Block management in Essex, explained for the people who have to choose the agent.

What a managing agent actually does.

Block managers in Essex are appointed by the residents' company, the right to manage company or the freeholder, and the job is the same whoever appoints them. A managing agent runs the building on behalf of whoever holds the obligations under the leases: usually a residents' management company, a right to manage company, or a freeholder. The work falls into five parts.

Money

A budget for the year, agreed with the board; service charge demands sent in the form the lease and the law require; collections and arrears; a client bank account in the building's own name; year-end accounts prepared for the accountant. The money is held on trust for the leaseholders by statute, which is why it must never sit in the agent's own account.

The building

Site inspections; contractors found, checked, instructed and supervised; repairs; the reserve fund planned so that the roof does not arrive as a surprise; buildings insurance arranged with the board shown the options.

Compliance

The fire risk assessment and its action list; electrical reports for the common parts; lifts; water hygiene; asbestos; gas where there is any; and, for buildings over 18 metres or seven storeys, the Building Safety Regulator's requirements. Each has a date, a certificate and a next-due date.

The law

Consultation before major works or long-term contracts; the statutory summary of rights with every demand; answering leaseholders' requests for accounts and receipts; solicitors' enquiries when a flat is sold.

The company

Companies House filings, the register of members, the annual general meeting, minutes, and the directors' own duties under company law.

An agent who does all five and tells you about them is doing the job. An agent who does the money and nothing else is a bookkeeper with a bigger invoice.

What it should cost in Essex.

There is no published tariff, and most agents will not print a figure until they have seen the building. That is worth noticing. The honest structure is a fixed fee per flat per year, plus VAT, with a minimum for small blocks, and a short list of extras charged only when they happen: a solicitor's pack on a sale, major works administration, an extra visit.

Be wary of, whoever you talk to

• A percentage of the service charge. It rewards the agent for spending your money.
• Insurance commission that is not disclosed. Ask, in writing, what the agent or its group earns from the policy. You are entitled to know.
• Fees that only appear in the schedule at the back. Ask for the whole list before you sign.
• A long lock-in. Twelve-month rolling with three months' notice is normal. An agent who needs three years is telling you something.

How to change managing agent.

Boards stay with bad agents for years because switching sounds hard. It is not, if it is done in order.

1. Read your agreement. Find the notice period and how notice must be served. Follow it exactly.
2. Get quotations in writing from two or three agents, on the same information, and put them to the board.
3. Resolve it. A board resolution appointing the new agent, minuted.
4. Serve notice on the outgoing agent, in writing, signed by a director, with the date the appointment ends and the name of the incoming agent.
5. Handover. The new agent sends the outgoing one a checklist: leases, insurance, certificates, contracts, keys and fobs, arrears, sales in progress. The static records are usually due within four weeks; the closing accounts and the balance of the money within three months, which is what the profession's code expects. The Estate & Block Co publishes the checklist it uses, and any board may use it, whoever they appoint.
6. Tell the residents. A welcome letter with the new payment details and the named manager. Never accept a change of bank details by email alone, and tell residents the same.

Your lease, your service charge percentage and your directors do not change. The agent is the only thing that does.

The Essex directors' switching pack, free.

The six steps above, the handover checklist we send an outgoing agent, the three letters, the first ninety days and how client money should be held, in one PDF sent to your inbox. Use it whoever you appoint.

Send me the pack

Right to manage, and the residents' management company.

RMC

Most blocks built since the 1980s have a residents' management company written into the leases. Every leaseholder is a member; the directors are volunteers. The company holds the obligations and appoints the agent.

RTM

Where there is no RMC and the freeholder manages badly, leaseholders can take the management over under the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 without proving fault. It needs a company, a notice inviting participation, a claim notice, and at least half the flats taking part. The freeholder keeps the freehold; the RTM company takes the management.

Directors' duties

You are a company director with the ordinary duties: act within your powers, promote the company's success, exercise reasonable care, avoid conflicts. Directors' and officers' insurance is inexpensive and worth having. A good agent keeps the company side in order for you.

The law that protects leaseholders, in plain terms.

• Service charges must be reasonable (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 19), and either side can ask the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide whether they are.
• Major works and long contracts need consultation (section 20). Without it, the amount recoverable from each leaseholder is capped at £250 for works and £100 a year for a contract.
• Leaseholders can ask for a summary of costs and see the receipts (sections 21 and 22).
• Service charge money is held on trust (Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, section 42).
• Every demand must carry the statutory summary of rights or it is not payable until it does.
• Fire safety. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 puts a fire risk assessment and its actions on the responsible person, usually the company acting through the agent. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 add duties for buildings over 11 metres, and the Building Safety Act 2022 for those over 18 metres.
• Client money protection is compulsory for a managing agent, and so is membership of a government-approved redress scheme. Ask for both certificates.

Essex, town by town.

The firm that publishes this guide has a page of its own on block management in Essex, with the fee for every town on it. The problems are the same across the county; the buildings are not.

Questions directors ask.