Issues with Property Management Company

LearnerMan1

Hi please can you advise. If you own a flat in a block of flats and you are unhappy with the service provided by the property management company can you change the company?

AlwaysWorking

Is it one block of flats or do the flats form part of a larger development which are managed by the same company? Why are you unhappy with the company?

LearnerMan1

Hi thanks for getting back to me. It is one block of flats in one building. The management company manage the development of further privately owned houses (green areas etc).

I am looking to see what options I have in Northern Ireland that is why I asked my initial question. I know that there is more regulation in Britain regarding apartments. Whereas NI law usually factors in what is in the lease agreement only, from what I'm reading on the internet at least.

There appears to be several issues that are becoming apparent with the management company from cleaning, maintenance and expense charges among others and this is confirmed with the other owners of flats. Additionally, the company itself has a bad rep from what I'm reading.

Would really value your opinion, are you a solicitor yourself? 

What kind of options do I have if I wanted to change compnay or if I can encourage them to make amends?

Thanks

missile

Welcome to the club. Many home owners are unhappy with their property management company. I successfully replaced ours.

In England, Wales and Scotland you can apply to The First-tier Tribunal. The equivalent appears to be The Lands Tribunal The Lands Tribunal | Department of Justice (justice-ni.gov.uk)

There ought to be guidance in your Lease, Title Deeds and/or Deed of Conditions. You probably need agreement from lease giver and 50+% of owners to replace the Property Manager.

Is your property freehold or leasehold?
Do you have an owners committee? If not I would suggest you create one.
Arrange an Annual General Meeting.
Distribute a letter to all owners requesting they attend / or authorise a proxy vote.

AlwaysWorking

Missile's advice is excellent.

I previously worked (briefly) for a property management company dealing with block management (hated it!) and would agree that you need to ask the management company for an AGM and then speak to as many of your neighbours on the development as possible to gauge their opinion and encourage them to take part. Do your homework first e.g look up Companies House to see who the directors of the management company for your development are, detail exactly why residents are unhappy, if you think you have been overcharged for work on the site have quotes for the work etc.

I always found it strange that so many people are unhappy with their management company but so few attend the AGMs to voice this. Good luck!     

LearnerMan1

missile said:

Welcome to the club. Many home owners are unhappy with their property management company. I successfully replaced ours.

In England, Wales and Scotland you can apply to The First-tier Tribunal. The equivalent appears to be The Lands Tribunal The Lands Tribunal | Department of Justice (justice-ni.gov.uk)

There ought to be guidance in your Lease, Title Deeds and/or Deed of Conditions. You probably need agreement from lease giver and 50+% of owners to replace the Property Manager.

Is your property freehold or leasehold?
Do you have an owners committee? If not I would suggest you create one.
Arrange an Annual General Meeting.
Distribute a letter to all owners requesting they attend / or authorise a proxy vote.

 

Thank you for this info. My property is a leasehold, there is no owners committee, the development is about 2 years old. There are around 30 houses of which those owners own their freeholds and pay a much smaller annual rate than the apartment owners which are 8 in total. So if your estimate is correct (50% +) then even if all the apartment owners wanted to replace the Property Manager we would still need a right few votes form the home owners and they might be quite content to pay their 100quid a year for service, while we pay our 600quid instead! So that might be difficult in itself in get past 50%.

But yes a committee would be a great idea; and also 2 years in and no sign of the first AGM! With the pandemic happening I expect this is probably a widespread occurrence in itself by Property Management companies; and they might be making the most of this opportunity to shrug required repairs etc.

I think the proxy vote is a great idea, people would be much more likely to vote with the current climate.

Thanks

missile

I think you will find it very difficult to motivate the house owners.