Professional Estate Management Services for Residential Communities
Welcome to Civitas Estates – your trusted partner for residential estate and property management. We are a family-run business that specialises in managing low-rise residential developments, helping create communities where residents are proud to call home.
Founded by a project management and governance professional from a world leading international infrastructure company and a qualified civil engineer with over a decade of experience at leading private and FTSE plc property developers, we bring genuine technical expertise to estate management.
We understand the complexities of modern developments because we have been previously involved in building them – from sustainable drainage systems to biodiversity requirements or historic adoption issues. ​
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We currently focus our efforts in the following counties due to our experience and network in the South of England: London, Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Dorset.
We Proudly Manage Estates Differently
Ready to experience estate management that delivers results for residents?
Contact us today for a no-obligation consultation.
Why Civitas Estates?
Family Business, Personal Service
When you call us, you speak directly to our senior leadership team – no call centres. As a family-run estate management company, we are personally invested in every community we manage. We provide free informal training to all resident directors on sites that we manage to support empowered Resident Management Company (RMC) governance – be it with or without us in the future.
Low-Rise Estate Specialists
We deliberately focus on low-rise residential estates. Why? Because they are fundamentally different from high-rise developments. We can provide more cost-effective, tailored management without the complications and insurance risks that come with tower blocks. This value is passed directly to residents as our ultimate client.
Technical Expertise That Matters
Our expertise in civil engineer means we understand your estate's infrastructure. Whether it's sustainable drainage systems (SuDS), biodiversity net gain requirements, or complex utility arrangements, we know how these systems work and importantly how to correctly maintain them safely, with longevity and cost value being at the forefront of decision making.
Transparent,
Fair Pricing
Tired of annual service charge increases of 5-10% without any justification? We strictly link our management fee price increases to the UK Consumer Price Index (CPI), so you will never face unexpected surprises in relation to our fees.
All subcontracts and third-party service contracts are competitively tendered each year to ensure best value to the estate, with all contracts monitored for quality KPIs and the opportunity for resident feedback shared openly amongst the delivery team for true accountability. All costs are passed on directly as invoiced, without us receiving hidden profits, finder’s fee, or service rebates.
Sustainability
at Our Core
Our 3-pillar approach to sustainability captures all aspects of our operations and decision making process:
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social: building strong communities and putting people first
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environmental: proper SuDS management and biodiversity initiatives
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economic: keeping costs fair, predictable, and proportional. Adding value to the estate with our instruction.
Well Connected, Value Driven Management
After decades working in development, we are well connected to designers, contractors, planning authorities, highway authorities, sewer authorities, utility providers, developers, and insurers. We understand the constraints and challenges of the sector and importantly how best to navigate it. We know where liability exists and how to ensure parties are held to account.
Wherever possible we lean on our technical capability to assist developers with local authority adoption of estate roads, sewers, and open spaces – either free of charge when included in our scope or developer funded. Exploring these options aims to reduce the long-term service costs of managing the estate and reduces future liability. This is uniquely our way of adding value to our managing agent appointment.
Professional Standards You Can Trust
Our Director is an individual affiliate member of The Property Institute and individual certified member of the Association for Project Safety, ensuring we meet the highest professional standards in residential property management and health, safety and wellbeing in the built environment.
The Association for Project Safety (APS) are the representative professional body dedicated to working in partnership to eliminate deaths, tackle ill-health and manage risks throughout the whole life of any project in the built environment.
The Property Institute (TPI) are a professional body for residential property managers in England. Formed in 2022 by the merger of the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) and the Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM), TPI brings together over a century of combined experience as a trusted and credible voice, committed to driving standards in the sector to make a positive difference for its members, clients, and residents.
Our Key Clients
Developers
We work with a range of developers to support and inform the site set up and mechanisms for freehold and leasehold services charges, ensuring that we take a right first time approach. Each development is different, but we know that developers want accuracy, accountability, promptness, and value for money.
Resident Management Companies
Our aim is to support and inform Resident Management Company (RMC) Directors so they feel empowered to lead the direction of their community estate. Each community is different, but we know that RMCs want trust, fairness, efficiency, and quality.
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Right to Manage Companies
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Our aim is to support leasehold tenants in block management on no fault takeovers of a majority resident Right to Manage proposal under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. We understand that this can be a challenging process to undertake independently but we can assist you every step of the way. Right to Manage blocks comes with a distinct and unique set of opportunities and constraints, but we know that resident Directors want honesty, transparency, safety, and expertise.
Our Process
​We deliver this to you as our Client by what we believe are emerging industry best practice and defines our process:
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Operating transparently - Provide full accurate breakdowns of fee structure, a realistic forecast of potential changes, and no hidden extras.
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Being open about your switching rights - Allow non-fault provider changes, and uphold a transparent dispute resolution process.
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Fair fee structure - Demonstrate reasonable administration fees, a cap on increases in line with the Bank of England CPI and justify budgets clearly.
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Exceptional service quality - Prompt and expert maintenance execution by Directors, live resolution logs, and a true desire to collect resident satisfaction feedback to continually improve with our consultant and subcontractor teams.
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Supporting resident governance - Procure management accounts, meetings, and facilitate effective oversight by RMC directors who are ultimately our Client.
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Communication and education - Publish informational guides to our clients, clarify residents’ rights, and detail site specific obligations of developers, RMCs, and statutory authorities.
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Accountability - When we say we will investigate, instruct, or review a query, we do exactly that. We are always open to having our decisions and actions scrutinised.
We Deliver Results
See our full scope of services.
