more managing agent woes!!

clockworks_2

I am getting increasingly frustrated by the management agent. The management agent is a company that is set up by the developer of our building. Year on year their charges go up but the service suffers.

The intercom system I found out today is owned and rented by a company (lets's call it X) that is owned by the developer. Between 48 flats we pay £15,000 a year for the rental and maintenance of the security gates and intercom. The intercom hasn't been working properly again. All they do is send out a handy man to fix it. Company X isn't a real company specialising in repairing intercom systems. They don't have a phone number, website, and they are registered to the same address as the management agent by the same solicitor.

Our management agent got taken to an LVT and they won. When you look at it on paper £15,000 I guess isn't extoriante to pay a real company that actually maintain the system. which is why they won at the LVT.

However it is when they don't actually fix it.

What can I do?

clockworks_2

anyone? I am so sick of their lies

rexmedorum

yesit's very unfortunate but as a tennant you have to pay good money and thank the LL for doing long overdue sub-standrd repairs.
Of course there are some good ones, or so they say (have yet to meet the perefct LL/LA after 5 attempts)

clockworks_2

I am not a tenant. I own my flat. It's the management agent that is bothering me.

DannyboyMidlands

In my experience ALL management companies are like that. It's a scam to get even more money into the pocket of the developer/freeholder and totally normal. They'll charge a fortune for things such as cleaning the common areas when in reality some old boy just turns up and runs the hoover around once a month. Regular maintenance money will be spent on nothing obvious but when a big repair is needed (to the roof for example) you'll get billed. Even if you ask for receipts they'll produce something flaky to get off the hook. They know every trick in the book.

It is theoretically possible for the leaseholders to take over the management of the building but with 48 flats it'd be a massive pain in the @rse.

This is why I will not buy a flat.

rexmedorum

Aah right
I am a bit bisased but I'd rather like the Dutch system, where by law an owners committee needs to be set up that then decides by vote what fees to charge and how to handle the maintanance.
Also there is no freeholder as all flat owners each own 1/N of the freehold where N = nr of flats.

The committee in my mums flat also oragnise social events once or twice a year.