How are you managing?

publication date: Nov 26, 2007

Whether purpose-built or a converted house, buildings containing long leasehold flats do not manage themselves, writes David Hewett of the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA).

The management of long leasehold residential property is a complex business requiring a full understanding of the structure and meaning of leases, a thorough knowledge of the statutory requirements of the various landlord and tenant legislation and compliance with the recognised Codes of Practice.

In addition, the management of blocks of flats requires proper accounting procedures, an understanding of buildings, their maintenance and insurance requirements, a good grounding in
relevant Health & Safety legislation and, where relevant, good people management skills allied to compliance with employment legislation. In effect, managing blocks of flats is like managing a business and requires specific skills
and knowledge.

Lessees who control the management through, normally, a residents management company (RMC) sometimes undertake the day-to-day management themselves. However, self-management is too often reliant on a small group of volunteers prepared to give of their time and deal with problems that arise with other lessees who are also their neighbours.

This is not always a comfortable situation and is the reason why most larger lessee-owned or controlled blocks of flats choose a managing agent. And this is where The Little Red Book can be so useful in providing a detailed listing of managing agents around the country.

If you select the right managing agent they will:

1) Have a full understanding of leases and relevant legislation;
2) Comply with the Codes of Practice;
3) Have an in-house team (and outside contractors) to deal with all aspects of managing the property;
4) Be able to provide full accounting facilities for budgeting, service charge collections and year-end accounting;
5) Deal with arrears collection and disputes between lessees in an independent and fair manner;
6) And most importantly, free up the lessees to enjoy their homes, avoid lessees becoming involved directly with disputes with neighbours and reduce the personal time that lessees would otherwise have to give in managing the property themselves.

So if you are looking to appoint, one place to start looking is in this issue of The Little Red Book.