The Mega **Management Company** thread

Victor

hamiltron wrote: »

By the way, in reply to your question Victor, the estate is private in that we pay for our own maintenance of green areas, we do not get any maintenance of roads (I have subsidence in the path outside my house and the council will not help) and the council in Meath have no facility in place for taking in charge estates. There are estates over twenty years old in Navan that still have not been taken in charge.

In effect the shared parts of the estate are likely to still be owned by the developer, if you know who that is. That person could make a complaint of trespass.

Paulw

Firstly, your complaint should be about the management agent, and not the management company. Please understand the difference.

If you own a unit in the development, then you are a member of the management company, and you should step up and do something about the issues. You should put yourself forward to be a director of the management company, so you can direct the issues.

If your development management company is still run by the developers, then you need to form a resident's association, and deal directly with the directors of your management company. Get them to see the issues you have. In fact, you should push to have them step down, so you can elect your own directors of the management company.

what2do

Paulw wrote: »

If you own a unit in the development, then you are a member of the management company, and you should step up and do something about the issues. You should put yourself forward to be a director of the management company, so you can direct the issues.

If your development management company is still run by the developers, then you need to form a resident's association, and deal directly with the directors of your management company. Get them to see the issues you have. In fact, you should push to have them step down, so you can elect your own directors of the management company.

+1 - once a number of owner occupiers get involved things tend to improve as you have a personal interest in how things are run. Also if you become part of the mgt co committee (if this is how your place is run) you learn more about how things are being run, where problems lie and you can have more of an input in how things can be improved.

tomtoms

I am a tenant, i rent this property.
something similar to renting from the corporation, except you pay your rent to a housing association.

Some tenants in the past have approched the housing ass to step down and hand this estate over the DCC, but as i said before the Ass think they are doing an alright job.

The real problem here is the housing Ass is made up of local people from the community who have volunteered to join this committee and run this estate. They are not trained in housing issues, and some are intimidated by resisdents causing all the trouble, therefore anti social behaviour is ignored.

Paulw

Most new developments now have a mix of social assistance housing and owners/rented too.

We, in our development, were unhappy with our development and our management agent. We formed a resident's association, and eventually removed the sitting directors (the developers) and elected ourselves as directors. We then also replaced the management agent. Since then, our place has been so much better.

None of us had experience in running developments. We're just average people, from different backgrounds, but we all made an effort and worked together.

Work with those who want to work with you in the development. Work with the management agent. Also, work with the Gardai (they're very helpful). Get to know the community officer, the local Super, and have them around to visit your area.

The more people who get together, the quicker things will turn around. It may take some work initially, but it gets easier and easier.

Best of luck.

tomtoms

thank you all for your input, i will take all advice on board.

derek2222_ie

Citywest Plaza

Just bought a place in citywest plaza

The management charge is €1910 per year. Is this about standard as its my first time dealing with this kind of thing

The_Conductor

derek2222_ie wrote: »

Citywest Plaza

Just bought a place in citywest plaza

The management charge is €1910 per year. Is this about standard as its my first time dealing with this kind of thing

Seems a bit on the high side. Whats included in the Management Charge? Get a copy of last years accounts and see how funds were spent.

S.

derek2222_ie

smccarrick wrote: »

Seems a bit on the high side. Whats included in the Management Charge? Get a copy of last years accounts and see how funds were spent.

S.

Its a new complex so there is no accounts for last year. they have given me a breakdown of the charges. The total cost works out at €102777 for the year. This is split over about 55-56 apartments

The_Conductor

Are there a lot of lifts, hydraulic gates, passageways/landings, security/cleaning staff?

It does seem a bit pricey, not out of the realms of possibility, but definitely on the pricey side. Can't really tell though- unless we have an idea of what the upkeep of the complex entails.

How Strange

It could also be because the managing agents aren't going for best price based on three quotes and negotiating. We have the same problem in our current development with some of the services, the contracts are rolled over every year and probably are increased by at least 5%.

I'll be asking the MC/MA's this at our next AGM. I work in facilities and I always have to look for the best price and challenge and negotiate increases but I don't think MA's do the same.

daheff

:mad:aarrggh... this happened again last night...Mgmt Co havent done anything since the last time.

I rang last night and told them it was going off....was told ..sorry need to wait until tomorrow to get somebody out to fix it! Today I rang them to find out why it was going off/couldnt be fixed last night...person i was talking to seemed to be oblivious to the fact that this is continuing to happen

then they got my details ....and passed them onto the fire alarm company...wtf!!Its not my job to deal with the fire alarm maintenance company....thats what the mgmt company are paid to do!! Why oh why are they not doing their job and sorting this out??

The only blessing is that the block is still unoccupied...otherwise people would be going deaf with that racket all night!

markpb

If you're the only person living in the block, they could be assuming there's a faulty unit somewhere in your apartment. If that's the case, the fire system company will need to enter your apartment to check it out - that's why the company passed your details onto them.

daheff

I dont live in the block....i live in a house down the street. soemthing i've made clear to them.

got home...alarm still going off...rang mgmt company...got the "i'll pass a message on".

just got off the phone again with the head of the management company..hes now trying to tell me that he was told that it was a burglar alarm going off in the apartment block! this despite me telling them that there was a FIRE alarm going off.The call centre last nite told me they would try to get an alarm engineer out and the girl in the mgmt company also passed my number onto a fire alarm maintenance company today!!!

I was also told that a fire alarm going off is not an emergency.

daheff

just to update...its STILL going off 2 days later
:eek:

daheff

Hi

Does anybody know how you would go about removing a management company from an estate?

any help advise would be greatly appreciated.

Jo King

Do you mean a management agent or a management company.

egan007

Jo King wrote: »

Do you mean a management agent or a management company.

A common problem...

Jo King you are part of the management company.
Everybody that owns a unit in your estate is the management company, it has a board of directors like any company. The board of directors is made up of the builders (who also own units in the estate).

The people you pay to keep things running are the management agent who are employed by the management company to run the estate. They in turn hire people to cut the grass take out the trash etc....

I'd advise getting a clear picture on who all the members in the management company are it's board of directors, the management agent.
The builder has interest in not handing over the company so invite then and every other resident and form a residence association.

Discuss the problems (good luck with that shouting match) then formulate a plan for dissolving of the company, part of this plan is to get the council to agree to take over maintenance of the estate. You may find that the builders planing is based on an agreement that this never happens.....just another lovely fact of life....

Good luck and let us know if you are one of the extremely patient and lucky ones....

Jo King

egan007 wrote: »

A common problem...

Jo King you are part of the management company.
Everybody that owns a unit in your estate is the management company, it has a board of directors like any company. The board of directors is made up of the builders (who also own units in the estate).
.

I am not part of anything. I was asking which the o/p meant. Unless each unit can buy out its fee simple under the 1978 Act it is impossible for the estate to be taken in charge by the council.

daheff

Jo King wrote: »

Do you mean a management agent or a management company.

ok ... i mean the company that administer the management company. in theory the management company are a good idea (as long as they are properly run & not flushing money away / giving it to the builders cronies).

The company administering our management company is completely inept.

they are the ones i want to get rid of.

daheff

Jo King wrote: »

Unless each unit can buy out its fee, simple under the 1978 Act, it is impossible for the estate to be taken in charge by the council.

can you expand a bit on this? what fee and what act are you referring to?

Paulw

daheff wrote: »

ok ... i mean the company that administer the management company. in theory the management company are a good idea (as long as they are properly run & not flushing money away / giving it to the builders cronies).

The company administering our management company is completely inept.

they are the ones i want to get rid of.

A company doesn't run your management company. Directors manage the management company, and employ a management agent to do the day to day work.

Simple steps - form a resident's association with a committee who are unit owners. Write to the directors of the management company, you can get their names and addresses from the CRO. State your issues and what you would like done to resolve the issues. It helps if you have someone familiar with company law (just read and read), and someone who is prepared to give up time to chase the directors.

You should be able to get the articles of association of your management company, as well as the financial reports from the CRO.

If necessary, call an EGM. You will need a certain number of unit owners (shareholders) for this, but the actual number should be documented in the articles of association. At your EGM you can ask the sitting directors to explain what is happening, and in some cases, you can demand that they step down and you elect your own directors. This last part can depend on the articles of association.

In our development, we formed a resident's association, we called an EGM, we voted to remove the sitting directors (the developer), and we elected 3 people from our group to be directors. We then replaced the management agent.

Now, we (the residents and unit owners) are in control of the management company spending.

More than anything - it takes dedicated people and time - emails, letters, phone calls, to move things along.

Best of luck.

Jo King

daheff wrote: »

can you expand a bit on this? what fee and what act are you referring to?

The Landlord & Tenant (Ground Rents) No. 2 Act 1978. Note Sections 8 and 16.I am referring to the fee simple interest in the estate i.e. the land on which the development is built.

Ste.phen

I wouldn't imagine that's entirely relevant in this case, because the common areas need to be owned by SOMEONE, (i.e the management company).
Apartments in particular wouldn't be affected by this, as the building itself, hallways, carpark etc, would need to be owned by the management company

Jo King

Igy wrote: »

I wouldn't imagine that's entirely relevant in this case, because the common areas need to be owned by SOMEONE, (i.e the management company).
Apartments in particular wouldn't be affected by this, as the building itself, hallways, carpark etc, would need to be owned by the management company

What has your imagination got to do with anything? The o/p hasn't said what type of housing his estate consists of.
If the estate consist of houses or blocks of apartments of less the 4 apartments then each owner can acquire the fee simple with the council taking the common areas in charge. If there are blocks of more than four apartments then the owners cannot acquire the fee simple and they must have a management company.

daheff

the estate has houses (and green areas) as well as apartment blocks (of 3*6 units in each block)

athtrasna

Do you have owner directors or is the builder still the director of the management company? The directors of the management company can replace the agent without needing the consent of an AGM, if they are so inclined. If the builders are the directors, they are less likely to be willing to make that decision.

daheff

builder is still the director of the Mgmt Company AFAIK

Paulw

As I said, there may be ways to remove the sitting directors (the developer) and replace them with elected directors. You'll need to consult the articles of association of your management company (which you can download from the CRO).

That's how we did it.

But, you really should form a resident's association, and make a collective voice heard.

Jo King

The owners of the houses can buy the fee simple to thier ground and thus take themselves out of the management company.