Watchdog and managing agents
Last Month BBC Watchdog did a programme on flat management, specifically the need for regulation of managing agents. However, what the programme actually presented was the standard group of disgruntled leaseholders moaning about what rotters managing agents are and how disgraceful it is that there is nothing they can do about it. It was bizarre, a bit Life on Mars, as though the 2002 Act did not exist.
Every thinking person involved in flat management supports the case for proper regulation with the only dissent coming from the government (which does not qualify as a thinking person on several counts) and Watchdog’s intervention is welcome. Trouble was that the programmers put their own spin on the issue. They showed us the usual examples of appalling and neglectful management and then herded a bunch of angry leaseholders into a room to wax indignant about the perfidy and general uselessness of managers. The message was, without regulation the leaseholders were absolutely powerless and something must be done.
Watchdog clearly did not appreciate that the question was not regulation but control. There was a brief reference to the Right to Manage but nothing else on leaseholders’ real remedies. The real question is why, in 2009, are leaseholders so unaware of their rights?
A list of ARMA members trained in and able to offer advice on the Right to Manage. Enter anything with “lease” in it and you’ll find LEASE with all the information an unhappy leaseholder could need. News on the Block is also packed full of helpful advice for leaseholders. There’s really no need to wait for Watchdog to come along and whinge to them, the right to leaseholder power is out there, readily available – and has been for years.
Yes, we all agree we need regulation of property management and hooray for Watchdog in supporting it, but that’s not the whole answer. Leaseholders wanting a better service shouldn’t just sit back and blame the agents but take responsibility to change.
Control is the issue; even without regulation there are plenty of good managing agents out there able to work to the leaseholders as clients and to the leaseholders’ service standards. Regulation is needed but pending that the message for flat owners should be clear – take control, appoint the manager of your choice and agree (but be prepared to pay for) the service standards you want.
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