Property Management Company fees

propertyman

missile wrote: »

I have no problem choosing a.n.other agent, my main concern is getting support from appathetic residents. I understand we need approval from 50% before we can serve notice. How did you adress that issue?

Well firstly the factoring of your invoices cannot be done in the way that they are doing it. Service charges are calculated and due under lease normally estimated annually and invoiced periodically normally yearly half yearly or quarterly.

IF they enter into an agreement with an individual resident for DD or factoring, that cost must be added to the individual bill and is a separate arrangement with the flat owner, not a service or admin charge under the lease.

Change of Agent; Forget 50% for now, it all depends on your situation, who instructs the agent, the freeholder/landlord, or a residents management company, or is the manager named in the lease?

missile

propertyman wrote: »

Well firstly the factoring of your invoices cannot be done in the way that they are doing it. Service charges are calculated and due under lease normally estimated annually and invoiced periodically normally yearly half yearly or quarterly. As noted in post #1, in their (annual) estimate, they have increased their fee by 55%

IF they enter into an agreement with an individual resident for DD or factoring, that cost must be added to the individual bill and is a separate arrangement with the flat owner, not a service or admin charge under the lease. This is not relevant to my situation

Change of Agent; Forget 50% for now, it all depends on your situation, who instructs the agent, the freeholder/landlord, or a residents management company, or is the manager named in the lease?

Please be advised:
The properties are freehold
There is a residents committee and I one of six members.
The residents committee instructs the Management Contractor.
The Management Contractor was appointed by the developer when the properties were built. I shall have to dig out the documents for purchase to see what they say.

Forget 50% for now,

Why? :eek:

cheatedresident

If there already is a amangement company set up then you do not need 50%, just find out who the directors are.

It is common these days for a freehold property to have to contribute to the running costs of the estate.

You latest service charge demand should tell you the name of the freeholder and/or the management company as it will be them who invoice you not the managing agent.

We have 3 directors and have now made contact with them and we are in the process of chancing managing agent.

Feel free to PM me if you need any further help

propertyman

missile wrote: »

Please be advised:
The properties are freehold
There is a residents committee and I one of six members.
The residents committee instructs the Management Contractor.
The Management Contractor was appointed by the developer when the properties were built. I shall have to dig out the documents for purchase to see what they say.

Why? :eek:

Because 50 % might be one of those figures that people light upon and it blurs their understanding.

Ok after your post, it seems that the termination and change can be done on simple notice under the existing agreement/contract.

The exception may be where the management "contractor" is named in the lease and any change requires a certain percentage to remove them from that appointment ( common in retirement & over 55 schemes), or rarer still, there is such a clause in the management agreement/contract.

So have a good look in the papers and the leases.

missile

cheatedresident wrote: »

If there already is a amangement company set up then you do not need 50%, just find out who the directors are.

It is common these days for a freehold property to have to contribute to the running costs of the estate.

You latest service charge demand should tell you the name of the freeholder and/or the management company as it will be them who invoice you not the managing agent.

We have 3 directors and have now made contact with them and we are in the process of chancing managing agent.

Feel free to PM me if you need any further help

Please be advised:
It is the Property Management Company who are increasing their fee. We have already asked them to explain what we consider is an unreasonable increase, see post #1.
The residents are the freeholders, we are responsible for all costs.
The Property Management Company is our "managing agent".

We have 3 directors

Are these residents?

missile

propertyman wrote: »

Because 50 % might be one of those figures that people light upon and it blurs their understanding. I would have no problem if they could justify increasing their fee by 50%.

Ok after your post, it seems that the termination and change can be done on simple notice under the existing agreement/contract.

The exception may be where the management "contractor" is named in the lease and any change requires a certain percentage to remove them from that appointment ( common in retirement & over 55 schemes), or rarer still, there is such a clause in the management agreement/contract.

So have a good look in the papers and the leases.

AFIK we would need 50% of the owners to approve before we could replace the Management Contractor.
Some of the properties are let and finding owners is an issue. A bigger issue is many of the others are apathetic. When we tried to contact residents regarding another issue we got a very poor response.

cheatedresident

missile wrote: »

Please be advised:
It is the Property Management Company who are increasing their fee. We have already asked them to explain what we consider is an unreasonable increase, see post #1.
The residents are the freeholders, we are responsible for all costs.
The Property Management Company is our "managing agent".
Are these residents?

No neither director actually lives on the development but they each own a property.

When you say the residents are freeholders, are their properties freehold or do they own the ground the development is built on i.e. landlords?

propertyman

missile wrote: »

AFIK we would need 50% of the owners to approve before we could replace the Management Contractor.

Well that s my point, why do you know this?

It may not be the case, as posted earlier and may make a change possible. If there is no such imitation then this is matter for the directors , but perhaps with an obligation to consult if you enter into a qualifying long term agreement.

There is certainly no legal obligation to get 50% under statute or precedent, but there may be a contractual one in the contract the leases or the articles.

Your agents should have the address of all owners and the company secretary the UK addresses of all shareholders/member's ( or their represetatives eg letting agent) and should provide that list to the board if requested- they act for you.

missile

propertyman wrote: »

Well that s my point, why do you know this?

It may not be the case, as posted earlier and may make a change possible. If there is no such imitation then this is matter for the directors , but perhaps with an obligation to consult if you enter into a qualifying long term agreement.

There is certainly no legal obligation to get 50% under statute or precedent, but there may be a contractual one in the contract the leases or the articles.

Your agents should have the address of all owners and the company secretary the UK addresses of all shareholders/member's ( or their represetatives eg letting agent) and should provide that list to the board if requested- they act for you.

Please be advised:

We do not have an agent or directors.

The Property Management Company does have addresses for all owners. We asked them to supply these to the risidents committee and they refused. We could obtain these but it would be a hassle. The residents response to a previous request from the committee was very poor, only 25 of the 109 residents replied.

I am not familiar with regulations / statute or presidents. The property management company was appointed by the developer and I have not seen their contract. I do not believe one owner or even the residents committee have authority to terminate. I am suggesting that we would require written consent from at least 50% of the owners, to serve notice and appoint a new Property Management Company.

missile

cheatedresident wrote: »

No neither director actually lives on the development but they each own a property.

When you say the residents are freeholders, are their properties freehold or do they own the ground the development is built on i.e. landlords?

I do not wish to disclose sensitive info on an open forum. I shall send you a PM.