The people behind Preim: Meeting Marco Santos

Wednesday 22nd January 2020

Dealing with the finances of a residents’ management company or community interest company is certainly no mean feat. With often over 1,000 households paying an annual service charge into one residents’ management company, there needs to be systems, budgeting and control – in line with legal requirements – in place. A significant part of Preim’s role is the proper stewardship and governance of management companies, to ensure their compliance and effectiveness – and part of delivering that service is through Marco Santos, our Service Charge Accountant.

Service charge expertise and building a knowledge of Preim’s community-focussed approach

Marco joined Preim in April 2019, with his primary responsibility being to manage the finances of the management companies that Preim works with. Whether that’s preparing budgets or creating year-end accounts, Marco picked up the ropes straight away having worked in the service charge department for a housing association for over decade.

“The role at Preim was perfectly placed for me. I was searching for something that gave me commercial finance experience, away from the work I had been doing within a housing association, whilst also still utilising my skillset within service charges.

“Working in a smaller team at Preim has afforded me the opportunity to get more involved with a wider scope of work. For example, some management company service charges are relatively straightforward, whereas others – with more homes and more communal amenities – involves more complicated finances,” Marco explained.

Working closely with the rest of the Preim team

Marco’s role is crucial to the professional and knowledgeable service Preim is able to provide. In the vast majority of cases, Preim is responsible for the maintenance of amenities within the management company’s ownership but also supports steering committees, RMCs and CICs with the often-complicated finances and legal requirements of community-owned assets.

A great example of this is at an ex-MOD estate in Catterick, where the expertise of Preim helped residents to manage funds to upgrade unadopted, local roads. You can read this full story here.

To make this all happen, Marco works closely with the client delivery team at Preim. Our client delivery team forms the glue between the communities we work with, Preim and the developers – managing the relationships between all and striving to achieve sustainable communities. Marco supports this team with awareness of the management companies finances and budgets – to help ensure their financial health and stability.

Talking about the future for his role, Marco explained: “As a community grows, the way the residents’ management company, or community interest company, uses its finances will change. Working with the account managers, I hope to support them with a breakdown of service charges, what is included and how it can be used – according to what the community wants and needs, helping to make that a reality with the right finances in place.

“That’s what is great about working at Preim. I feel like I know everyone here and I play a central role in everything that Preim does and looks to achieve for its communities.”

When Marco isn’t busy crunching numbers and assessing budgets, you can find him making the most of the outdoors when he gets the opportunity. Always up for a challenge, Marco tries to take on a big hike at least once a year – he’s already ticked Snowdon off his list, and the largest volcano in the Azores, Mount Pico!

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