u/FoxFearless952

I'm working on something in a specific area of the UK property market. The end users are volunteers who manage their own buildings in their spare time. It's a real challenge, with real money on the line, but the audience is scattered in a way that's hard to tackle.

They are spread out across:

1. Small private Facebook groups, which require vetted entry; it's tough to engage without losing trust.

2. A few niche forums, which often focus on complaints rather than solutions.

3. Reddit threads where the topic comes up organically, but the original posters aren't actively seeking tools.

4. Industry trade publications that they don’t read because they aren't part of the industry; they are volunteers.

5. LinkedIn, but only for those with a corporate background.

Most don’t identify with any clear job title, they are just people who have taken on a responsibility. This makes it difficult to search for them by role, and they aren’t gathering in one place where I can reach out.

What I've tried that has worked a bit includes:

1. Messaging people who share specific pain in public threads; the conversion is low, but the signal is strong.

2. Getting introduced through one well-connected person who runs a community group.

3. Submitting an article to a sector publication to establish credibility before I reach out.

What I haven't figured out is how to achieve volume without it feeling extractive and how to confirm willingness to pay when the buyer is a volunteer, not a business.

Has anyone solved a validation problem with a fragmented audience like this? I'm especially interested in how you scaled from 10 conversations to 100 without losing depth.

For anyone holding leasehold flats as part of their FIRE strategy, curious how you actually manage service charge risk.

The annual budget arrives from the managing agent as a long PDF. Insurance, cleaning, lift maintenance, repairs. Unless someone on the RMC is actively pushing back, costs just creep up year on year and compound directly against your passive income targets.

I've been speaking to RTM directors recently and the pattern is consistent. Buildings with one engaged director catch errors and keep costs down. Buildings without absorb whatever the managing agent sends through.

Three questions:

1. Do you actively scrutinise the service charge budget or treat it as a fixed holding cost
2. Have you ever successfully challenged a line item and what was the process like
3. How do you factor service charge inflation risk into your FIRE projections

Genuine question for anyone holding leasehold flats. The annual service charge budget arrives as a long PDF from the managing agent, usually with insurance, cleaning, lift maintenance, "general repairs" etc. Unless someone on the RMC is actively pushing back, the line items just seem to creep up year on year and it eats directly into your yield.

I've been speaking to a number of RMC and RTM directors recently and the consistent theme is that buildings with one engaged director who knows what to look for consistently catch errors, challenge increases and keep costs down. Buildings without that person just absorb whatever the managing agent sends through.

Curious about a few things:

1. Do you go through the budget properly or just absorb it as a holding cost
2. If something looked off, would you actually have the time or expertise to challenge it properly
3. Is this something you'd actively want more visibility and control over, or is it just one of those costs you price in and move on from?

Trying to understand whether investors actively manage this risk or whether the information gap between landlords and managing agents is just accepted as part of holding leasehold.

For those of you who are RMC or RTM directors, I'm trying to understand how you actually go about reviewing the annual budget the managing agent sends.

Specifically:

• How do you know if a 30%+ increase in cleaning, insurance or lift maintenance is reasonable or not?
• Have you ever pushed back on a line item, and what happened?
• Do you compare against benchmarks, get other quotes, or just go off gut feel?
• For those who've successfully challenged the agent — what worked?

Genuinely curious because the asymmetry of information between volunteer directors and professional agents seems significant, and I'm trying to understand how people in this position actually navigate it.

Not a director myself, just looking into the leasehold space.