A note from the Andrew Adamides welcoming you to the third instalment of The Little Red Book - you ultimate guide to all professionals working in the flat sector
With no official regulatory body for managing agents in place, pretty much anyone can set up as an estate manager. So how can you tell if the agent you’re considering employing is any good? One way is to check whether they’re an ARMA member, as David Hewett, the organisation’s Executive Secretary, explains.
If your managing agent isn’t doing their job properly, what steps can you take to rectify the situation? We spoke to the FPRA’s John Peartree about what to do when you aren’t happy with the managing agent’s performance, and look at all the options available to the dissatisfied leaseholder.
What happens when you’ve tried talking things over with the freeholder and his managing agents and the building is still being run to an unacceptable standard? Columnist Sharon Crossland solved this problem by going the Right-to-Manage route with the London block where she was a leaseholder.
So you need to find a managing agent for your block of flats. The good news is that you have this book, which is an excellent resource for finding one. However, now you have several hundred companies from which to choose, so where do you start? Here, we look at how to approach the hunt for the perfect agent.
Whenever a managing agent isn’t doing their job properly, at some point, at least one leaseholder will undoubtedly utter a variation on the phrase “what are we paying this service charge for when we aren’t getting any service?” But contrary to popular belief, the service charge doesn’t just disappear into the managing agent’s pocket.
We read about people being sued in the papers, see it on the news, watch television programs about it and it is even used in plot lines on films but we never think it will happen to us – do we? We discussed the situation of health & safety with Pete Gilgallon, operations manager, The GOL Group.
New to The Little Red Book, a comprehensive list of UK property solicitors and their contact details, laid out in simple easy to navigate alphabetical order.
Another new addition to volume three of The Little Red Book: a comprehensive list of surveyors operating within the Uk, and details of how to contact them.
