HostcolReal estate

Services

The whole arc,
or any part of it.

Four service lines, each keyed to a point in the life of an asset. They are designed to work as one continuous mandate, but they are sold separately and most owners start with one and add the others.

Entry & exit

Acquisition, disposal and transaction support

Buying and selling is where the largest, least reversible decisions get made, usually under a timetable someone else set.

We run the process end to end: what to look at, what it is worth, what to offer, and then the unglamorous co-ordination that actually gets a transaction over the line. The appraisal is done by the people who would go on to manage the asset, so the numbers in the model are the ones we would have to live with.

  • Brief-setting and search criteria
  • Off-market and agent-led sourcing
  • Appraisal, pricing and underwriting
  • Condition and risk review before offer
  • Offer strategy and negotiation
  • Survey, searches and enquiry management
  • Solicitor, lender and agent co-ordination
  • Exit preparation, marketing and sale

Full details and FAQ →

In use

Property and portfolio management

The part that never stops, and the part where a good asset is quietly turned into a mediocre one.

Day-to-day management across a single building or a spread portfolio: letting it, keeping it compliant, keeping it repaired, and keeping the income arriving. You get one point of contact and a reporting line that tells you what happened without you having to ask.

  • Marketing, viewings and tenant selection
  • Tenancy agreements, renewals and deposits
  • Rent collection and arrears recovery
  • Reactive repairs and planned maintenance
  • Contractor appointment and supervision
  • Safety and regulatory compliance
  • Service charge budgeting and reconciliation
  • Owner reporting and record-keeping

Full details and FAQ →

Performance

Asset strategy and income optimisation

What the asset should be doing, measured against what it is currently doing, and a plan to close the gap.

Most portfolios carry an unexamined assumption or two: a rent that has not moved in years, a void treated as normal, a cost nobody has tendered since acquisition. We go looking for those, then sequence the work so the spending happens in the order that pays.

  • Income and expenditure review
  • Rent review and re-letting strategy
  • Void analysis and reduction
  • Cost base and supplier tendering
  • Capital expenditure sequencing
  • Refurbishment and repositioning appraisal
  • Hold, improve or sell analysis
  • Performance reporting against plan

Full details and FAQ →

Oversight

Advisory for private and institutional owners

A second read on decisions already in motion, for owners who have people in place but want an independent view.

Sometimes the useful thing is not another manager but someone to examine the proposal on the table, test the assumptions inside it, and say plainly whether it holds. We take advisory mandates without expecting the management to follow.

  • Portfolio structure and strategy review
  • Independent review of third-party proposals
  • Managing agent performance assessment
  • Acquisition and disposal second opinions
  • Reporting design for owner governance
  • Operational due diligence
  • Interim oversight during transition
  • Board and trustee briefing

Full details and FAQ →

Getting started

How an engagement begins.

First: a conversation

What you own, how it is held, and what is actually bothering you about it. Usually a call. No charge and no obligation attached.

Then: a written view

We set out what we think is going on, what we would do about it, what it would cost and what it should produce. In writing, so you can weigh it against anyone else's proposal.

Then: terms

Scope, fee and notice period agreed before any work starts. If a mandate is not right for us, this is the point at which we say so.

Hostcol is not a tax adviser, a law firm, or a regulated financial adviser, and nothing on this site is investment, tax or legal advice. Where a mandate needs that expertise we will tell you, and work alongside the specialists you appoint.

Not sure which of these you need?

That is a common and entirely reasonable position. Describe the situation and we will tell you which part of this is relevant, including if the answer is none of it.