Changing Managing Agent
Most boards that want to change agent are not held back by the process. They are held back by not knowing what the process is.
Whose Decision It Is
Changing agent is a decision for the client: the resident management company, the RTM company or the freeholder. Where the client is a company, the decision is taken the way its articles require, which usually means a board resolution and sometimes a members' vote. The outgoing agent's agreement is not required and its permission is not needed.
What is required is notice. The management agreement will specify a notice period, and that is the one part of the process with a deadline attached. Serving it correctly and on time is what stops a change becoming a dispute.
What Has to Transfer
Service charge funds and the accounting records behind them. The reserve fund and its designation. Health and safety and fire safety documentation, including the fire risk assessment and the fire door inspection record. Insurance details and claims history. Contractor arrangements, contracts and warranties. Compliance certificates and their renewal dates. The leaseholder contact records and the register of members.
Where documentation is missing or incomplete, that gets identified at the start rather than discovered later. An incoming agent that does not audit the handover inherits every gap silently, and the gap surfaces at the first sale or the first inspection.
What It Costs
A start-up fee is charged by the incoming agent and is priced by the size of the development. The outgoing agent will normally charge a closedown and handover fee. Both are published here rather than quoted case by case.
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Start-up fee, up to 10 units | £420.00 |
| Start-up fee, up to 25 units | £540.00 |
| Start-up fee, 50 units and above | £660.00 |
| Closedown and handover fee | £720.00 |
Taken from our published Additional Services price list, PBM Form #01-27 rev.6, effective 23 June 2025. All fees quoted are inclusive of VAT.
Coming from Self-Management
A block that has been run by its own directors is a different handover from one coming from another agent. The records are usually more personal and less systematic, the compliance position is often the weakest part, and there is frequently no reserve fund history to speak of.
None of that is a criticism of volunteers doing a difficult job for nothing. It does mean the first year is partly a reconstruction exercise, and it is better to say so at the outset.
Where We Do This
From our Plymouth office, across Devon, Cornwall and the wider South West. Each area page sets out the authority, the fire and rescue service and the local building stock.
Common Questions
Do We Need a Reason to Change Managing Agent?
No. Where the client is a resident management company or RTM company, it can appoint whoever it chooses, subject to its own articles and to the notice its current management agreement requires. No fault needs to be shown and no permission needs to be obtained.
What If Our Current Agent Will Not Hand over the Records?
The records belong to the client, not to the agent, and service charge money is held on trust for the contributing leaseholders under section 42 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. Where an outgoing agent will not cooperate, the route is legal and ultimately the First-tier Tribunal.
How Long Does a Handover Take?
The notice period in the existing management agreement usually sets the timetable. The practical handover of records, funds and contracts runs alongside it, and the compliance audit continues after the transfer date because that is when the gaps become visible.
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