BlockDesk · for block and leasehold managers
Four calls come in. Three of them do not need a manager, and one of them must never reach an assistant.
A block manager's week is balance queries, payment questions, “when is the roof being done”, and one call that turns into a tribunal if it is answered carelessly. BlockDesk takes the first three from your own issued demands and documents, triages the eleven-o'clock leak into a real work order, and routes the fourth to a named human with the conversation logged. Set up and run for you, on your own number.
The call mix
The value is not answering more calls. It is knowing which one to stop.
Handled
“What is my balance, and how do I pay it”
Answered from the demand you already issued, after the caller is authenticated by unit and reference. It reads what is on the demand and nothing else.
Handled
“There is water coming through the ceiling”
Unit identified, photos requested over WhatsApp, urgency judged. A genuine emergency reaches the on-call manager and contractor immediately; a dripping tap becomes a logged work order.
Handled
“When is the roof being done, and why has it taken so long”
Answered from your own documents and the current status of the work order, with no speculation about dates you have not committed to.
Escalated, never answered
“I do not think this charge is reasonable”
Not answered. Logged, and routed to a named manager. Whether a charge is reasonable or payable is a question for you or for the tribunal, and an assistant that offers a view on it has created a problem rather than solved one.
What is actually in force
The reform everyone is writing about has not commenced. Two older obligations are the ones that cost money.
The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 legislated a new regime for service charge demands, accounts and information on request. It has not been brought into force, and no implementation date has been set. Section 55 still carries a prospective status and the commencement note that it was not in force at Royal Assent. Meanwhile two provisions that have been in force for years are the ones that turn a slow month into an unrecoverable cost.
In force
The 18-month rule, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 20B
“If any of the relevant costs taken into account in determining the amount of any service charge were incurred more than 18 months before a demand for payment of the service charge is served on the tenant, then (subject to subsection (2)), the tenant shall not be liable to pay so much of the service charge as reflects the costs so incurred.”
Subsection (2) is the escape: notify the leaseholder in writing, within those 18 months, that the cost was incurred and will be charged. A notification that nobody sent because nobody picked up the phone is the expensive version of a missed call.
In force
Consultation above £250 a leaseholder
“For the purposes of subsection (3) of section 20 the appropriate amount is an amount which results in the relevant contribution of any tenant being more than £250.”
Service Charges (Consultation Requirements) (England) Regulations 2003, regulation 6. BlockDesk will tell a leaseholder where a consultation stands and what has been issued. It will not advise on the process, because that is your judgement and getting it wrong caps recovery at that same £250.
Sources checked 5 August 2026 against legislation.gov.uk. This is a description of published law, not legal advice, and commencement can change. If you are relying on it for a decision, check the current position or take advice.
The red lines
What it refuses to do, and why that is the feature
Anyone can build an assistant that answers a leaseholder. The difficult part is building one that stops. Each limit below is written into the individual agent rather than left to a general instruction to be careful.
- It will not interpret a lease.
- It will not confirm that a service charge is reasonable or payable.
- It will not waive, reduce or agree a fee.
- It will not advise on Section 20 consultation.
- It will not settle a dispute or handle a formal complaint beyond logging it into your redress process.
- It never touches client money.
Callers are told they are speaking with an AI assistant at the start of the call. Anything contested, legal or angry goes to a named person, and every conversation is transcribed and logged. How we handle compliance.
Block management, answered
Questions managers actually ask us
Can an AI answer leaseholder calls without giving legal advice?
Only if it is built to refuse. Ours answers balance, payment and status questions from your own issued demands and documents, and escalates anything touching the lease, the reasonableness of a charge, or a dispute to a named manager. The refusals are written into each agent individually rather than relying on one general instruction to behave.
Does it work with our block management system?
The diary comes first, because appointments and inspections usually live in Outlook or Google rather than in the management system. Work orders are raised in the system you already run. We are explicit with every client about which level of integration their particular software supports rather than promising a generic one.
What happens out of hours?
The same assistant answers. A leak at eleven at night is identified, evidenced with photos, judged for urgency and either escalated to the on-call manager or logged as a work order for the morning. Both the leaseholder and the freeholder or RMC are kept informed until it closes.
Are the new service charge transparency rules in force?
No. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 legislated a new regime for service charge demands, annual reports and information on request at sections 53 to 58, but those provisions have not been commenced. Section 55 still carries a prospective status and the note that it was not in force at Royal Assent. No implementation date has been set. The obligations that can cost you money today are the existing ones under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
Do callers know they are speaking to an AI?
Yes, and they are told at the start of the call rather than part-way through. That is both our own rule and what Article 50 of the EU AI Act requires of systems intended to interact directly with people.
Hear it answer a leaseholder before you decide anything.
Press the button and talk to it as though you were a leaseholder ringing about a balance. Ask it to interpret your lease and listen to it refuse.
Set up and run for you, on your own number, answering within days.