# Website recommending Management Companies



## Pexus1976 (25 Mar 2006)

Hello, 

I've recently purchased an apartment and the management fee on the complex is phenomenal. Somebody mentioned a website that grades these companies as there is no regulation in the industry at the moment meaning they can charge what they like.


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## CCOVICH (25 Mar 2006)

The owners of the apartments/property are the management company.  A managing agent manages the devlopment on behalf of the management company.


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## Pexus1976 (25 Mar 2006)

Owners of the apartments/property are on the management committee
*Not* Company.!!

A Management Company looks after the maintance of the Apartment complex on behalf of the owners in return for a fee.

Dont really want to discuss this any further! Now getting back to my initial post all suggestions most appreciated.


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## CCOVICH (25 Mar 2006)

Pexus1976 said:
			
		

> Owners of the apartments/property are on the management committee
> *Not* Company.!!
> 
> A Management Company looks after the maintance of the Apartment complex on behalf of the owners in return for a fee.
> ...


Owners of apartments/houses in nearly all recent developments are shareholders/members of the management company (I really should know this as I am a director of our development's management company).  So I think you are mistaken in your description of a managment company.

We the members of the management company have appointed Wyse as managing agents to manage the develpoment on behalf of the management company. We pay Wyse a fee for doing this (as part of our annual managment fee).

The blurb on Wyse's site outlines the difference between manageament companies and managing agents.

This is actually relevant to the question your post. The demand for regulation is indeed aimed at managment companies, but this isn't really likely to reduce the fees you pay. I'm not aware of any proposals in relation to managing agents.

The fees you pay to the management company (i.e. essentially into a pool managed by the agent) are based on a budget (drawn up by the agent) that covers all the maintenace and running costs of the development (the major ones being the agent's fee, buildings insurance, refuse costs, cleaning costs). You can actually dispense with the agent and run the company yourselves if you feel their fees are too high. You will of course still have to pay someone to clean the place (unless you are all willing to do it yourselves), common area (halls etc) maintenance costs, and still have to pay insurance. But at the end of the day, is anyone within the development likely to have the time and expertise to do that (without a fee?).

The developer/builder generally retains control of the management company until all units in the development are sold. This means that they appoint the agent and in effect the owners have little say in what happens.

Getting to your question on the website- I haven't heard of it and Google didn't produce anything, but I too would be interested in having a look at it if it exists. The one thing I would wonder about is how useful it is likely to be-I don't actually think there are that many companies (estate agents, property managers etc.) that act as managing agents?

For what it's worth, I would say that I (and the rest of the directors and most of the residents I know) are very satisfied with the services of Wyse (althought that could be down to the guy who was assigned to act for our development). I don't have any connection or interest in Wyse, other than my dealings with them as our managing agent.


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## Pexus1976 (25 Mar 2006)

Thanks for your reply!


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## CCOVICH (25 Mar 2006)

Some of these posts may be worth a look as well:

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=11242Running own management company
Breakdown of management fees
Management fees increasing
Are management charges legal?

P.S. please post back if you find the name of that website.


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## RainyDay (26 Mar 2006)

This very long boards.ie thread might be of interest.


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## CCOVICH (26 Mar 2006)

RainyDay said:
			
		

> This very long boards.ie thread might be of interest.



That's an excellent thread.  Plenty of info on specific agents, and their certainly seems to be a few to avoid.  An interesting (and mostly balanced) discussion as well.


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## Pexus1976 (26 Mar 2006)

Thanks for the excellent links!


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## ClubMan (26 Mar 2006)

Pexus1976 said:
			
		

> Owners of the apartments/property are on the management committee
> *Not* Company.!!
> 
> A Management Company looks after the maintance of the Apartment complex on behalf of the owners in return for a fee.
> ...


Wrong as explained above. Householders are shareholders/members of the management company. The committee is most likely the set of such shareholders elected as directors and/or any others on committees/sub-committees appointed by the board. The management agent is the company often engaged by the management company to carry out day to day management of the development. You would do well not to dismiss accurate advice/information so lightly/rudely.


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## usrbin (29 Mar 2006)

Mods, go ahead and delete this unsubstantiated, anonymous slander if you so desire - I'm not going to get into details to back it up - but I just couldn't live with myself if I allowed a recommendation for Wyse to go by without presenting the other side.

So here goes.

Hopefully the poster above DID get a more conscientious employee on the job, but the two indifferent young staff members who dealt with our estate gave probably the worst service I've ever experienced from any organisation in this country - including Eircom, Vodafone, [insert your favourite here]...


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## CCOVICH (29 Mar 2006)

usrbin said:
			
		

> Hopefully the poster above DID get a more conscientious employee on the job, but the two indifferent young staff members who dealt with our estate gave probably the worst service I've ever experienced from any organisation in this country - including Eircom, Vodafone, [insert your favourite here]...


 
No, I don't think it's slander-you had a different experience of Wyse to me and that's fair enough.  Someone else in the thread linked to above on www.boards.ie said pretty much the same thing, but there were others who said that they had postive experiences. 

It's always good to hear more than one opinion/experience.


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