Management Fees not facilitating apartment block

Theoretically the payment would only be due up to and including the date of the change of an agent. In practice it doesn't work that way. What is been sought is the appointment of a MA who is impartial and operating in the best interests of all the owners, not just the developer.
 
It would all be down to timing. The existing MA could not justify calling for a year or six month's charges in advance if he was to be got rid of in the first month.
 
The debt is not to the management agent, it's to the management company. The money is still owed regardless of who the agent is, it's what everyone signed up to at purchase!

The management company does not have to pay the agent their entire fee up front, we put ours on a month by month basis to keep them on their toes!
 
shesells said:
The debt is not to the management agent, it's to the management company. The money is still owed regardless of who the agent is, it's what everyone signed up to at purchase!

The management company does not have to pay the agent their entire fee up front, we put ours on a month by month basis to keep them on their toes!
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I would query the fee not having to be paid up front... most leases state that payment is payable annually in advance...
 
You're mixing up the management agent and management company again!!

I am a member of a management company by virtue of being an owner. In my lease I signed to pay annual fees to the management company. The management company employ a management agent (eg Wyse, SPM etc) to manage the development and the budget and accounts for the development. The management agency charge the management company a fee for their service. It comes out of the management company accounts.

Our management company have withdrawn permission for the management agent to take their fee in one chunk. Instead they get paid it from the management company account on a monthly basis.

I never said I paid my management fees for my unit monthly.
 
A misunderstanding here.Seashells was referring to the Management Co., paying the Management Agent monthly.
 
Interesting - so who holds details the bank account information - I assume this bank account also holds the sinking fund?

Who has authority to draw from the account - directors only or by named members of management company?

Now that I think of it the bank account details the agent provides is in the name of the management company.

sheshells, did you change agent when you implemented the month by month draw down or how did you arrange this with the incumbent?

This would keep them on their toes. How would we know if the management agent is drawing monthly or annually? I assume the res. association acting on behalf on the management company can request a set of bank accounts.
 
No we didn't change agent but refused to sign off on the accounts unless they agreed it and they did. Directors have access to the bank statements to see this.

The residents association has no right to any accounts of the management company. The accounts are presented retrospectively at the AGMs having been issued to all members of the management company at least 3 weeks in advance of this.

As to who controls the bank accounts, that's up to each development. In some a director has to sign cheques with a management agent, in others only directors, in others only the management agent.

The management agent controls ours but cannot sanction spending over a certain amount without reverting to the directors.
 
Our developer directors never showed up at our first AGM - they just the agent with a one page excel print out of the 'accounts' - not issued in advance. I assume we should be looking for more than an excel sheet?

Is your monthly fee over the limit required for director approval?

How did you agree the monthly fee with them - at an AGM?

We are having problems with agent in relation to our accounts and developer directors are not very helpful.

How do we get proof that the agent is not misusing the accounts and has deposited the fees into the company account that residents have sent in? i.e. that the sinking fund is intact etc.

Thanks
 
Sorry AKA, thought I'd mentioned somewhere that I'm a director of our management company.

Builder directors didn't show at our first AGM either but said they wanted to step down so I decided to go forward as it was the only way I could ensure my investment was protected. 3 AGMs later and I'm still there. It's a LOT of work but for as long as we own in this development, I would prefer to be a director, to be in the know and in some aspect of control.

The monthly fee to the management agent is their annual fee/12

Accounts generally run to several pages, budgets, expenditure and income sheets...all that sort of thing
 
also you cant switch directors until the development is fully finished as in our case,we cant appoint another director until the rest of the development is finished and they have stopped building because of the current climate... there are a number of unsold properties in our estate and the building contractors owe outstanding fees for the maintainance fees....

the best think to do is form a residents committee,we are a new developmet and have recently formed a committe and we are attending the agm meetings and communicating as a group which offers great support,we also set up a neighbours forum and we can get more support from there also...

we have recently had the same problem with outstanding fees owed by residents who are refusing to pay,but the management agent has written some heavier letters from solicitors,threatening to get the debt collectors in... we are starting to get some response,which hopefully will build the resolve....
 
Cheers for the info - we looked for the accounts - i.e. individual breakdown of units paid but were told that only the directors could access this info due to Data Protection Acts?
 
AKA, That's a load of crap. Just aren't al the apartment owners equal shareholders in the development. This really is starting to be a bit smelly.
 
mercman said:
AKA, That's a load of crap. Just aren't al the apartment owners equal shareholders in the development.
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Not necessarily crap. Shareholders don't have automatic entitlements to see every detail of every transaction that goes on in the company.
 
Maybe, but as a shareholders of the Management Company there is a huge amount of specific information they are entitled to see and raise questions and queries. i.e. where is the money going etc.etc.
 
mercman said:
there is a huge amount of specific information they are entitled to see and raise questions and queries. i.e. where is the money going etc.etc.
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Agreed, but they may not necessarily be entitled to see where it has come from (or not come from)?
 
Yes, but this isn't an apartment block - rather a housing estate. The agent has specified that the res. assoc. can visit their offices to review the accounts but won't give us an individual breakdown. This is what they have said, I'm not saying I believe it all.

We are reluctant to become directors before we get a taking in charge policy from the county council.
 
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