Managing Agents what can we do

Missmoomoo

Hi I'm hoping someone may know what we can do. We live in a small development of 15 flats which includes a single shop. The managing agents are continually not carrying out tasks we pay for, cleaning communal areas, car parks, cleaning windows. When they do do something it's half done, like a new lock on the entrance door isn't connected to the intercom. They are also charging us all far more than anyone else I know,we don't have lifts or communal grounds more than a car park and yet we are charged more than people in similar developments who do.

Anyway what I wanted to ask is, what can we do? I know we can't vote them out and self manage be because we have the shop, but where can we go to complain (no point complaining to them they do not care other than if we withhold payment) can we go to the freeholder to complain or who protects us from this?

Many thanks

propertyman

Well here is some good news.:T

As long as the floor area of the flats is more that 75% of the total ( flats plus shops) you ­can exercise Right to Manage.

As to service charges to date and the quality of service you can exercise your rights to inspect the invoices for the services provided or have a management audit(MA) and use that as the basis of the negotiated settlement are asking the Tribunal to determine this.

:money:Comparing the block’s costs to others is pointless, you need to establish what the reasonable cost and standard of say cleaning would be and compare that to the costs and the actual list of and performance of the duties charged for. Expert advice from the MA, above, or simply asking contractors or insurers to quote in anticipation of you taking over will help.

Info on this is at http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/

Missmoomoo

Hi propertyman....thank you that is amazing news, the flats must be more than 75 % of the development so it looks like we can rid ourselves of them. Sorry just to pick a bit more of your brain, with the right to manage is there a percentage of residents tht need to agree to it? And once we have achieved it can we shop around for our own choice of property manager or do we need to literally self manage?

Such good news, it will be a relief to be rid of them if we manage it, they are freely awful the net is littered with complaints against them.

propertyman

If you follow the link the RTM guide is there.:D

There is also a list of ARMA and or RICS practioners who can help you with RTM and if needed future management.

Missmoomoo

That's maxing, sorry I should have looked before asking...thanks again that's fantastic

pinkshoes

Definitely manage it yourself!

I lived in a block of 16 flats, and 6 of the owners got together to form a management team. Every flat owner was given the option, but some didn't want to.

We held annual meetings, and ran everything via email.

We ended up sacking the management company as the were horrendous, charged a fortune, and never did anything. We employed a new management/maintenance company who were much better, worked out realistic costs (including a fund for future maintenance), and it reduced everyone's annual fee.

It also meant that any problems were highlighted really quickly and dealt with.

FlyingDonkeys

Blue Max You might want to consider asking around and getting a personal recommendation. Being a member of Arma is no guarantee of anything. Their members have been in many cases of service charge disputes.

FlyingDonkeys

Few months down the line... how did it go?

Daniel_san

Blue Max, could you give me a brief run down of the issues with WE and how you came to get 32k back from them please? You've warned me about them on another thread regarding their sister company UCS Parking, and I'm seeking out as much info as I can find to assist me on what to look for in the accounts. I've just received an overview of our RTM co's accounts for the period ending June 2014 and it looks as if they've been doing the RTM accounts and signed off on them as the accountant, so they're still up to the same tricks it seems. I've had enough of them, but the 1 director of the RTM company has her head up their bottoms and thinks they're great (she also owns a cleaning company that recently "won" the contract for the apartment block....). I cannot find a way to be made a director so I can have some clout as WE won't appoint me, the director won't appoint me (I'm a trouble maker as I stand up for myself and question things) and we haven't had an AGM in 3 years, so I can't campaign for a vote.

Any help you can give would be massively appreciated. Thank you.

FlyingDonkeys

Blue_Max wrote: »

Jordan & Cook, our current managing agent is doing just fine. But the new directors make sure that the agents keep us fully informed and consulted before taking action.
As for Warwick Estates, the previous managing agent, we have succeeded in claiming back over £32,000 either through the Property Ombudsman or through the Courts.
Determinations by the LVT in November 2012 was the foundation to most of the claims from Warwicks.

Did you represent yourself and was it an easy process at LVT (now FTTPC)? Our experience (for small block of flats) found process heavily stacked with no fair representation or voice for layperson leaseholder.

Blue_Max

Jordan & Cook the managing agent that we appointed was okay at first but has turned out to be devious. There has been two examples of them manupulating the process of obtaining quotations for major works, to giving preference to the compnaies that they choose.

Another is the attempts to avoid preparing audited accounts as required by the terms of the lease.