Glossary M-P

  • Made ground

    Potentially difficult sites infilled with hardcore or rubbish. 
  • Maintenance charge (or service charge)

    A charge to the Leaseholder or to the tenant for the maintenance and repair of commonly shared internal and external parts of the building. 
  • Maisonette

    A Maisonette is a portion of a house that covers more than one floor and is accessible by private entrance. 
  • Mansard roof

    This roof is flat on top, sloping steeply down on its sides, thus appearing to enclose the top storey, usually tiled. 
  • Mantelpiece

    The wood, brick, stone or marble frame surrounding a fireplace. 
  • Memorandum and Articles of Association

    The defining documents of the running of the Right to Manage Company. 
  • Measured Survey

    Also known as a Dimensional Survey, this survey involves measuring a building’s dimensions in order to prepare accurate scale drawings. The reason such drawings are required must be agreed beforehand to confirm the level of detail required and any acceptable tolerances. 
  • Microbore heating

    Narrow diameter pipework connected by manifolds. 
  • Mineral felt

    Common flat roof covering with fairly short life. 
  • Moisture meter

    Measures electrical conductivity and hence dampness. 
  • Monitoring

    Observing crack damage over time using tell-tales, studs or similar. 
  • Mono-pitch

    Roof with only one slope. 
  • Mortar

    Mixture of sand, cement, water and sometimes lime used to join stones or bricks. 
  • Mortgage

    A sum of money lend by a bank or building society and repaid over a fixed (and usually long) period of time where the loan security is the property. 
  • Mortgage deed

    The Mortgage deed legal codifies the terms of the mortgage and the Lender’s interest in the property. 
  • Mortgage indemnity guarantee (MIG)

    See Additional Security Fee. 
  • Mortgage indemnity premium (MIP)

    See Additional Security Fee. 
  • Mortgage payment protection (MPP)

    An MPP is an insurance policy that protects the Borrower against inability to work (through illness, redundancy, or disability) by paying the monthly mortgage payment for a fixed period of time. 
  • Mortgage rate

    The standard variable interest rate all mortgage lenders use at the basis for their discounted mortgage rates. This tends to vary according to the Bank of England base rate. 
  • Mortgage term

    The time over which the mortgage is to be repaid in regular payments, or the time at the end of which the mortgage is repaid in its entirety. 
  • Mortgagee

    The Lender of the mortgage (usually a bank or building society) is known as a Mortgagee. 
  • Motorised valves

    Electrically controlled flow in heating and hot water pipes. 
  • Movement joints

    In walls and floors to allow for expansion and contraction. 
  • Mullion

    Vertical bar dividing individual lights in a window. 
  • Nail sickness

    Rusting of nails used to fix slates to roof battens. 
  • Negative equity

    If the outstanding value of the mortgage exceeds the market value of the property, the Borrower is said to have negative equity. 
  • Newel

    Stout post supporting a staircase handrail at the top and bottom. Also, the central pillar of a winding spiral staircase. 
  • No-fines concrete

    Cast concrete in shuttering with no sand aggregate. 
  • Noggins

    Horizontal timber between studs in timber-framed wall construction. 
  • Non-Residential

    Any part of Premises not used for residential purposes. 
  • Nosing

    Outer top corner of step or sill. 
  • Notice of Invitation to Participate - Section 78

    After its information but before its issuance of the Claim Notice, the Right to Manage Company can invite all Qualifying Flat Owners in the property to join it. 
  • NHBC (National House-Building Council) scheme

    Some newly-build properties are covered by this form of Guarantee whereby any defects occurring within a fixed period after construction are repaired. 
  • Offer

    The offer is the Buyer’s proposed sum to pay for a property. 
  • Officers

    The Company Secretary and the Directors of the Right to Manage Company. 
  • Ombudsman

    An independent organization that investigates professionals such as estate agents, or solicitors when complaints are made by their customers. 
  • One-pipe heating

    All water passes in and out of each radiator in turn. 
  • Open market value

    The open market value is the expected price of a property in the marketplace. 
  • Oversailing

    Course of brick or stone projecting out from face of wall. 
  • Oversite

    Rough concrete below timber ground floors Parapet Low wall along the edge of a roof, balcony etc. 
  • Pan tiles

    Flattened S-shaped interlocking tiles. 
  • Parapet

    Low all along the edge of a flat roof, balcony etc. 
  • Parapet Gutter

    A timber gutter of rectangular cross-section usually provided with a flexible metal or other impervious lining. Used behind a parapet or sometimes at a valley. 
  • Parquet flooring

    Flooring of hardwood strips laid in patterns of a wood subfloor or concrete. 
  • Party wall

    Each owner owns half with rights in respect of the other half. 
  • Patio 

    Paved recreation area, usually to the rear of the property. 
  • Payment break

    A Payment break is a window in flexible mortgage repayments that allows borrowers to suspend payments for a fixed period of time. 
  • Pebbledash

    Cement mortar render with brown pebble or similar pebble finish. 
  • Pediment

    Low pitched gable above a portico or similar feature above doors in homes or windows. Generally stonework, rendered brickwork. 
  • Peg tiles

    Old handmade tiles held by wooden pegs on battens. 
  • Penalties

    Penalty charges are incurred by Borrowers when they either transfer mortgages to different Lenders or fully repay the loan before the end of the term. 
  • Peppercorn ground rent

    A basic (and usually annual) rent the Freeholder charges to the leaseholder. 
  • Pergola

    A covered walk in a garden, usually formed by a double row of posts or pillars with joists above and covered by climbing plants. 
  • Pied-a-terre

    A property kept for occasional or temporary secondary occupation.
  • Pier

    A vertical column of brickwork or other material, used to strengthen the wall or to support a weight.
  • Pilaster

    A shallow pier or a rounded/rectangular column projecting only slightly from a wall. Primarily decorative.
  • Piles

    Foundation of concrete columns sunk into ground, can be steel.
  • Pitched roof

    Sloping (rather than flat) and covered with tiles, slates etc.
  • Plasterboard

    Stiff "sandwich" of plaster between coarse paper. Now in widespread use for ceilings and walls.
  • Plate

    Horizontal timber on wall to spread load of joists, rafters etc. 
  • Plinth

    Widening at base of wall, often rendered.
  • Plumb

    Vertical (out of plumb/loss of plumbness - leaning/bowing, distorted).
  • Pointing

    Outer edge of mortar joint between bricks, stones etc
  • Ponding

    Lying water on flat roofs, hardstandings where constructed of inadequate falls.
  • Porch

    The roofed entrance to a house.
  • Portico

    A roofed entrance to a house that is columned like a temple front.
  • Powder Post

    Beetle (Bostrychide or lyctidae family of beetles). A relatively uncommon pest which can, if untreated, cause widespread damage to structural timbers.
  • Prefabrication

    The manufacture of whole buildings or components cast/assembled in a factory or off-site before placed in position.
  • Preliminary enquiries

    The initial enquiries made to the Seller about a property. The Seller must fully answer these before any exchange of contracts.
  • Premium

    The monthly payment on an insurance policy is the Premium.
  • Premium lease

    The advance rental for a property is the Premium Lease.
  • Principal

    The basic loan upon which interest is calculated.
  • Public liability insurance

    Public Liability insurance covers injury or death on or in the vicinity of a property.
  • Purlin

    Horizontal beam in a roof upon which rafters rest.