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Neighbour Disputes & Other Reasons to Change A Managing Agent
Neighbour disputes are a common issue affecting the Directors and members of a Residents Management Company (RMC). And where the Directors and members of the RMC have chosen to self-manage, rather than appoint a professional Managing Agent, they often prove to be very time-consuming, emotionally draining and require strong diplomatic skills to reach any kind of resolution.
I can tell you, as a professional Managing Agent, that one of the reasons we gain new developments to manage is because the Directors and members of the RMC become tired of handling neighbour disputes and opt to have a third party – a professional Managing Agent like ourselves – take over. Apart from anything else, having a third party makes it feel much less personal for everyone involved, which is very important for everyone involved in the RMC. It’s also true that a professional Managing Agent, like ourselves, is very well-versed in making sure that all residents adhere to the covenants contained in their lease. Just one area that often leads to neighbour disputes.
At the beginning of 2025, a small estate of 23 houses at Chaddock Hall Drive, Worsley, Manchester appointed Casserly Property Management to act as their Managing Agent, after having self-managed the estate for several years. One of the main reasons they cited was the handling of neighbour disputes, which were happening on a regular basis and the Directors of the RMC had run out of patience.
If you’re self-managing your own RMC, you may well be able to relate to this particular challenge and, as I mentioned, it’s high up on the list of reasons why we gain new developments to manage.
Here are a few more reasons why you might wish to appoint a professional Managing Agent, rather than continuing to do it yourselves. You may be able to relate to some of these, as well.
The Complex Legal and Regulatory Compliance Requirements
Managing Agents are experts in property law and the landlord–tenant regulations that ensure compliance with things like:
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Health & Safety Legislation.
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Fire Risk Assessments.
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Service Charge Regulations Under the Landlord and Tenant Act.
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RICS and ARMA Codes of Practice (failure to comply can lead to fines or legal disputes — risks that professionals are trained to prevent).
Professional Managing Agents, like ourselves, continually invest in training to keep all team members up to date with any changes in the legislation and associated regulations. This is essential when it comes to making sure we keep our clients compliant. In fact, keeping up to date is almost a full-time job. For laypeople, like the Directors of a Residents Management Company, keeping up to date is incredibly onerous – but not keeping up to date puts you at risk of being non-compliant and opens you up to all kinds of fines and/or prosecutions.
The onerous nature of keeping up to date with the legal and regulatory compliance requirements of their RMC is another prime reason why we gain new developments to manage.
Financial Management
Financial management covers a multitude of sins, including the handling of finances, setting service charges and setting aside different funds for long term maintenance to ensure that any maintenance plan can be properly funded.
This is another very common reason why we gain new developments to manage. A very big challenge for the Directors of an RMC comes when they have to go to the residents/shareholders ‘cap in hand’, asking for a lump sum from all shareholders because sufficient funds haven’t been set aside to cover the maintenance schedule.
This only has to happen once before it quickly becomes a serious motivator for the RMC to appoint a professional Managing Agent. Even the prospect that this might happen can seriously motivate some RMC’s to appoint a professional Managing Agent as soon as possible.
The Property Developer Hands the Estate Management Over
With a new development, it’s usual for the property developer to take care of the Estate Management – especially, when building work is ongoing and the developer has staff on site to handle any Estate management issues. But once the building work is complete, the Estate Management becomes more challenging for the developer.
Of course, in the short term – and once the basic snagging has been taken care of – management challenges are less likely to occur on a new site, other than the basic maintenance of the common areas. But as time inevitably marches on, more and more maintenance requirements may come in to play, and the maintenance may well start to become more onerous for the developer to continue handling. Because Estate Management and everything that goes with it (like the associated legal requirements, financial responsibilities, neighbour disputes etc) aren’t within the developers area of expertise, it’s understandable for them to pass on this responsibility for the RMC to self-manage at some point.
Many established developers, having gone through this process with numerous developments, will pass on the responsibility to the RMC quite quickly. Often as soon as the last properties are sold and the development becomes fully occupied. Other developers may choose to continue handling the Estate Management until such time as it starts to become too onerous for them. There’s no hard and fast rule as to the timing of this, but the longer the developer takes to pass on the responsibility, the more challenges there may be for the RMC to handle.
Similarly, there’s no hard and fast rule as to when the RMC may choose to appoint a professional Managing Agent. Some see self-management as being something they don’t wish to get involved with immediately, and appoint a professional Managing Agent from the beginning. Some need to experience self-management for themselves before realising how onerous it can be and making the decision to appoint a Managing Agent. And a few RMC’s happen to have Directors who are willing to take on the responsibility and continue to self-manage.
Your Existing Managing Agent Lets You Down
There’s nothing worse for an RMC and the residents than being let down by their Managing Agent. Once is forgivable. We’re all human, after all, and genuine mistakes do happen. But when you’re let down repeatedly - which seems to happen quite a lot, judging by how many developments we gain because of this – the motivation to appoint a new Managing Agent rises quite quickly.
The problem is, when you’re let down repeatedly, everything starts to feel more and more onerous for the RMC and all residents. And that shouldn’t be the case when you have a professional Managing Agent. The opposite should be true.
Conclusion
These are five of the more common reasons why we gain new developments to manage.
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Neighbour Disputes
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Complex Legal and Regulatory Compliance Requirements
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Financial Management
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Your Developer Handing Over the Estate Management
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Your Existing Managing Agent Letting You Down
There are, of course, many more. The point is, if you can relate to any of these – or there’s something else that’s causing you some concern – you could be feeling that the time may be right to consider appointing a new Managing Agent.
If this is the case, I’m always here to help explain how and why we’re different, how we can help you overcome the particular challenges you’re experiencing and to answer any and all questions you may have. Simply book a free, no obligation consultation using the button below.
You might also like a copy of our free eBook, ‘The 6 Topics to Review When Removing a Poor Managing Agent and Appointing a New One’, which you can download by clicking here.
Best wishes,
Paul
Paul Casserly
Casserly Property Management
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