Specification

When you interview Managing Agents you need to be clear about what you want them to do. Produce a specification of the jobs you need them to carry out and provide it to all agents you interview and gain confirmation that they are able to complete all of the tasks required

Agents' qualifications

There is only one specific qualification for a managing agent, that of the Institute of Residential Property Management, although some managers will be members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, or, in the public sector, the Chartered Institute of Housing. However, many agents are members of the Association of Residential Managing Agents, or those who specialise in the management of retirement schemes may be members of the Association of Retirement Housing Managers. The advantages of the appointment of an ARMA or ARHM member is that they will have had to satisfy an independent body of their competence and, as a condition of their membership, will be required to abide by a code of practice and a complaints and disciplinary procedure. Therefore, the management company and individual flat-owners will also have recourse to ARMA or ARHM in the case of complaint about one of their members.

Agents' insurances

It is most important to confirm the prospective agent's professional indemnity insurance. If the agent is a member of a professional or trade association, professional indemnity insurance will be an automatic condition of membership. However, the existence of the cover, and its extent, must be checked. Where a resident management company delegates tasks to a managing agent, the residents' company will remain legally answerable for any neglect, omission or mistake by the agent and must be sure that the agent has the means for compensation or damages.

References

It is sensible to gain references from your chosen managing agent. It is sensible to ask for references from a director of a block they currently manage that is similar to your own.

The ARMA document Appointing a Managing Agent Guide is available as a PDF file.(531 Kb)

The information contained in this article has been taken from the publication Appointing a Managing Agent produced as a joint publication by ARMA, the Association of Residential Managing Agents, ARHM, the Association of Retirement Housing Manager and LEASE, the Leasehold Advisory Service.