ESTATE MANAGEMENT

ESTATE MANAGEMENT

Estate management may be defined as the direction and supervision of an interest in landed property with the aim of securing an optimum return. This return need not always be financial but may be in terms of social benefit, status, prestige, political power or some other goals.

Estate management has also been defined as the art and science of controlling, directing and supervising a development i.e. the construction, the use maintenance of land resources with a view to achieving optimum returns. Land resources is the total solid crust of the earth with everything found on it which includes the forest, hills, valleys, water bodies, airspaces and anything found on and beneath the earth surface.

The principles of estate management cannot be presented as a simple set of rules, partly because there has been too little research and methodical analysis of experience to formulate more than elementary generalizations and partly because attempt at such a statement would over simplify the complex problems inherent in estate management.

The practice of estate management can never be reduced to a mechanical process of applying the correct principles. Judgement, practical experience and specialist knowledge are also required as these are more effective. They operate within a framework of reliable criteria.

Management Functions In Relation To Estate Management

Estate management is the act of controlling, supervising and directing interest in land and landed property so as to achieve the set objective. In other words, just like in business management, estate management involves developing management principles that will be directed towards establishing team work and harmonizing the goals and objectives of the estate or property owner. Estate management is in effect a process.

The first step in Estate management is to identify the owner’s goals and objectives. A Property owner can hold a property for one or more reasons either as a home; place of business; for agricultural or recreational uses, as an investment e.g. an income producing apartment complex, shopping mall, office or a factory building etc. The reason for ownership of property will determine the aims and goal of management.

Thus for a property occupied by the owner, the objective of Estate management would most likely be the need to ensure proper maintenance of the property so that it can continue to provide comfortable accommodation.        However, where property is held as an investment, the goal of management is to ensure that the property and its resources are maintained in a way and manner that will enable it continue to generate maximum return (income or capital). This maximum return could be through the additional taxi shelter they could derive, or as hedge against inflation or as a steady cash flow. After identifying the goals, the next step in the management process is to plan the best way to achieve them.

Preparing an estate management plan would involve collection and analysis of data. A typical plan is produced from the findings of the analysis and interpretation of all information relating to the property under consideration. Such analysis will include regional and neighbourhood analysis, property analysis such as its location, finish accommodation details, analysis of the market and projected income. The estate manager will look at the possibility for a better income and if there is a need for rehabilitation or modernization. To achieve this he would recommend the best procedure or alternatives that will achieve the owner’s objective.

With a proper plan in place the next step for management will be the need to establish an operational policy. The manager prepares an income/expenditure schedule and determines staffing requirement and posting; this is the organization /coordination aspect of estate management.