Frequently Asked Questions

Northhold provides property operations coordination and compliance oversight for landlords. In plain English: we help keep the property admin organised, track what’s due, coordinate maintenance issues where included, arrange communication between landlords, tenants and contractors, and keep you informed with clear updates and reporting.

Our two main service tiers are Professional (£129/mo) and Premium (£199/mo), charged per property.

Professional is the core Northhold service for landlords who want maintenance coordination, compliance tracking, spend visibility, approval controls and monthly reporting handled properly.

Premium adds higher-touch oversight for landlords who want more proactive portfolio support, including major maintenance planning support, annual property health assessment, quarterly portfolio review and priority contractor access where availability allows.

Yes. A lighter Compliance Only option may be available by request for landlords who do not need maintenance coordination but want help keeping compliance dates, documents and certificate reminders organised.

Compliance Only is not the main Northhold service and does not include maintenance request handling, contractor dispatch, tenant/access coordination, emergency dispatch, spend tracking, approval rules or monthly operational reporting.

It is best suited to landlords who already manage their own day-to-day property issues but want a cleaner compliance register and reminder process in the background.

Professional is designed to cover the core operational support most landlords need:

• Maintenance request intake, so issues can be logged through a clear process.
• Contractor dispatch, so suitable contractors can be contacted for relevant maintenance issues.
• Tenant communication and access coordination, so appointments and access are easier to organise.
• Job tracking and updates, so landlords have visibility of what has been raised and what is happening next.
• Emergency dispatch where needed, subject to availability and the nature of the issue.
• Spend tracking and landlord approval rules, so work is coordinated within agreed limits.
• Live compliance register to track what’s due and what’s expiring.
• Certificate expiry reminders so important dates are not missed.
• Monthly operational reporting and monthly compliance summary.

Premium is designed for higher-touch oversight and stronger portfolio discipline:

• Major Maintenance Planning Support to identify, plan, track and coordinate larger maintenance works. It does not include full project management, site supervision, contract administration or formal refurbishment.
• Annual property health assessment to spot risks before they become expensive surprises.
• Quarterly portfolio review focused on recurring issues, compliance trends, and improvement actions.
• Priority contractor access where availability allows, for faster mobilisation when it matters.

Premium is best suited to landlords with larger portfolios, busier properties, or a preference for more proactive oversight.

Most landlords should start with Professional. It is the core Northhold service and covers the main things landlords usually need: maintenance coordination, compliance tracking, contractor communication, spend controls and monthly reporting.

Choose Premium if you want more proactive oversight, portfolio reviews, annual health assessments, major maintenance planning support and stronger priority around contractor access.

Ask about Compliance Only if you do not want Northhold involved in day-to-day property issues and only need help staying organised around compliance dates and documents.

Where a landlord requires full refurbishment oversight, site attendance, detailed project management or end-to-end major works administration, this is quoted separately, typically as a fixed fee or percentage of project value.

Premium includes major maintenance planning support, but that should not be confused with formal project management, contract administration or site supervision.

No. Northhold’s model is subscription-based support rather than hiding costs in job markups. Where contractors invoice directly, you see the real cost of the work.

If a supplier offers a referral incentive, we handle it transparently and in line with your written instructions.

Spend tracking and approval rules are included on Professional and Premium. You set clear rules so nothing “just happens” without your say-so. Typical rules include:

• A maximum amount that can be authorised without contacting you.
• Categories that always require approval, such as electrical work over a set threshold.
• Preferred contractors and any “do not use” list.

We coordinate within your rules and seek approval whenever a job sits outside them. All approvals and key decisions are recorded.

Emergencies are issues that pose immediate risk to safety or significant risk to the property — examples include: major leaks, electrical hazards, insecure external doors/windows, or total loss of heating in severe conditions.

Emergency dispatch is included on Professional and Premium. Where your tier includes emergency dispatch, we prioritise rapid coordination and keep you updated while working within your approval rules.

Emergency support is coordination support. It does not guarantee that a contractor will always be immediately available, especially during widespread weather events, bank holidays or periods of high demand.

We maintain a live compliance register for each property and track expiry dates, upcoming inspections, and actions required. Certificate expiry reminders help you stay ahead of important dates.

Professional and Premium include a monthly compliance summary showing current status, upcoming actions, and items needing attention. Compliance Only, where agreed, provides a lighter compliance register and reminder service without operational maintenance support.

You remain the legal duty-holder; Northhold supports the process so you stay organised, documented, and ahead of deadlines.

Professional and Premium receive a monthly operational report covering issues raised, actions taken, contractor activity, spend where relevant, and any recommendations.

Professional and Premium also receive a monthly compliance summary covering certificates, expiry dates, actions required, and current status.

Compliance Only is lighter and does not include monthly operational reporting because Northhold is not managing day-to-day property issues under that option.

Fair usage means your subscription is designed for normal, ongoing property management — steady, predictable support. It’s not intended to cover sustained, exceptional workloads, such as a flood of issues across multiple properties or an active refurbishment, under a basic monthly fee.

If usage becomes unusually heavy, we’ll flag it early and agree the best path: moving to the right tier, or pricing project-style work separately. No surprises, no “gotchas”.

We’re fair, but we’re not a loophole. If a customer signs up during exceptional circumstances or triggers unusually heavy workload, we’ll treat that properly as project work and/or require the appropriate tier.

You can also set clear terms such as end-of-billing-period cancellations, limits on exceptional one-off spikes, and separate pricing for major works or high-intensity support.

Northhold coordinates maintenance and property issues on behalf of landlords. When a suitable job comes in, we contact relevant contractors, share the details, help arrange access, and keep communication organised between the landlord, tenant and contractor.

We are not here to make the job harder. The aim is to give contractors clear information, reduce back-and-forth, and make sure decisions and approvals are properly documented.

No. Contractors do not pay a joining fee to be considered for work through Northhold. Our service is paid for by landlords through their monthly subscription.

In most cases, the contractor invoices the landlord directly for completed work. Northhold does not add hidden markups to contractor invoices.

This keeps pricing transparent: the landlord sees the real cost of the work, and the contractor keeps their normal commercial relationship for the job.

We usually ask for basic business details, trade categories, service areas, contact information, availability, insurance details, relevant qualifications or accreditations, and any work types you do or do not take on.

This helps us send the right type of job to the right contractor and avoid wasting anyone’s time.

No. We cannot guarantee a fixed volume of work. Jobs depend on landlord demand, property issues, location, trade type, availability, and suitability for the specific task.

What we can offer is a clear route to be considered for relevant property maintenance work where your trade, location and availability match the need.

We expect contractors to communicate clearly, attend when agreed, provide honest pricing, keep landlords informed of changes, and complete work to the appropriate standard for their trade.

Good communication matters as much as good workmanship. Contractors who are reliable, professional and easy to deal with are more likely to be used again.

Subscriptions are billed monthly. Cancellations take effect at the end of the current billing period, so you receive the service you’ve paid for and we can close out any active admin properly.

If you have ongoing project-style work, such as major works oversight, that runs beyond the billing period, that work continues under the separate agreed scope and pricing until completion or handover.

We’ll produce a clean handover: current status, key contacts, decisions taken, and next steps. Where contractors are engaged, we’ll provide the details and documentation required for you to continue directly.

If you want Northhold to continue managing a live project after cancellation, that can be agreed as a one-off management engagement.

The contractor is responsible for workmanship, warranties, and compliance with their trade obligations. Northhold coordinates and documents the process, but does not provide the trade service itself.

If an issue arises, we can help you navigate it — obtaining evidence, chasing a remedy, and keeping the audit trail tidy — within your service scope.

We don’t offer a blanket “guaranteed” response time for every situation, because some parts of the chain are outside our control: access to the property, parts availability, and contractor capacity, especially during wider emergencies.

What we do commit to is clear service targets and good communication:

• Acknowledgement: we acknowledge new requests within one business day.
• Urgent / emergency issues: where your tier includes emergency dispatch, we prioritise these immediately and begin coordination as soon as we receive them.
• Routine issues: we typically begin coordination within 1–2 business days, and keep you updated on progress, dependencies, and expected timelines.
• Updates: you receive clear status updates whenever the situation changes or a decision/approval is required.

If you need formal SLAs for a larger portfolio, we can discuss an SLA add-on so expectations are explicit and measurable.

We need the basics to run cleanly: property details, known compliance documents, your approval limits, preferred contractors if any, and how you want decisions made, such as WhatsApp vs email and who can approve spend.

If key information is missing, we’ll tell you quickly and explain what we need so the job doesn’t stall.

We store documents securely for service delivery, including compliance documents, property records, and operational notes. We only share information with third parties when needed to deliver the service, for example sharing access details with a contractor you’ve authorised.

Tell us and we’ll act quickly. We aim to acknowledge complaints within one business day, investigate with the relevant records, and propose a resolution with clear next steps.

If informal resolution doesn’t work, your Terms of Service can specify how disputes are handled, such as escalation path and governing law.