Property Management help

[Manic]

Not sure this is the right sections - Mods please feel free to move as you see fit

Hi all

Looking for a bit of advice

I currently own and am living in an apartment complex in Dublin. I am on the board of Directors and we employ a property management agent as our secretary to look after the complex.

Myself and another Director are trying to get rid of the property management agent and setup our own property management company.

There is no fixed term that our current property agent are required to work for us so we can rid of them tomorrow.

My question is can we as owners/shareholders setup a Property Management company and do this work ourselves?
Do we need to resign as Directors? Is it a Directors decision to allow us to do this or is there the need for an EGM?

I'm assuming we resign as Directors setup our own company and then our company becomes the new secretary

Can someone help me out here with advice

Hope it all makes sense and that I've covered everything

Thanks
Dave

 

[ontour]

Sounds fraught with conflict of interest...

Is ther a genuine desire among a large portion of the residents to change the management agents?

Would it be good practice for the board to request quotes from a number of management agent service providers?

Would experience be one of the criteria for selection?

While I can understand the sentiment regarding a belief that you can do a better job, many management agents provide quite a diverse service, the quality is improving and the costs are coming down when effective management companies negotiate for the best management agent deal.

Wish you luck anyway !

 

[Manic]

Sounds fraught with conflict of interest...

Is ther a genuine desire among a large portion of the residents to change the management agents?

Yes and as a Director myself and the rest of the board have been querying the huge cost we are paying them each year and the lack of service

Would it be good practice for the board to request quotes from a number of management agent service providers?

we've gotten other quotes and there is not a huge saving to be had

Would experience be one of the criteria for selection?

experience is probably the weakest point I would have. But I've been a Director of the management company for a couple of years and have been very active so I'd be very confident in taking over putting the hours in and doing a good job. Probably good sell this quite well to the other shareholders

 

[ontour]

it would probably be a good idea to put together a letter to all the owners advising them of the discussions and the intent. In that case if there were any serious objections, they would be addressed before you invest too much time and money.

Also it would probably be advisable to not make the mistake of the current provider, and to define a term for the agent contract. You would also need to consider what level of financing you will need. Residents would expect that the insurance would be paid by the management agent even when they are tardy paying their fees.

The other thing to consider is as to whether their are competant directors to replace you. Otherwise you might end up experiencing the nightmare from the other side of the fence !!

 

[ClubMan]

Yes and as a Director myself and the rest of the board have been querying the huge cost we are paying them each year and the lack of service

...

we've gotten other quotes and there is not a huge saving to be had

Maybe that suggests that the job can't be done much cheaper? Have you done up a business plan of your own and objectively evaluated matters such that you have established (as far as is possible) that such a venture (for presumably a lower fee or at higher levels of service for the same fee) would be viable?