Property Management Blevio

Property Managementin Blevio.

Opening, closing, staffing and everything between visits.

Lake Como Province of Como

Blevio is the easiest of the eastern-shore villages to service, and it is the main practical argument for buying here. Como's trade base is on the doorstep, which means gardeners, housekeepers, restorers, boatyards and surveyors are all within a short run rather than an expedition.

The complication is the stock rather than the labour. Large nineteenth-century villas on steep sites bring heritage consent, retaining-wall maintenance, long garden runs and lakeside structures that need periodic and expensive attention. Any figure for the annual cost of running a house here should be built from a survey of the specific property, not from a rule of thumb; we would treat anyone quoting a per-square-metre number without seeing the terraces as guessing.

For how this trade works across the whole lake, what to ask for, how the firms are chosen and what goes wrong, read property management on Lake Como. For the village itself, read our guide to Blevio.

Editorial note: we have not yet written up how this trade works in Blevio specifically, so this page is kept out of search until we have. The introduction itself is unaffected. Ask and we will make it.

On the network

9 firms

Held across the lake rather than in one village. We introduce the two we would use ourselves for the job in front of you.

01What they do

Opening and closing the house

Water on, heating up, shutters back, linen aired and every appliance tested a week before arrival rather than on the day, and the reverse, properly, in October.

The winter regime

Background heat, dehumidifiers emptied and monitored, frost protection on external runs, and a walk of the house and grounds after every serious storm.

Contractors, works and money

Appointing trades, being on site while they work, checking what was actually done, and passing invoices on with the original bill attached.

The waterside

Jetty, boathouse and slipway checked through the winter, mooring lines and fenders renewed before they chafe, and the boat lifted or covered on time.

Questions

How much does a property manager on Lake Como cost?

Management is normally structured as an annual retainer covering an agreed schedule of visits and checks, with additional work charged for separately and third-party invoices passed on. We do not publish rates.

What moves the retainer is the size of the house, whether there is a pool, a garden of any scale, a boat or a jetty, how often you come, and whether the manager is expected to run staff. Ask for the retainer and the extras to be set out as two separate things, and ask specifically how third-party invoices are handled: at cost, or with a stated margin. A firm that will not answer that in writing is telling you something.

Do I need a property manager if I only use the house in summer?

That is precisely when you need one, because the risks to an empty house on this lake are concentrated in the months you are not here.

Damp, a failed dehumidifier, a blocked gully in November rain, a mooring line that parts in a spring storm, rodents in an unheated roof: none of these announce themselves, and all of them are cheap to prevent and expensive to repair. Owners who use a house for six weeks a year usually need more management than owners who are here half the year, not less.

Can my gardener or housekeeper look after the house instead?

They can hold a key and raise the alarm, but they are not insured, equipped or paid to make decisions about your building, and it is unfair to put them in that position.

The moment something fails, somebody has to authorise a contractor, be on site while the work happens and check it afterwards. A gardener asked to do that will either overstep or, more often, do nothing and wait to be told. Where the arrangement does work is with a resident couple who have been at the house for years and have a manager behind them for anything structural.

Written by The Como Private Desk

For people who work on the lake

Are you the bestat what you do here?

The list we introduce from is short and grows slowly: by working with somebody, seeing how a job goes, and only then adding them. If that is the standard you hold yourself to, tell us who you are. We read every one. We check work before we introduce anybody, and no money passes in either direction.

Put yourself forward