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- enquiries@resolve-iq.co.uk
Deciding to change managing agent is rarely a snap decision. It usually builds up: a run of slow responses, service charge accounts that don’t add up, contractors who never quite finish the job, and the growing sense that nobody at the agent’s office actually knows your building. If that sounds familiar, you’re not being difficult. You’re right to expect more.
Resolve.IQ works with RMC directors and residents’ management companies who’ve reached that point. We make the switch painless, handling the handover from your existing agent, taking on the records, and getting your block onto a platform that keeps everything transparent and on track. You don’t need to have every detail worked out before you talk to us. That’s what the first conversation is for.
We manage the transition from your current agent, including records, finances and contractor arrangements, so the change is smooth rather than disruptive.
Transparent budgets and clear reporting, with no hidden fees and no insurance commission taken on your premium.
Plain-speaking answers from a property manager who knows your building, backed by a platform that tracks every open item.
Records, assessments and reporting aligned to the Building Safety Act and the wider compliance regime.
Practical help for RMC directors, from board reporting to day-to-day decisions.
Managers who can be at your building when it matters, with a vetted local contractor network.
The most common reason directors stay put with an agent they’re unhappy with is the assumption that changing will be a headache. Most of the time, it isn’t. Your management contract will have a notice period, and once that’s served, the handover is a well-trodden process. We’ve done it before and we manage the heavy lifting.
The best first step is simply a conversation. Tell us about your block, your current arrangement and what’s been going wrong. We’ll set out honestly how we’d manage it, what it would cost, and what the switch would involve, with no obligation to go ahead. We work with blocks across Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole, Sandbanks, Canford Cliffs, Highcliffe and the surrounding areas.
What actually happens when a block changes managing agent.
Directors start the switch with one conversation. From there we check who holds the authority to appoint the managing agent, read the existing management agreement, and confirm what notice it requires. We then prepare the appointment documents and draft the notice for the directors to approve and issue. Nothing is committed while that review happens, and if the agreement turns out to tie you in longer than you expected, you will hear it from us straight away rather than after you have signed something.
The notice you must give your current managing agent is set by the management agreement, so that is the first thing to check. Three months is the most common period, though some run to six, and a few contracts renew automatically unless notice lands inside a particular window. Notice usually needs to come in writing from the RMC or RTM company. Send us the agreement and we will tell you what it says, when the earliest clean exit date falls, and what the timetable looks like from there.
Changing managing agents usually takes four to eight weeks from notice to full handover, and residents should notice the change afterwards rather than during it. The timing depends mostly on the notice period in your existing agreement. We take on communication from day one so nobody falls into a gap, keep existing contractor arrangements running while we review them, and write to every leaseholder with new payment details and contacts. Where the outgoing agent drags its feet on records, the service still runs.
Our onboarding process starts once we are formally appointed and the correct notice has been served. We then liaise with your outgoing agent to coordinate the transfer of the building’s records, accounts, funds, contracts, keys and management information. You are not chasing any of it. Once the handover material arrives, we run a structured review to establish where the building actually stands, then report the gaps, the immediate priorities and the recommended next steps to the directors in writing.
Your outgoing managing agent should hand over considerably more than most offer without being asked. The list covers service charge and reserve fund balances with a reconciliation, three years of accounts, leases and title, the current insurance policy and claims history, the fire risk assessment and outstanding actions, asbestos and legionella records, contractor agreements, warranties, plans, certificates, arrears schedules and leaseholder correspondence. Service charge funds transfer and are reconciled as part of that. We chase it, log what arrives, and tell the directors what is still missing.
Not knowing what your current agent has or has not done is not a problem, and it is where most blocks start. Once the handover information arrives we run a structured onboarding review covering compliance records, service charge information, arrears, insurance, contracts, outstanding maintenance and any planned major works. The output is a written position statement for the directors: what is in order, what is missing, what needs attention first. You end up knowing more about your building than you did before the switch.
Yes, you can switch managing agents part-way through the service charge year, and plenty of blocks do. It needs a clean cut-off: the outgoing agent prepares accounts up to the handover date, balances transfer, and we pick up the budget from that point rather than starting again. Arrears remain collectable and come across with the ledger. We will look at whether aligning the change with your service charge year makes the transition easier, but waiting twelve months for an agent you have lost confidence in rarely does.
You usually do not need to wait until after your AGM to change managing agent. Subject to checking your company’s decision-making authority and the existing management agreement, the handover can happen before or after it. If an AGM is close, we can help the directors prepare for it as part of the handover, which often works in your favour: leaseholders get to hear the plan and meet the new agent in the same meeting rather than finding out by letter afterwards.
Planned major works carry across when you change managing agent, and the first step is establishing exactly how far they have progressed. We review the scope, the professional appointments, contractor arrangements, where the Section 20 consultation has reached, the funding available, and what the directors have already decided. We then agree with the board how the project should be taken forward, keeping continuity and making sure the building’s legal and contractual obligations are met without the consultation having to restart.
All leaseholders do not usually need to agree to change managing agent, provided whoever appoints the new one holds the authority to do it. Depending on how the building is owned, that will be the RMC or RTM board, the freeholder, or another authorised party. We check the lease, the company articles and the existing management arrangements before advising on the right approval route. Where the freeholder appointed the agent and will not move, leaseholders have a separate route, covered in the next question.
Where the freeholder appointed the managing agent and will not change them, the Right to Manage lets qualifying leaseholders take over management without having to prove anything went wrong. You need at least two-thirds of the flats held by qualifying tenants, broadly long leaseholders, participation from half the flats, and non-residential floorspace no greater than 50%, a threshold raised from 25% in March 2025. For claims made since then, each side normally bears its own costs, though the tribunal can order otherwise if a claim is withdrawn or pursued unreasonably.
