Choosing New Management Company

I am keen to shop around to see what other management companies could service my apartment block.

Does anyone know of any on-line guides to choosing/how to shop around for a new management company?

Thanks

I take it you mean a Managment Agent to manage the apartments on your behalf?

Take a look here [broken link removed]

while not exactly an online guide as you requested it is very useful.

Good Luck with the search. Do your homework and question everything.

(for the sake of disclosure, I'm a Management Agent)

From my limited experience with management agents, make sure you question everything and at the risk of sounding cynical, dont trust everything you are told by them. I have found through experience that MY management company have only spoonfed us information as they sought fit.

They have neglected to assist us or inform us of many things which I have mentioned on other threads.

What I will say is, make sure that you get talking to another committee or person who is well versed in this shady area. . . Like all professions there are some superb agents and dodgy ones, I wouldnt care to mention either, but always, always get a second opinion.

I have recently gone through this process with my apartment block. I interviewed several different agents on site as well as talking to them on the phone beforehand.

My advice would be to look around other developments in your area. Look on the internet forums (including neighbours.ie) to see who is bad in your area. You're not likely to find people saying X company are wonderful. Visiting other developments will give you an idea of the badly managed ones and avoid these. If you see any like, find out who is managing them.

I used Robert Gogan's book which has an appendix of questions to ask prospective agents but the NCA has a similarly good list for free in their downloadable booklet.

Best of luck!

The main management agents in the Greater Dublin Area seem to be Smith Property Management and Wyse.

Anyone aware of any other agents without trawling through neighbours.ie?

How long is a piece of string?

I found a lot of different agents while researching for North County Dublin. You really need to narrow down your target area and then look on neighbours, and here, and boards.ie.
There are far more than just Wyse and Smith. Many don't have websites at all and some have just mobile numbers to contact. I'm afraid you really will have to do the work.

One tip: ask people you know who live in apartments who manages theirs and to rate them. That will give you a frame of reference, especially if you've been in the relevant apartment complex and have an idea of how it's maintained.