Behind the scenes in a hotel chefs work in the kitchen, housekeepers clean while guests are out, maintenance teams and technicians work in basement plant rooms and management teams organise everything to happen. It’s not just the front-of-house staff who contribute towards an excellent customer experience.
Property management is no different: there’s a lot more that goes on behind the scenes than you’ll see on a day-to-day basis
That’s why we wanted to pull back the curtain and answer the question, “what does our property management company do?”. Because, in our opinion, that's something every homeowner should know the answer to - so they can see the depth and breadth of services they pay for, and the value they get as a result.
A property management company is better referred to as a managing agent. They are a company that specialises in looking after the communal amenities, systems and spaces at an estate. That estate could be an apartment block, a garden village, a small housing development or anything in between.
The managing agent is appointed by a community’s management company or freeholder: this could be a Residents’ Management Company with a board of directors who are residents, or the developer of the estate, for example.
Think of the managing agent as the ‘operator’ of that estate (a bit like a hotel has an ‘operator or operations manager, for example’). The managing agent generally doesn’t do the maintenance, they act as the conductor: arranging and managing the various service providers who carry out the maintenance, and the finances on behalf of the management company or freeholder.
A managing agent will do far more than can be summarised in bullet points. But it’s helpful to have a broad overview of the responsibilities. So, very generally, we can say they look after:
This is a huge mix of tasks: some of which you might see happening at your estate, and others which happen in the background to keep everything running smoothly.
For example, as a resident, if you’re home in the day you may occasionally see maintenance teams cutting grass or cleaning stairwells.
But you probably won’t hear about the team of service charge accountants working to make sure your estate’s books are balanced; you won’t see the extensive budgeting being done to plan future works and make sure there’s the money there to do so, and you may not be aware of the teams negotiating the best utility, insurance and maintenance contracts offering the best value service.
That’s why it takes a team to deliver great property management – drawing on expertise from an array of specialists.
At Encore, we work by appointing an Estate or Property Manager to each development. They’ll have day-to-day management responsibility for the estate, and they’ll be the person residents and management company directors have the most contact with. But it’s a team effort. Supporting them will be a team of people in specialist functions.
We have health and safety, financial, IT, mobilisation and operational experts all working to deliver a positive experience for the developments we work with. What we ‘do’ is much more than one person can deliver, let alone be an expert in. We’ll also work with external specialists who are experts in their fields, such as building surveyors, lawyers, M&E consultants and tree surgeons to name a few.
The type and breadth of property management services delivered by a managing agent will vary from development to development. There may be gardens to look after in some communities, whereas others may have stairwells and bin stores. Some may have both. Concierge services may be part of some communities, whilst others may have an onsite security presence.
And the work that goes on behind-the-scenes will differ between estates as well:
Where there are leasehold properties in an apartment block, for example, different insurances and utility contracts will need to be secured, compared with a garden village with freehold houses.
Or, where service charge payments haven’t been made, there will be a negative impact on the estate as a whole – and that will affect everyone who lives there – as it won't be possible to fund the required maintenance. Debt management may be required and this is something the managing agent will be required to initiate with external parties.
And the services of a managing agent may need to pivot at any time.
No matter how well looked after a development is, challenges do still arise. If a fire or extreme weather causes damage, for example, the managing agent’s team will be focussed on the often extensive work that needs to take place – both in the immediate aftermath ensuring safety, and, perhaps less visibly but still crucially, in the longer term when insurances need to be dealt with.
When it comes to completing major works, the managing agent will take on significant project management responsibilities too. That can mean many different priorities being juggled and working with multiple third parties. While external surveyors will typically be appointed to manage the works, the managing agent will be required to brief the surveyor, carry out the consultation exercise, and deal with the client and surveyor throughout the process. That means reviewing the specification, quotes and works programmes, and crucially, keeping residents and leaseholders fully informed of what is happening and putting in place any temporary arrangements.
All of the work delivered by a managing agent – what you do, and don’t see – harmonises to bring real, tangible benefits for property owners:
And these are just a handful of examples. Everything a managing agent does should be aimed at making a great place to live, adding value to residents, leaseholders, freeholders and directors of management companies.
There’s so much more to property management than maintaining physical spaces. Although that’s a key part of what managing agents do, there are many other components to consider - from legal and regulatory responsibilities, through to making sure there are the funds to look after places.
And great property management should do all of that to make places better: creating a community that residents are proud to call ‘home’.
Lets make this comparison about hotels rather than hospitality.
