Why you should re-tender your managing agent agreement

Management teams usually stay in place for years at purpose-built buildings with multiple leaseholders. With that in mind, how do you know if the current setup in your building is the best option available, when there’s no professional company to advise? For starters, it’s important to regularly review contracts and see if the management team is meeting your expectations while providing cost efficiency. But there’s more you can do, and we look at why you should re-tender your managing agent agreement to enhance services at your buildings and help with cost-saving measures.

The management agent setup at purpose-built buildings

Individually-owned apartments in purpose-built properties typically have the same management team in place for years. Not because that team is best suited for the job; they’re often employed for long stretches due developers assigning them at construction and  decision-makers (the board of residents) not having time to tender for new options.

Or, no one on the board is an expert in finding new managing agents and doesn’t know what to look for when putting new tenders out. Subsequently, they pay thousands of pounds to keep the same team in place without knowing if better options are available.

It all begs the question: how confident are you that property management in your building adds value? Are they providing a service at a competitive price and giving you value for money? Are they reachable, communicative and accountable? Do they take issues such as fire safety and security seriously? Do they go the extra mile to provide services such as parcel management and ensure resident satisfaction?

Why should you consider re-tendering?

Whatever your role might be on the board, it’s safe to assume that you don’t have the time to go out looking for new property management contracts. And it’s unlikely that you know the other players in the game. Then there’s the pricing aspect: how do you know if your current managing agent provides the best value for price?

These are all important elements of property management around which you deserve clarity and transparency, which can be taxing and time-consuming to obtain, especially for voluntary board members.

How good is your current management team regarding aspects like compliance? Can you say you’re 100% confident in what they’re doing? Do they keep you in the loop?

We’ve already seen other examples in properties where the board felt they were too involved in the process, because the managing agent was doing the bare minimum. We’ve seen cases of board directors championing leaseholder comms, checking and disputing building utility bills, recruiting new staff site members, and even project managing tenders cladding. Due to the unsatisfactory performance of their managing agents, they were paying thousands of pounds for a service that simply wasn’t there.

What are the alternative options?

Deciding to re-tender for new managing agents may seem daunting when it’s not your primary job to source contracts. Perhaps the property developer initially employed a managing agent, and the idea of changing is a hassle, even if you’re not entirely happy with the current service.

This is where working with a professional procurement company like Fjeld Consulting is beneficial. We have vast experience in the residential property sector, helping large and small-scale properties put the right processes in place for a range of activities. Part of our service includes guiding you through the tendering process to employ a new managing agent.

Our expertise includes:

• Complex contracts
• Building maintenance tenders
• Procuring the right services for the building
• Security

We’ll look at the needs of your property to determine the most pressing concerns. That might be security issues, or it could relate to problems with maintenance. The aim is to put the best managing agent in place for the needs of your property, provide maximum value for leaseholders, and ensure the new managing agent does what they sign up to do

How does it work?

As part of our process, we’ll invite competing management companies to tender for the contract and to become the new managing agent at your building. We’ll interview them thoroughly and pre-qualify the best available options.

Moreover, we match the evaluation criteria to the needs of each property. So we’ll find a company qualified to address your specific concerns, be they technology, reporting, security, maintenance, fire safety and so on. Once we’ve completed our research, conducted site visits and interviews and compare pricing, we’ll present you with the best options for your building.

There are other important aspects to consider. Contracts for managing agents are complex and long, with plenty of information that needs covering. We negotiate all contracts, and our legal team reviews them to ensure there are no tricky clauses that could come back to haunt you later.

Finding the right managing agent for your property

Regularly reviewing the managing agent contract in your building is a good idea if you want to achieve the best service and value for money. And using a company like Fjeld Consulting means tapping into expertise in the industry. We understand how properties need to be managed, because we’ve been doing it for 20-plus years.

Get in touch to find out more about our process, and how we match you with the best-suited managing agents for your building.