Herberton > Mgmt Fee 2010

Hi All,

I have recently received the management fee for 2010 from ODPM and it has increased from last year. While I find it strange that in a time of cutbacks and recession that it has increased, I find it frustrating that there is no indication as to why it has increased nor do they indicate what steps, if any, they will undertake to try and reduce the management costs in the future.

Has anyone else had to deal with this same issue and have people ever managed to get some intelligent responses from the management companies.

Thanks

ODPM are only the agents and are acting on the budget approved by the directors. Have you tried contacting one of the directors to find out why?

Specifically which areas of the budget show increased expenditure this year necessitating an increase in fees. You should have had a copy of the budget with your fee invoice, if not you should request one from ODPM and compare with last year's.

Our fees are down 5% despite increased costs for insurance and landscaping and an increased contribution to the sinking fund.

Write to ODPM, the managing agent, and request a copy of last year's budget and accounts and the budget for this year. You should have got this before an AGM. Ask when the last AGM occurred and for the minutes. By comparing the budgets, you should see where the expected rises in costs are.

As you are a member of the management company, you can better answer whether you can contribute your part to intelligent responses.

Hi,

Thanks for the responses. Yes, i have gone through the budget provided however it gives no breakdown between this year and last and no inidication as to increases / decreases in cost which is a little frustrating. I have contacted the handling agent (ODPM) and am awaiting thier response.

They could have saved themselves a lot of time and hassle had they explained this clearly (assuming there is a reasonable explanation - i.e. increase in insurance rates).

Thanks for your comments.

How much are ODPM charging as a percentage of the turnover and expenses as per the budget approved for this year?

I've seen some charging 6% and some charging 11% and I'm trying to figure out is there an industry rule of thumb

Barrco, in another post you mention post codes which leads me to suspect you may be asking about the UK. This is an Irish site so any answers you get from here are probably not relevant.

I have never come across agents charging as a percentage of overall fee, and as you will read from other threads its very difficult to give an 'average' fee price, as apartment complexes are so different.

In addition you shouldn't really be hijacking threads to ask your question - if you are interesting in posting a query please start a new thread.

DianeC401 said:

I have never come across agents charging as a percentage of overall fee

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Commercial managing agents do calculate their fee as a percenage of turnover do anyone in a mixed (commercial & residential) will almost certainly have experienced it.

as you will read from other threads its very difficult to give an 'average' fee price, as apartment complexes are so different.

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The type of apartment complex should have almost no bearing on the agents fee (unless it's related to turnover as above). In general, their fee is roughly related to the number of apartments and the level of service they'll be providing (exclusive agent, full service, day to day only, etc).