KFH as managing agent

Gep

Hi, I'm thinking to buy a property in a building which is managed by KFH.
From my current and previous experience I know how important the managing company is especially if turns out that the building has some structural issues (and that seems the case in many new developments, where the motto seems to be "build quick, build cheap").

Does anybody live in a building managed by KFH?
Any feedback / review / comment?

Thanks!

BitterAndTwisted

Managing agents are all much of a muchness. They are nearly all accredited members of RICS. But all of them are constrained by what the freeholders tell them to do. They are not the decision-makers in this relationship, just administrators charging a fee for their services which comes out of the service-charge budget. As do costs for anything to do with repairs, maintenance or structural issues. A more pertinent question to ask would be "is there a sinking-fund"?

demontfort

Yes I live in a block of flats in East London managed by KFH. They are useless, fail to carry out basic repairs and ongoing maintenance. Always full of excuses, the only thing they do efficiently is send out demands for service charge fees. We are currently planning to take them to court for non performance of contractual duties.

Gep

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Managing agents are all much of a muchness. They are nearly all accredited members of RICS. But all of them are constrained by what the freeholders tell them to do. They are not the decision-makers in this relationship, just administrators charging a fee for their services which comes out of the service-charge budget. As do costs for anything to do with repairs, maintenance or structural issues. A more pertinent question to ask would be "is there a sinking-fund"?

In my building the freeholder never played any part, except collecting the ground rent. In my case the managing company should do what the RTM (right to manage) company tells it to do, but it still can make a HUGE difference. When there is a problem the managing company has to deal with it, chase contractors, etc. so I think it's a very pertinent question.
The sinking-fund is all very well, but it can easily be wasted because of bad management and delays.

leecw1704

I do not have a direct experience of the company you refer to, but do know and agree that some are good and some are bad.
We had an experience of a ad one in Leeds, but now have a really good one that does as we want and listens to us.
They respond to requests and do more than just collect charges and dish reminders out to us all.
My advice would be if you can have an influence on who manages your site then look around, get some references and try the smaller, local companies, as they seem to care much more.
We changed from a large National company that was sending contractors from Warrington to Leeds to a local company and the costs have fallen and the standard of what is done has improved greatly. We know everyone in the office as there are only a handful of them and they seem grateful to have our business.
Win-Win I reckon. We have to have an agent, so if we have to we may as well have a good one that works with us!!