Huge Supplementary Management Fee Charge

anotherlostie

In January 2007 I paid €1500 for management fees for a 2 bed apartment in a large development of 450 units.

Last week I received a supplementary charge of an extra €480. I am dumbstruck at how large an overrun this is.

Of course the developer has held onto a couple of units so still controls the Management company so there is little we can do other than accuse them of being unable to run the complex within budget.

I guess I have two questions:

1) Is €2000 reasonable for management fees on a 2 bed (we don't have 24hr concierge or anything like that!!!) - should we just accept it?
2) Is there anything we can do?

julius128

If there is no Full time Security in the building, this amount is not acceptable at all, this is way beyond what is expected for a 2 bed house.

it should be around 1000 (or less) without security man or around 1600-1700 with security.

Moonbeam

Request a copy of the accounts and go through them.

That sounds like a lot extra to be paying.

anotherlostie

We do have full time security but this is shared with businesses nearby.

We received a one page statement of accounts, but there is no transparency on the tendering service (e.g. we found out that the cleaning service is a sub company of the management company, so back to the developer), and more importantly no drive for the managing agent to control costs - we as owners seem powerless to challenge them, and the why should the developer care - we are paying the costs. Sigh.

SimpleSam06

Whew, thats the guts of a million euros a year. You could employ a small army of people for that much and still have enough left over for beer and pizzas.

The_Conductor

As Moonbeam said- get a copy of the accounts, they are legally obliged to file the accounts (note: the most recent accounts depend on the Annual Return Date (ARD) for the Management Company- it varies from company to company- its quite possible that the year to-date may not have been filed as yet).

While you are legally obliged to pay the fee- you are also entitled to know what its being spent on........

connundrum

Was any reason given for the added supplement i.e. increased security, CCTV installation, roof/lift repair?

As previosuly stated, get the accounts as you are entitled to see them.

What has the managing agent said on the matter?

How Strange

This is a 33% increase after a budget has been set, agreed and invoices for charges sent out so there needs to be transparency as to why this increase is necessary.

I'd advise you to put up notices on the corridors of the apartment block and try to mobilise a few owners, have a meeting and demand an EGM of the management company to explain why there was such a huge budget over run.

This shows very bad mis management.

It could also be that the developer hasn't paid service charges on vacant units and the MC is trying to pass them onto owners instead.

Sometimes a 2 bed could be as high as 2k a year but the budget over run and insufficient budget planning are the things that would worry me if I were an owner.