Managing Agents

TheArtfulDodger

The managing agent for the block of flats in which I own a flat are quite useless and a number of the occupants are keen to see them replaced with another managing agent who can do a better job with the same budget. Our main gripe is that the managing agent is extremely slow to resolve any issues that crop up in the block e.g. repairs. Their attitude in dealing with us as their customers is pretty shocking too, making it seem as though we should be grateful for what we get from them despite us paying them a fee for their services!

I'd be interested to know if anyone has managed to change managing agents in a block of flats and how you went about doing this. In particular, once agreement was reached about the need for a different set of managing agents, how were the legal aspects dealt with?

A bit of background to the block. It's a purpose built block of flats built about 2/3 years ago. Once built, the entire block was bought by a property investment company and the individual flats were rented out. Over the last year, the property investment company has started selling off the flats and I bought one. The flat has a lease of 999 years on it. However, once all the flats have been sold, the freehold transfers to a management company and the owners will have a share in this company. Even if all the flats aren't sold by 31/12/2010, the freehold will be transferred by this date at the latest.

So, at present, whilst a number of flats have been sold, the property investment company owns the majority of the flats and is also the freeholder.

I'd be very interested to hear of people's experiences and advice on appointing a new set of managing agents.