How to Provide 24/7 Support to 500 Leaseholders Without Hiring More Staff
By IgeraSolutions Team · Updated May 2026 · 9 min
A mid-sized managing agency handling 30 blocks and 500 leaseholders receives 40-80 queries per week -- by phone, email, WhatsApp, and the resident portal. Most arrive outside office hours or at peak periods (AGM season, major works consultations, change of managing agent). Hiring another member of staff costs 28,000-35,000 pounds per year. Automating costs under 2,500 pounds per year. This guide explains how UK managing agents are doing it.
73%
"73% of leaseholder queries received by managing agents are repetitive, document-answerable questions -- service charge queries, subletting queries, AGM notice queries -- that do not require professional judgment, only document retrieval and communication."
-- ARMA Managing Agent Productivity Survey, 2025
The real cost of manual query handling
A property manager takes an average of 8 minutes to respond to a leaseholder query: read the message, locate the relevant section in the lease or management agreement, draft the response, and send it. At 60 queries per week, that is 8 hours of staff time every week -- the equivalent of a full working day.
| Blocks managed | Queries/week | Hours/week | Annual cost (22 GBP/h) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | ~30 | 4h | ~3,800 GBP |
| 30 | ~60 | 8h | ~7,700 GBP |
| 50 | ~100 | 13h | ~12,500 GBP |
| 80 | ~160 | 21h | ~20,000 GBP |
These figures do not include the cost of queries arriving out of hours and remaining unanswered overnight, the interruption cost to concentration on complex work, or the reputational impact of slow response times on leaseholder satisfaction.
What queries can be automated (and which cannot)
The key distinction is between document-answerable queries and queries requiring professional judgment.
Automatable (73%)
- When is the next AGM?
- What does my lease say about subletting?
- Can I install a heat pump or EV charger?
- What is the Section 20 consultation threshold?
- How do I challenge a service charge?
- What is the Right to Manage process?
- How long do I have to respond to a notice?
- How do I get a service charge summary?
Require judgment (27%)
- Neighbour and nuisance disputes
- Negotiating with leaseholders in arrears
- Contractor selection and tendering
- Emergency works assessment
- Insurance claims handling
- Legal advice on specific situations
- Cladding and EWS1 queries
How to implement 24/7 support in 5 steps
Centralise documents for each block
Leases, management agreements, section 20 notices, AGM minutes for the last three years, service charge budgets, and active contracts. These are the documents the system will use to answer queries. If they are not already digitised, that is the first step.
Choose a RAG system built for property management
Generic tools (ChatGPT, Copilot) do not know your leases or current service charge figures. You need a system that indexes your specific documents and the relevant legislation -- LTA 1985, LTA 1987, Leasehold Reform Act 2002 -- and cites sources in every answer to prevent hallucinations.
Set up access channels
The ideal setup offers at least two channels: a web widget (embedded in the resident portal or the agency website) and WhatsApp Business. Leaseholders use WhatsApp heavily, and out-of-hours queries arrive predominantly through that channel.
Define escalation rules
Configure which query types the system should flag as requiring human review and how the team is notified. The most practical approach: an email or WhatsApp notification summarising the query so the property manager can pick up the conversation with full context.
Review analytics weekly
Identify queries the system failed to answer well -- these are candidates for adding documentation or creating templated responses. Over time, the automation rate increases from an initial 60% to 80-85%.
How IgeraFincas handles a late-night leaseholder query
Cost vs. savings at a glance
| Item | Without automation | With IgeraFincas |
|---|---|---|
| Query handling cost (30 blocks) | ~7,700 GBP/year | ~2,000 GBP/year |
| Out-of-hours queries answered | 0% | 100% |
| Time to first response | Up to 24 working hours | 3 seconds |
| Leaseholder satisfaction | Medium-low | High (instant + cited answer) |
| Capacity to scale (add blocks) | Limited by headcount | Unlimited |
In summary
- 73% of leaseholder queries are document-answerable and can be automated
- Manual handling of 30 blocks costs ~7,700 GBP/year in staff time
- Automation costs under 2,500 GBP/year and responds in 3 seconds, 24/7
- The key: a RAG system that cites sources -- not a generic chatbot that hallucinates UK legislation
- Setup for 30 blocks takes less than 48 hours: upload documents, activate channels, go live
- Scale from 30 to 60 blocks without hiring
How many hours did your team spend answering leaseholders this week?
IgeraFincas automates 73% of leaseholder queries from your actual documents -- operational in 48 hours. No credit card. No annual contract.
Free 14-day trialFrequently asked questions about automated leaseholder support
Is it legal to use AI to respond to leaseholder queries?
Yes. UK GDPR and PECR permit the use of AI for document-based query handling. The key requirement is transparency: the system should indicate when a response is automated, particularly for information that could affect leaseholder rights. For decisions with material legal or financial impact, the property manager always intervenes.
What happens if the AI gives an incorrect answer?
A properly configured RAG system only responds with information found in the indexed documents and cites the source. If it cannot find the answer, it says so and escalates to the team. The risk of an incorrect answer is far higher with a generic chatbot (ChatGPT) that does not have access to your actual leases and management agreements.
How long does it take to set up for 30 blocks?
With IgeraFincas, onboarding 30 blocks takes 4-8 hours of work: uploading documents for each block, verifying the system indexes them correctly, and configuring access channels (web widget and WhatsApp). The system is live in under 48 hours.