What SynkroTech is

SynkroTech is the system a managing agent runs its blocks of flats on. It keeps, in one place, the buildings you manage, the leaseholders and residents in them, the money you collect and pay out on their behalf, the checks the law requires, and the repairs and the contractors who do them.

It is used by the people in your office: property managers, the finance team, administrators and directors. The people outside your office have their own way in. Leaseholders and residents use a portal to see their account, report a problem and read notices. Directors of the residents' company see how their building is doing. Contractors receive their jobs, send quotes and invoices, and keep their certificates on file through SynkroTech Trade.

What it does for you

• It holds each building's facts once. The units, the leases, each flat's share of the costs, the year end, the parking bays, the plant. Everything else is worked out from them: the demands, the checks a building needs, the contributions to major works.
• It sends the paperwork the law requires, correctly. Service charge demands go with the summary of tenants' rights, the landlord's name and address and the 18-month rule. Section 20 notices go in order, with their observation periods honoured.
• It keeps the money straight. Budgets, demands, receipts matched from the bank, arrears chased in stages, supplier invoices approved and paid, client money kept fund by fund, the year closed for the accountants.
• It keeps the buildings safe and the evidence on file. Every check a building needs, when it is next due, who is doing it, and the certificate that proves it was done.
• It keeps a record of who did what. Decisions, changes of date, waivers and cancellations are recorded with a name, a date and a reason, so you can answer a tribunal, an auditor or a client.

How it thinks about your portfolio

SynkroTech uses five levels, from the largest to the smallest:

• A portfolio is a group of properties, such as one property manager's patch.
• A property is what you manage and invoice: a block, or an estate of several blocks.
• A building is a physical structure inside a property. Its height decides which fire safety rules apply.
• A unit is one flat or commercial unit. Leaseholders hold leases on units.
• An asset is a piece of plant that is serviced, such as a lift or a boiler.

Money follows the same shape: each property has its funds, its budget for each service charge year, and its schedules, which say how each cost is shared between the units.

What it is not

SynkroTech does not replace your accountants: it prepares the year for them and publishes the signed accounts they send back. Letters are printed and posted by your office, or by a print-and-post service if your organisation has one set up; SynkroTech records when each went. And it does not decide for you: where the law gives a choice, it tells you the choice and records the one you made.