of leasehold issues. Her work has included advocacy and expert witness work presenting in cases on Service Charge reasonableness, recoverability and valuation matters.

Prior to founding Ringley Chartered Surveyors, Mary-Anne was Senior Valuation and Survey Surveyor with Drivers & Norris Surveyors and Property Manager of Hazelvine Property Management.

FACT SHEET: THE UK BLOCK MANAGEMENT SECTOR

Size of the residential market *There are 21 million households in England *Approximately 200,000 new homes are being built each year (of which 30,000 are in London) *Of the new homes being built, around 90% are estimated to be flats *The 21 million households break down as follows: o17.2 million households live in houses o3.5 million households live in flats/maisonettes *Of the flats/maisonettes, the tenure is as follows: o1.6M flats (46%) are council/RSL owned o1.9M flats (54%) are privately owned *The 1.9 million flats that are privately owned have the following ownership profile: o260,000 are occupied by leaseholders who has also a freehold share o780,000 are occupied by leaseholders o900,000 are privately rented Source: Office of National Statistics

Leaseholder knowledge of the block management industry *41% of leaseholders can't name a single other managing agent (apart from the one they use themselves) *33% of leaseholders can only name one other managing agent *When asked, 56% of leaseholders described themselves as having vague or very little understanding of the managing agents role Survey of clients undertaken by Residents Insurance Services Source: Residents Insurance Services - insurance partner to Ringley Group

Leaseholders' top four fears *Suspicion of illegal alterations by neighbours *Big bills around the corner, works overdue and no reserve fund *Neighbours not paying their maintenance and other charges *Paperwork- Companies House, Tax Office, shares, the company secretarial role, sending out demands

Leaseholders don't know how or what's out there... *2/5th of all blocked flats in London are self-managed - so there are alternatives to managing agents *63% of leaseholders when asked said that they had no idea how to change their current managing agents Survey of leaseholders in London Source: JICS consultants - research commissioned by Ringley Group

Apathy amongst leaseholders *Ringley undertook a survey of 100 freehold or Resident Management Companies *The research revealed that of the 8,586 flats in the survey 8,121 flat owners relied on just 336 fellow flat owners to be director and lead their block (That's 97.23% relying 1.87%) *As outlined above, 97.23% of the leaseholders surveyed who participated in self-managed blocks said that they rely on the brave 1.87% to be Directors and run their blocks *Ringley also conducted a survey of 60 people who live in a small block of flats, which revealed that: -8 out of 10 of these flat owners said the most annoying thing about living in a small block of flats was that: - everyone wants to pay low service charges - so they don't hire a cleaner - then they resent each other for the lack of cleanliness in the communal areas Source: Ringley Group survey