UPDATE: You can now watch the survey results pour in. Feel free to do your own analysis on what we’ve found.
Paul McGuinness may rest easy. I’m not trying to provoke The Edge to wonder if he’s getting value for money.
This is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. Apartment and Estate Management companies hire agencies to look after the day to day business of managing the properties they’re responsible for. There are a limited number of these agencies. In many cases, the property owners, if they acted together and if they knew what their rights were, could order the Management companies to sack one agency and hire another.
But unless you’re a property developer, with lots of different properties dotted around the city, how can you tell if one of these agents is better value than another?
Hopefully, now you can through the magic of crowdsourcing and Google Forms. Just click here, fill out the very short questionnaire, and tell your friends. The more people who fill it out, the better a picture we’ll have. I’ll try to persuade Newstalk to promote it too, in some way, to reach as large an audience as possible.
7 Comments
If you want to do a more indepth study I’ve got an account at surveymonkey.com. It is very good for detailed on-line surveys.
and isn’t blocked by the thought police in the day job.
Simon,
I went to fill in your form but it is only for Dublin. I know you spent some time down here with us in the sticks when you were studying for your bread and butter job but I didn’t think we treated you that badly. Or is it a case of Ireland ending at Lucan and Swords?
Rebecca,
It isn’t that Ireland ends at Lucan and Swords, but that the postcode system does.
For the information to be meaningful, we have to be able to compare like with like. Postcodes are sufficiently discrete places for us to say that the management fees in any one ought to be generally similar, all other things being equal.
In contrast, counties are more varied- Three different houses in Galway could be in three very different estates.
All that being the case, I’m happy to respond to the needs and wishes of interested parties. I’ve changed the question on the form to be more inclusive.
Somehow, I’ve managed to mark my own response to Rebecca as spam.
I’ve changed the form now.
It was all about post codes. I’ll try to rescue my explanation, so you’ll see that I’m not a jackeen.
Great idea – I’ve just been stung by a 30% increase in management fees (it was already one of the highest in your survey).
Fascinating to see the range out there.
Helen.
Hi Everybody,
I am just about to sign a contract for apartment in Citywest D24. They told us that management fees are going to be E 1900. Would anyone experience such high fees? Could you please give me any feedback if there is a chance to negotiate it before signing contract?
Thanks a lot.
Hi there,
I have just been stung with a management bill for 2190 for a 2 bed apartment in Lucan recently.I am completely fed up with these management companies who in my belief are nothing other than property developers mascarading as management agents.As if they havnt got enough money off us already they have fooled us into paying exorbenant amounts each year for a very limited service.This is nothing other than a form of extorsion or racketeering in my view!!!They are a type of legalised mafia!!Something has to be done and some sort of legislation needs to be brought in to help people in our predicament.