Maintenance fees by Management co

[DESAMAX]

Hi we have found that our Management co who we pay 4K a yr to manage our building, Often use another Management co not affiliated to us to organise maintenance on our block. It seem that we are paying two Management Companies for our maintenance work. 

1. ours who we pay an annual fee to. 

2. The Management company they instruct to carry out the maintenance. 

All we see is the invoice for the jobs from company 2. 

Is this normal or legal?

thanks. 

[ericsbrother]

getting a third party to do the work is legal as long as the head lease says it is OK. What would be worrying is if the second cmpany has any relationship to the supposed proper management co such as the same directors or getting paid for consultancy rather than actually doing the work.

Taking a large co as an example. Kier or Interserve have many sub companies that do all sorts of stuff on behalf of the main co that are primarily a building co and Food delivery respectively.

 

You need to look at your lease very carefully anad ask for sets of accounts an query everything that isnt obviously for actual work done. So if co B appoint a byuilding co to do some work are they charging a fee for professional services? If so then that should be challengeda nd you as a group either seek to ahve the management co removed as they arent up to the job or you shallenge the money spent on their fees as unauthoried ependiture dependingon what the leases say.

[king12345]

I had runs with our management company and got refunds of the last 5 years charges because they couldn't produce evidence of expenditures. 

 

Your case takes it to another level.

 

They're entitled to charge an admin/management fee, but outsourcing the job and charging twice for it is a joke.

 

Start by asking for accounts inspection of last year and familiarise yourself with the landlord and tenants act.

 

To get them it would be best to do it with other residents, but i went solo and succeeded .

 

See my thread here:

 

as suggested, the 2 management companies might be related, check list of directors on companies house.

 

 

 

 

[DESAMAX]

Thanks for the response, we have checked companies house records and can't see any links to the two Management  companies. Our Man co is also our FH under a separate company. We have receipts/ invoices from the company  that carried out the works, it's just itemised as if they carried out the work.   Its obvious they instruct contractors then send our Man co the bill as if they did the job. Their website clearly shows them as Facilities and Management co. So they must get some commision. 

[ericsbrother]

the you all need to get your heads together and demand to see the full accounts etc and demand to see the competitive tenders and so forth. from your other posts £4k a year seems very steep indeed, does part of that go into a sinking fund and if so how much is in that pot and what is it proposed it will be spent on?

As kingly says, read up on the law and use everything yo can find to your advantage

[DESAMAX]

4K pa is just the Management  fees charge. We are meeting and are all looking and seeking advice. So we can prepare to move forward on this.  We are in a mixed use building so our rights are limited. This forum is a great source of advice. 

Thanks.