# Core Estate Management



## markpb

I got a letter today from Core Estate Management who are apparently a new property management company based in Dun Laoghaire. They want to talk with us (as directors) about changing from our current PM. Does anyone have any experience with them?


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## dougiehowlet

Yes.  Custom Hall changed from Wyse to Core and it was a big improvement and costs less, with more into the sinking fund.  David Ward was the property manager.  Overall a very positive experience.  Great to get hands on management.


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## shesells

dougiehowlet said:


> Yes. Custom Hall changed from Wyse to Core and it was a big improvement and costs less, with more into the sinking fund. David Ward was the property manager. Overall a very positive experience. Great to get hands on management.


 
Do you have connections with the company? Your post is very positive but as a new poster I'm a little nervous that you might be an employee of the company. Apologies if I'm being paranoid!


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## ajapale

shesells said:


> Do you have connections with the company?



Hi Shesells,

Please use the report post facility to draw mods attention posts you are concerned about.

aj

Hi Dougie,

Should you have any connections to the Estate Management or Related Sector you can declare the connection in your signature and continue posting. If you have no connections then carry on!

aj


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## simon@empire

We have Core EM in my development, Linden in Blackrock and they have managed to reduce the management charges by a third, which I think is pretty rare (I have never heard of management charges reducing, only rising). I'm not on the committee but from what I hear they're reliable, open about all their charges, all invoices are submitted to the committee and all services were tendered for to ensure the cheapest etc. They seem very straight forward compared to other agents I have dealt with in the past and were in the Sunday Times the other week blowing the whistle on the unscrupulous practices that other companies get up to. My direct experience is when I have called them to get stuff done like trees cutting that were blocking windows or leaky guttering; they had it sorted within a couple of days. 

Cheers


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## dougiehowlet

Sorry, not in this much, but would like to clarify I am not an employee of this company..just was on a Board of Management which had very good experiences with David Ward compared to what had gone before. 

Simon sums it up well, just wish we had them in Spencer Dock.


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## shesells

simon@empire said:


> We have Core EM in my development, Linden in Blackrock and they have managed to reduce the management charges by a third, which I think is pretty rare (I have never heard of management charges reducing, only rising).
> Cheers


 
Our fees went down 2 years in a row. Due to the work of the owner directors, not our agents!


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## dougiehowlet

shesells said:


> Our fees went down 2 years in a row. Due to the work of the owner directors, not our agents!


 
Except you need to have a cooperative agent to do that.  Alot of them won't be cooperative.  And the Director's need to put in a hell of a lot of work.  I hope the other residents appreciated it at the AGM.


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## shesells

Easy to have a co-operative agent when they are told they are on dodgy ground and with about 10 nearby developments using them, a lot of damage could have been done to their reputation had we dumped them!

As for the other owners appreciating it - you must be joking. They're too busy complaining about them not being allowed to have satellite dishes


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## markpb

shesells said:


> as for the other owners appreciating it - you must be joking. They're too busy complaining about them not being allowed to have satellite dishes :d



+1

:d


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## Hemar

I am shocked that anyone has had a positive experience with Core Estates. They took over in our apartment block and we have had nothing but grief ever since. I know of two people who have threatened legal action due to  false claims by them.


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## markpb

Hemar said:


> I am shocked that anyone has had a positive experience with Core Estates. They took over in our apartment block and we have had nothing but grief ever since. I know of two people who have threatened legal action due to  false claims by them.



Could you give any examples?


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## AKA

shesells said:


> Easy to have a co-operative agent when they are told they are on dodgy ground and with about 10 nearby developments using them, a lot of damage could have been done to their reputation had we dumped them!
> 
> As for the other owners appreciating it - you must be joking. They're too busy complaining about them not being allowed to have satellite dishes



Exactly, at some of meetings residents treated the residents association like they were the management agent.  There's a lot of work involved in reducing fees, finding quotes - the agent isn't going to do it as they are often the current overpriced supplier.  Then getting one of the lower quotes to work with the agent.   

I bet if you monitored half the work the agent says they carry out, you'd find out it wasn't carried out - window cleaning and cleaning of common spaces...who's monitoring it?  A little card dropped into someone's door to say the work has been done was requested by us, but never supplied.  Why? Well the work was not being done to the schedule the agent was charging us for.

So cut the service to the required level and monitor - lots of work for the directors or residents' association!

Also, we were informed that unless we took over as directors of the housing estate, that the savings could not be used to reduce the fee, rather they'd be put into the sinking fund - completely unnecessary in a housing estate where the council should take over.


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## Hemar

They have accused two girls in my block of noise and I've never heard a peep from them. They have also sent unwarranted fines to some of our neighbours about noise, washing hanging out, sattelite dishes, unsocial behaviour. There seems to be one nosey woman walking around the complex who we think is making up stories...maybe she's lonely. Core seem only too happy to plonk fines on everyone without checking out the facts


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## Stupid Boy

I'm confused as to how you think they could verify these noise issues... do you expect them to be on site at 12 or 1 in the morning monitoring noise???

Some people really get my back up... they are responding to a written complaint

If you feel this didn't occur... write them a letter telling them as much and I'm sure they would be only to happy to offer a letter of apology advising that they act on written notification from 3rd parties...


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## 10amwalker

Hemar- I find your posting quite strange.

 A managing agent only acts on information given to it- they do not make things up, their lives would be a good deal simpler if residents, be they owner occupiers or tenants did not complain. Residents complain to the managing agent when their lives are negatively impacted on. 

From my experience residents do not like being kept awake for several hours due to a party taking place in their block or the block next to it.  Residents do not like when domestic violence occurs and they hear the consequences.

Residents do not like anti social behaviour such as deliberate setting off of the fire alarm as a prank at 1130 at night with everyone having to vacate the building. Residents do not appreciate when inconsiderate residents park in the few visitor parking spaces thereby limiting their use by genuine visitors. 

There are house rules which allow residents live in collective " harmony !!! From your posts I don't think you understand why house rules exist and seem somewhat bitter that the house rules are being enforced by this managing agent.

I say fair play... at least the managing agent is responding- many do not....


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## patr1ck84

they have increased the custom hall fee by 14% for 2010 at a time when prices are falling everywhere last year i paid 1333 this year its 1524 nothing positive about this


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## shesells

patr1ck84 said:


> they have increased the custom hall fee by 14% for 2010 at a time when prices are falling everywhere last year i paid 1333 this year its 1524 nothing positive about this



They couldn't have. The management agent dies *not* set management fees. The Directors of the Management Company agree a budget and set the fees. Core would only be responsible for invoicing and collecting these.


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## Frasier

I am a director of a management co. in Dublin and have no connection with Core.

We interviewed 3 management agents recently when the acting agent resigned.  We were very impressed with David and the guys from Core.  If you are considering changing your management agent I would certainly recommend that you interview them.

They produced a very detailed proposal as part of the interview process and were highly professional.  Their proposal was not generic boilerplate but specific to our development and demonstrated great insight.

In the end, we did not select Core but it really was the flip of a coin between them and A N Other.  If we are in the market for a management agent in the future, Core will be the first on our list to interview.


A point on the increase of fee's (I'm sure most are already aware):  The aim is not to reduce the fees to a minimum, but to maintain the desired standard of the complex while providing contingency for future maintenance.  Of course, you will always look for value from your suppliers but value and cost are not the same thing!

If your directors reduced the fee's but did not provide for contingency (sinking fund) would you be happy to receive a demand for a large sum of money in the years when a large outlay falls due.

The problem is, many developments have the developer running the management company and it is in their interest to keep the management fee's as low as possible (making the units attractive to a potential purchaser).  Of course then the residents do take over and discover that the electricity bills have been estimates (you owe ESB thousands) and you have no sinking fund.


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## William Clark

I can't share the positive opinion about CORE. They replaced Wyse company in our IFSC development in 2017
Our management fee not only remains the came, but they introduced a new fee for Legal Levy.
We have been trying to find out exactly what our contributions were used for about 6 months already
It has turned out to be one-sided correspondence. No explanations at all.
How can we make them hear us??


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## elcato

William Clark said:


> How can we make them hear us??


Put your name forward as a director in the next AGM. Get a few people on board with the idea then oust them as the management agent.


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## William Clark

elcato said:


> Put your name forward as a director in the next AGM. Get a few people on board with the idea then oust them as the management agent.


Our last AGM was at beginning of 2019 and nobody knows when next one will be.
Anyway, this is very straight advise, I would just like to know how our money is being used and make them reply to us, not to be threatened with a penalty.


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## elcato

When they call the AGM they usually send out the budget projections for the next year as well as the actual budget for the previous year. Did you get these ? I would ask them for these documents if you don't.


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## William Clark

Thank you, will do, but doubt that they will react somehow


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## William Clark

elcato said:


> {When they call the AGM they usually send out the budget projections for the next year as well as the actual budget for the previous year. Did you get these? I would ask them for these documents if you don't


]
We have the Sȩrvice Charge Budget-Financial Year Commencing 1st April 2020 (duplicate 2019), where Levy for High Court Legal Action is €300,000.00.
We cannot see any explanation if it was used for stated purposes and if the full amount was spent in 2019
We are trying to get this information from our Management Company, but they just ignore us
Who can we contact to make CORE respond to us??


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## elcato

William Clark said:


> Who can we contact to make CORE respond to us??


The current elected directors. If they are owner occupiers just call in and ask them. You are a member of the management company.


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## William Clark

Thank you, I would definitely do this, but there is no possibility to find who is the current director of OMC.
The Management company replied that they do not have any contact details
Company Registery Office has only part of OMC address without No of apartment 
In all our blocks of 201 apartments, we found only 3 owners, who do  not have any information about who is Director OMC


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## jeffery

elcato said:


> The current elected directors. If they are owner occupiers just call in and ask them. You are a member of the management company.


Who can we contact to make CORE respond to us??

Core I believe use a mail drop off house as an empty office so if you want to complain there is no one there to complain to best thing to do is pretend to own a large property and you are looking for an agent if CORE sees money they will come running


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## elcato

I guess you need to stop paying the management fees then till they get in contact with you.


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## jeffery

elcato said:


> I guess you need to stop paying the management fees then till they get in contact with you.


Normal procedure management are in a win win situation provided they manage a lot of apts. Managing a lot of apts means that a few owners not paying fees can be OK. However if the management only manage 10 apts and 2 owners stop paying then 20% of income being lost is a problem. If a large management company has problems with non payers they will make threats to go to court but normally do nothing. Going to court might be bad publicity and questions might be asked why they charge 2000-3000 pa but do very little. Hence they wait until the owner sells and then retrieve money owed plus a large bonus from the conveyancing claims......Property management agents keep their real address a secret, and keep AGM dates a secret


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## jeffery

Cannot be sure but this is what I suspect. Core have been or are being sued and instead of paying legal fees they are letting their customers pay the legal fees


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## Sunny

jeffery said:


> Normal procedure management are in a win win situation provided they manage a lot of apts. Managing a lot of apts means that a few owners not paying fees can be OK. However if the management only manage 10 apts and 2 owners stop paying then 20% of income being lost is a problem. If a large management company has problems with non payers they will make threats to go to court but normally do nothing. Going to court might be bad publicity and questions might be asked why they charge 2000-3000 pa but do very little. Hence they wait until the owner sells and then retrieve money owed plus a large bonus from the conveyancing claims......Property management agents keep their real address a secret, and keep AGM dates a secret



Perhaps you should be researching the difference between Management Companies and Management Agents and who decides fees, calls AGM's, is responsible for the budget etc etc....
I have no dealings with Core but I find generally people really have no idea what Management Agents are responsible for....


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