Strategies to deal with difficult Managing Agents

1. Know the facts:

First recognize that the Managing Agent is a contractor of all shareholders and it is their job to serve collective interest while facilitating the individual requirements within reason (after all they charge extra for many of the individual services) and without violating property rights. They have two bosses:
- The board of directors of the condo/coop
- Their own company's boss.

2. Go to the board directly politely (Board members are unpaid volunteers):
The managing agents like to control access to the board but one does not have to listen to the managing agent and worry about upsetting them and go the board directly after giving opportunity to the managing agent first. Managing Agents like to control the narrative to the board. If the board does not want to be reached directly, tell the board that they are elected officials. You can get the board members names by reviewing the minutes anytime (you should always get Board members name before you buy). Find them on linked in or via property records and write to them. If all fails, do not be shy about reaching them in the lobby to get a time to talk. You only need one board member to be interested in your issue. Tell the board member how it may impact property values and how it is not the right thing to do for the managing agent.

3. Contact the Managing Agent Boss:
Call owner / CEO of the Managing Agent. It is unlikely they will respond but they know that some called about x,y,z in their organization (essentially cause them pain). Write a letter with specific issues while being fair in your ask. Get your lawyer to send a letter.

I'm the board president of my condo, >200 units, and employ a mid sized manager.

As an owner, agree with everything 300 says. Become friends with someone on the board and raise the issue. Fastest way to get a response imo.

As a board member, never agree to a long term contract with the managing agent. Managers will try to make it attractive by offering below inflation annual increases but they are likely to slack off if they are locked in to keep your building for few years. I always do 1 year contract with our option to renew. Keeps them motivated.

Regarding bad attitudes and incompetence, what I see is that property managers are almost always spread thin. It's very competitive business and impossible to answer every owner's phone calls/emails in a timely manner. Typically managers will just prioritize responding to key people (ie board members or friends of board members). In some buildings they are delegated too much responsibility by extremely hands off boards and it becomes inefficient. But then some property managers are just terrible and you should convince your board to switch.

From my experience, most management companies are bad because it's a low paying field for the amount of work and knowledge needed. And the threat of firing or finding a new management company is a lot of work for shareholders and will usually net the same results.

Seriously, who wants to manage an entire building (deal with all of the personalities, the NYC law/regulation changes, 24/7 on call emergencies, payroll if needed, complaints, bookkeeping, shareholder meeting minutes, renovation approvals, setting up meetings with vendors/shareholders, dealing with all the vendors, paying bills, providing financials to prospective buyers, etc. for 50 - 75k per year. No thanks. The main agents in this field are usually small family run operations that can only survive on volume. Service is not going to be top notch.

The best managing agents I have seen are typically in buildings that are entirely owned by a single family or developer and those agents are all internal to that particular organization.

Rock, I understand inadequate competence due to low pay. Any strategies as an owner to deal with bad attitude as in
“It takes 10 days for us to complete a form for which we charge. BTW, if we fill out the form incorrectly, it will take us another 5 days to revise but we wouldn’t charge you. That is the agreement with the board”. Or never picking up the phone or returning calls.

Besides grin and bear it? You guys pretty much summed up all the things you can do:

Be polite
Be persistent
Develop a relationship so they recognize you (gift cards when they help you out, holiday gifts, etc.)
Be on the Board
Reach out to the boss/owner when there is no follow up after numerous attempts
Write a formal request letter from "someone of importance"
Talk to other shareholders about their experiences to see if there is appetite for a change
Fire them
Rinse and repeat

Some managing agents are so bad that you may wonder how in the heck they are still in business. I think I have narrowed it down to two main reasons: apathy from shareholders since it's a low maintenance building or more likely the managing agent is cozy with the President and/or other Board members (i.e. their requests are handled in a timely manner, they get favors done for them, etc.). I have seen several managing agents who are managers in the a building only because the managing agent was tight with the sponsor.

So from Rock, strategy 4
4. Talk to other shareholders about their experiences to see if there is appetite for a change

I think a lot of the bad behaviour can be laid at Boards' feet. The managing agents can only get away with what boards allow them to, and a lot of time there is an "us vs them" attitude with "us" being Managing Agent, Attorney, Accountant and Board, and "them" being shareholders/unit owners. You also have cost shifting where boards look to get the lowest possible yearly charges to the Coop/Condo but allow managing agents to charge ridiculous fees for doing anything for shareholders/unit owners. Like application fees for renewing condo leases, giving shareholders recent sales, etc

You also have condos who routinely taking full 30 days (or more) to waive their Right of First Refusal when they have no intention of ever exercizing it (and all this does is cost owners money).

One thing I would suggest is trying to make and update a list of every owner in your building and their contact information. Despite lawsuits outlining the rights of shareholders/unit owners rights many buildings hold this tightly to prevent Board Members from being unseated. In my last Coop the Managing Agent wouldn't even respond to a request for the names of Board Members.

Agree with 30yrs “us vs them”; incompetent board plus incompetent managing agent plus aggressive coop attorney is disastrous combination. Shareholder engagement and oversight is key to board oversight of managing agent. Much appreciation to 300_Mercer for starting this thread. I am in process of trying to get our board to explore new managing agent and it is quite a process.

30, Will you please post any legal precedents which force the managing agent to disclose contact info for the board members and unit owners/shareholders?
“One thing I would suggest is trying to make and update a list of every owner in your building and their contact information. Despite lawsuits outlining the rights of shareholders/unit owners rights many buildings hold this tightly to prevent Board Members from being unseated”

@300_Mercer - Legal authority is express at Section 607 of BCL. No managing agent can ignore a shareholder request for names and contact information of all shareholders in light of express statutory mandate that it be provided to a shareholder on request.

Thank you. For coops this clear applies. Unclear if it applies to condos. Believe there is some law which gives condo unit owners rights to inspect the condo records.

Most management company agents are simply human trashes and scums, unless you are tough and know tougher guys to warn them off, otherwise forget about it.

Who are the tougher guys in this case?

Such as those who took care of Epstein.