Implementing effective outsourcing contracts is key to successful property management, both for client and service provider.

Our wide experience in helping clients with outsourcing projects has shown that spending more time initially structuring the contracts and defining responsibilities clearly, pays dividends in the medium to long term.

We support our clients with our detailed understanding of property processes, templates for service levels and metrics, and a working understanding of what property managers actually do at a grass roots level.

Our structured and methodical approach to constructing the service specification can minimise risks and costs for both parties.

We work with owner occupiers, investors and property managers to ensure:

• The right tasks are outsourced to the right provider
• Roles and responsibilities between the parties are clearly allocated
• Key performance indicators and service levels are defined and relate to the client’s long term objectives
• There is a clear exit strategy

Articles and research

The Remit team has published a number of articles and research documents about outsourcing property services. The following provide a good starting point in this area:

Will real estate move offshore? - Moving back office business processes is common in other industries but not UK real estate. Our research in 2005, sponsored by the RICS, shed light on the reasons why.

Download the survey here.

Melita writes a regular article on outsourcing best practice for Facilities Mangagement magazine, published by Lexis Nexis. Here is her most recent published paper - Prevention is better than cure... 

Andrew also occassionally writes on this subject. Here is a paper published in BLP's outsourcing magazine, "Work it Out" - Avoid the risks in a downturn.