Member Article

Black Country entrepreneur heads for the top with emergency repair solution

A Black Country entrepreneur is bouncing back from redundancy to take on the ‘big boys’ with a new insurance solution for landlords, letting agents and housing associations.

James Batham turned down the chance to relocate with a major home services company to focus on launching Spire Landlord Solutions, a specialist in delivering a more flexible approach to 24/7 emergency repair cover for clients involved with multiple properties.

It has proved a wise decision for the 31 year-old so far, with four new contracts already sealed in the first six months, including 500 properties in Leeds, Tunbridge Wells and London.

The former Thorns High School pupil is now working on a number of potential opportunities in his home territory of the Black Country, as landlords, letting agents and housing associations look to embrace the more personal touch.

“I’d gained a lot of experience in this field during my previous employment and had seen areas where the client wasn’t getting the level of service they wanted. There was definitely an opportunity,” explained James.

“When I was asked to move to another role I thought now is the time to put my money where my mouth is and do something about it and the end result was the formation of Spire Landlord Solutions.”

He continued: “What we offer is a comprehensive 24-hour repair insurance product for landlords, letting agents and housing associations. For an annual premium per property, we will take care of all their tenants emergency issues, such as boiler breakdowns, blocked drains and leaks.

“Each client gets a dedicated account manager, who tailors the cover to suit their exact requirements. There are also a lot of new features over and above the standard package, including radiators being covered under the policy and the fact our engineers will pick up keys and complete the job whilst the tenant is out.”

Spire Landlord Solutions, which is located in Trinity Point in Halesowen, has joined forces with Johnston Park McAndrew to offer this specific insurance product.

This tie-up gives James and his team access to a wealth of experience, a nationwide call centre to answer tenant phone calls and a 2000-strong network of quality approved engineers.

In addition to the emergency repair cover, the fledgling firm is also offering clients CP12s and gas boiler servicing, with view to adding more products shortly.

“We are picking work up because organisations are tired of the ‘one size fits all approach’. Our role is to make life easy and that means being flexible to specific requirements. Clients will have no additional call-out fees or excess, parts and labour are included and we provide one invoice for all properties,” added James.

“This allows them to streamline operations and offer an improved service to their clients or in a Housing Association’s case, their residents, which I know is vital for them. Landlords have peace of mind and tenants are satisfied because they know their emergency repair issues are resolved quickly by an expert team of professionals.”

He concluded: “For letting agents, our policy can be seamlessly integrated into their ‘fully managed’ packages as well as offered to their ‘let only’ as an ancillary offer. This provides added value and an additional revenue stream for firms that could be hit hard by the impending tenants fee ban.”

Spire Landlords Solutions has ambitious plans to hit 3000 properties in its portfolio between now and the end of the year, which will mean recruiting two new account managers to the growing business.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .