Frank Proper Local dog

Hi, my name is Frank and I'm a proper local dog.

As a proper local, I'm going to show you around E14.

I'm going to be writing stuff every week. I'm out and about quite a lot.

When people talk about E14 they often think 'Canary Wharf', and they don't think about the Isle of Dogs, or Limehouse or Poplar, or Leamouth or Blackwall.

Today I'm on the Isle of Dogs (of course), on my way down to Island Gardens.

Over my shoulder you can see the Thames, and on the other side is a power station in Greenwich.

I do know that Greenwich is in SE10, not E14, but lots of people wonder if its a working power station. Well it is, sort of.

Greenwich power station is a back up supply for Transport for London. If we have a power cut on the National Grid, the power station will start working so we can still use the tube.

But, the power station might have a different future; you can read about TFL's plan here.

So, nice speaking to you.

For us, Property Management should be simple.

That isn’t to say that we’ll do the bear minimum to make our own lives easy, what it means is that if you apply some common-sense to property management, the process becomes much easier.

From experience, we know the one thing that annoys both tenants and landlords the most is poor communication. At Proper Local we’re not scared of the phone, we like to talk, and we always return emails promptly. The simple fact is that bad things do happen in a tenancy, things do break down, but we also know that if you’re kept updated (both landlord and tenant) then you’ll be assured that it’s going to be resolved.

Ask most people why Canary Wharf would be good place to live and you’ll probably find that most say:

“I guess it would be convenient for work if you worked there.”

Yes, Canary Wharf is London’s key financial district and of course yes, it would be the most convenient place to live if you work there. All rather obvious really, but it’s what most people think.

However, as proper locals we know there’s a bit more to the Canary Wharf than the glass and steel that first meets the eye…


One of the main reasons for a loft conversion is to swap unused space in the roof for useful living space. However, once the design of the proposed room appears, it’s often easy to spot that not all the potential space is being used, largely because it’s awkward – in size, shape or accessibility. So what are the creative ideas for bringing this dead space back to life so you can make the most of your new loft conversion’s accommodation?

Proper Local has been fortunate enough to be instructed on Vive Living @ Childers Street, developer Aitch Group's first build-to-rent venture.

This scheme of 83 private residential apartments is located on the Deptford-New Cross borders, an area increasing in popularity. It very much reminds us of what Hackney used to be in the late 1990's. Whilst there's still some good old-fashioned South East London charm, the influx of coffee shops, bars and restaurants is most welcome.

The Property Ombudsman TSI Trading Standards Client Money Protection Rightmove Zoopla