Problems with Managing Agents

One of the most common questions we have been asked lately in practice is how to deal with troublesome Managing Agents and how to go about the process of changing Managing Agents.

As with many service providers, notice periods and the terms of cancellation depend entirely on the contract you have with your Managing Agent. Many contacts for management preceed the appointment of the current board of Trustees as well as Owners in the scheme.

Given the circumstances, many people are extremely hesitant to change service providers despite sub-standard service they have been receiving.

Although changing Managing Agents may appear, on the face of it, to be an act which incurs expenses beyond the scope of the Trustees authority, one should bear in mind that these restrictions are to be put in place for UNBUDGETED items only and therefore may not be effected by the restrictions.

Changes in regime will often be met with hostility and for this reason, one should handle the process of changing Managing Agents extremely carefully.

An exercise which we encourage in practice would be to list the non-negotiable aspects of the services one should reasonably expect from a Managing Agent and find a suitable candidate, capable of eliminating the current problems.

The reputation of a building tends to be subject to an accumulation of experiences of residents and owners experiences when dealing with matters relating to the Sectional Scheme and having a competent Managing Agent certainly goes a long way to extending the profitiability and cultivating a good reputation for any long or short  term relationship ofa Sectional Scheme.