Extortionate Management Fees

seanie500

Can somebody tell me what they for Mgt Fees for a 2 Bed Apt in Dublin City Centre? I currently pay EUR 2,868 which i believe to be an absolute joke. I wouldnt mind but it's not as if the Apt complex is amazing or anything. Its D8 Clanbrassil Street.

When i bought the apt ( 5 years ago) the fee was about 1,500

the AGM is on in a few weeks time which i'm planning to go to not that it will make much diff though.

anybody i've spoken to is saying roughly 1,200 - 1,500 for different parts of dublin.

what a pis*er:mad:

gerrycollins

Firstly get it straight that no two complex are the same. secondly please go to the agm many dont and the agents get away with stuff.

I have only been highlighted to a few things since I join one of these.

The fee is only relative to what is spent for the up keep of the complex,however there are "just in case" funds added to the equation but the excuses for these are so silly that insurance sorts it out mostly such as damage to bollards in the car park, so at your AGM ask for the accounts for last year.

The management company agent will do out a budget for this year coming and will then divide the amount needed against the apartments depending on weighting etc. The budget will have insurance, esb for communal areas, maintance of lifts, maybe a cleaning service,gardening service,waste disposal and then a sinking fund which is a reserve fund everyone contributes to yearly in case the management company, ie you, decide to do some renovations or redecorating to the communal areas. also covers such things as light bulbs etc

also there will be an agents charge, this is usually a percentage of the overall budget, ie their fee for handelling that amount of work so the smaller the complex/work load the less they would get.

what you pay is relative to what is spent on the complex so challenge every budgetted expense compare it to last year cost( they have to provide basic balance sheet) and see how come its so high this year. Are the landlords for the empty units contributing, they should be. recheck your contract for the percentage loading on your unit and make sure they are only charging you the percentage.

The only area suffering an increase of premium is insurance the rest are coming down in price.

seanie500

gerrycollins wrote: »

Firstly get it straight that no two complex are the same. secondly please go to the agm many dont and the agents get away with stuff.

I have only been highlighted to a few things since I join one of these.

The fee is only relative to what is spent for the up keep of the complex,however there are "just in case" funds added to the equation but the excuses for these are so silly that insurance sorts it out mostly such as damage to bollards in the car park, so at your AGM ask for the accounts for last year.

The management company agent will do out a budget for this year coming and will then divide the amount needed against the apartments depending on weighting etc. The budget will have insurance, esb for communal areas, maintance of lifts, maybe a cleaning service,gardening service,waste disposal and then a sinking fund which is a reserve fund everyone contributes to yearly in case the management company, ie you, decide to do some renovations or redecorating to the communal areas. also covers such things as light bulbs etc

also there will be an agents charge, this is usually a percentage of the overall budget, ie their fee for handelling that amount of work so the smaller the complex/work load the less they would get.

what you pay is relative to what is spent on the complex so challenge every budgetted expense compare it to last year cost( they have to provide basic balance sheet) and see how come its so high this year. Are the landlords for the empty units contributing, they should be. recheck your contract for the percentage loading on your unit and make sure they are only charging you the percentage.

The only area suffering an increase of premium is insurance the rest are coming down in price.

cheers for the reply. will definitely go to the AGM alright am making my list of questions.

actually took a look at the accounts for year just gone.

I realise no complex is the same but one thing which i think is a joke is there is a full time janitor and that makes up 25% of all expenses.

my mate lives in a similiar size complex where there is no janitor at all

Ok in my place there are 63 apts in total and fees total 140k so thats aprox 2.2k per apt

total costs for 2008 were 120K and as u mention there is a budget for 2009 in the accounts and cost projections are 150k! 25% increase!

Sinking fund is 75K my understanding is this is pure profit which is sitting in its bank account.

Is it difficult for a residents board to take over? these figures seem totally out of whack and suggest a total Rip off.

gerrycollins

dont forget apartments will differ depending on size but thats a contractual matter. However voting rights may also be attached to this weighting

My understanding is that you are the management company even though the original builders might be directors your technically shareholders.

If the sinking fund of 75K is in the 120K then that definately too much and if extra?i'd fight to get it lowered. Again most of the things they say it needs to cover are actually covered by the insurance. you can organise the residents to all or majority to go against it.

do you pay it monthly or annually?

again you can redress this by organising the residents who are cash strapped(just say it) and agree to pay it in 3 month periods however ask for an update meeting after 6 months.

again just tell them to reduce what they re spending its simple otherwise organise everyone to hold out.

good luck

seanie500

yeah cant locate the original agreement must request a copy off them

havent been to an AGm before complex is almost 6 years old bad eh!

new directors were elected in dec-08 the ones resigning are the original ones i.e developer and Mgt co bloke there is no reference to shareholders in the fin stats though it is a co limited by share cap. so i asuume it is the apt owners

the sinking fund of 75k is basically accumulated profits from day one which accumulates in the balance sheet. the 120k costs for fy08 is all other costs incurred the profit for FY08 was 15K this just rolls up into the 75K i.e it was 60K at the end of Fy07

the only good thing about these fees is that u can set up a direct debit to pay quarterly though 715 euro per quater is a fair whack

should be fun meeting those cowboys anyway

thanks for advice bud