A mixed-use RTM-controlled building in East London brought East Valley Properties in after years of poor service. Within months, communication, compliance, costs and a long-vacant commercial unit had all been turned around.
The directors of a Right to Manage (RTM) company controlling a mixed-use building in East London approached East Valley Properties after several years of growing frustration with their existing managing agent. The block contained residential leasehold flats above a ground-floor commercial unit, and the directors felt the building was drifting rather than being actively managed.
The complaints were familiar to any RTM company that has outgrown a large, transactional agent: emails went unanswered for weeks, phone calls were routed through call centres, service charges kept rising without clear explanation, and no one took ownership of recurring issues. There was little proactive management, and the commercial unit at street level had become a serious financial and reputational problem.
The directors wanted a smaller, hands-on independent managing agent who would treat the building as a long-term relationship rather than a file number. After comparing proposals from several firms, they appointed East Valley Properties to take over management of the block.
From the first meeting, the directors were clear about what they expected from a new managing agent. Their priorities were practical rather than aspirational - they wanted the basics done properly:
On top of the residential issues, the block contained a ground-floor commercial unit occupied by a tenant who had accumulated roughly 12 months of rent arrears. The previous managing agent had made little meaningful progress in either recovering the debt or resolving the tenancy, and the lost income was directly affecting the RTM company's ability to fund repairs and reserves.
A managing agent handover is only successful if it is structured. We worked through the building in stages, starting with the directors themselves and moving outwards into communication, the commercial unit, compliance and the major recurring contracts.
Before changing anything, we sat down with the board to understand what good management looked like to them - their frustrations, their priorities, the residents they were trying to protect and the financial position they had inherited. RTM directors are volunteers giving up their own time. The first job of a new agent is to take work off their desk, not add to it. That meeting shaped every decision that followed.
We replaced the call-centre model with direct access to a named property manager. Leaseholders and directors were given a phone number, WhatsApp contact and email address that reached a real person who knew the building. We committed to a 24-hour email response standard, scheduled monthly director updates and began a habit of proactive notifications - planned works, compliance dates, contractor visits and arrears progress - rather than waiting for someone to chase.
The commercial unit was the single biggest financial drain on the building. We carried out a full review of the tenancy, the arrears history and the legal options available to the RTM company. Working with the directors and appropriate legal support, we took action to bring the problematic arrangement to an end, immediately marketed the unit and re-let it to a new commercial tenant on terms that restored a reliable income stream to the building's accounts.
We commissioned a fresh fire risk assessment and ran a wider compliance review covering the Building Safety Act, electrical testing, lift LOLER inspections and statutory health and safety duties. Where remedial works were required, we coordinated contractors, kept directors informed at each stage and made sure that the RTM company's legal obligations as the responsible person were being properly discharged.
Finally, we reviewed every major recurring contract attached to the building: buildings insurance, communal utility supply, lift maintenance and the other regular service agreements. Where better value or service was available, we recommended changes. Because East Valley Properties does not accept commissions from insurers, utility suppliers or contractors, every recommendation is based purely on what is best for the building - not what pays the agent the most.
Within the first few months of taking over, the building looked and felt different to both directors and residents. The headline outcomes:
24-hour email standard plus phone and WhatsApp access to a named manager.
Fewer escalations, fewer complaints and clearer expectations across the block.
Updated FRA, refreshed compliance register and a documented works programme.
Insurance, utilities and lift contracts re-tendered with no hidden commissions.
Long-standing arrears situation closed out and a new paying tenant in occupation.
Clear service charge accounts, transparent reporting and a credible reserve plan.
The board now spends time on strategy, not chasing the agent for basic answers.
A rolling plan of communal upgrades agreed and being delivered year on year.
Many RTM companies in East London stay with an underperforming managing agent for far longer than they should. The most common reason is fear: directors worry that changing managing agent will cause disruption, lose historical records or create gaps in compliance and insurance. In practice, a properly planned handover does the opposite.
When the transition is handled by an experienced agent, the directors quickly start to see:
The case above is a single building, but the pattern repeats across the leasehold sector. RTM companies, resident management companies and freeholders who take the step of changing managing agent almost always wish they had done it sooner.
You can read more about how we structure transitions on our service charge management and block management East London pages.
Building details have been anonymised to protect leaseholder and director privacy. Outcomes described are representative of the project; further detail can be shared on request, subject to client consent.
We work with RTM companies, resident management companies and freeholders across East London and Essex who want an independent, hands-on managing agent.