Your managing agent is not doing their job: how to complain, and how to get rid of them

In England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the route depends on whether the problem is a leasehold block, a letting agent, a Scottish property factor, or a freehold estate charge. The biggest split is that Scotland already has statutory factor routes, England has redress and leasehold tribunal routes, Wales has leasehold tribunal routes but not England’s agent-redress order, and Northern Ireland still has no equivalent shared-property management regime.

What can you do if your managing agent is not doing their job or ignores you?

If your managing agent is not doing their job or ignores you, complain in writing first, then use the statutory route that fits your nation: England has mandatory property-management redress, England and Wales can use leasehold tribunal management remedies, Scotland can use the First-tier Tribunal against property factors or letting agents, and Northern Ireland currently has no equivalent statutory redress scheme. In England, property-management work must be covered by a redress scheme because “A person who engages in property management work must be a member of a redress scheme for dealing with complaints in connection with that work.” In England and Wales, serious leasehold block failure can justify tribunal appointment of a replacement manager, where the tribunal may “appoint a manager to act in relation to any premises to which this Part applies” and must be satisfied “that it is just and convenient to make the order in all the circumstances of the case.” In Scotland, a Property Factor Enforcement Order can require work and payment, because “A PFEO is an order requiring a property factor to undertake such action as a First-tier Tribunal considers necessary.” In Northern Ireland, “there is no legislation dealing specifically with shared property… and no regulation.”

How do you sack or change a managing agent?

In Scotland, the override-dismissal threshold for sacking and replacing a property factor is now a simple majority from 1 April 2026, not two-thirds, because Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 s.70 says that in the 2003 Act “for ‘two thirds’ substitute ‘a majority’.” That is the sharp correction many older pages miss. In England and Wales, leaseholders can change property management companies by contract, by using the Right to Manage where it applies, or by asking the tribunal to appoint a manager in serious cases; Shelter states that the right to manage “is available regardless of the quality of existing management.” If you are simply ending a private managing-agent contract, the notice period is normally contractual rather than statutory: NRLA guidance says landlords “must provide the adequate notice period as stated in the business contract.” In Northern Ireland, there is no shared-property management statute or regulation, so changing an agent is mainly a contract and title-document exercise pending pledged reform.

Can you get rid of an estate management company on a freehold estate?

In England and Wales, there is not yet a live statutory removal route for a freehold estate management company, so getting rid of one is mainly a contract/title-deed issue until the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 estate-management provisions are commenced. The future English and Welsh route is real but not yet switched on: the 2024 Act says the tribunal may “appoint a person to carry out, in place of an estate manager, such functions in connection with the estate management relating to that dwelling as the tribunal thinks fit,” but the Act also says its other provisions start “on such day or days as the Secretary of State may by regulations appoint.” That is why today’s “fleecehold” complaints in England and Wales are usually fought through contract, reasonableness and pressure rather than a clean statutory sacking power. Scotland is different: a company maintaining shared estate land can already be a “property factor” where owners must pay under title deeds, so the Scottish tribunal and majority-dismissal routes already apply. Northern Ireland has no equivalent statutory shared-property management regime.

Can you sue a managing agent for negligence, or take them to court?

You can sue a managing agent for negligence or take a property management company to court if you can prove the ordinary ingredients of a claim, but in England you should also use the mandatory property-management redress route where it applies, and in Scotland the tribunal route may be the faster statutory remedy. England’s redress rule is not optional: “A person who engages in property management work must be a member of a redress scheme for dealing with complaints in connection with that work.” The Court of Appeal has also made clear that the agent may be the correct defendant rather than the company that appointed it: “Since Farebrother were plainly independent contractors, Lowndes could not, on established principles, be vicariously liable for any negligence on their part.” In Scotland, a tenant, landlord or Ministers may apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a determination that a letting agent breached the Code, because the Act says they “may apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a determination that a relevant letting agent has failed to comply.” Court is still available for negligence, but the statutory complaint route often gives a more targeted order.

Can a managing agent resign?

A managing agent can resign unless the management agreement prevents or delays it, and no UK-wide statute fixes a universal resignation notice period for ordinary managing-agent contracts. The practical answer is therefore to read the appointment terms: trade guidance from The Property Institute says, “If a managing agent resigns, they should respect the terms of the management agreement when giving notice.” That matters because a sudden resignation can leave insurance, fire-safety administration, service-charge demands, arrears chasing and contractor instructions unmanaged, even where the agent’s right to walk away is clear. In a leasehold block, the directors, landlord, RTM company or residents’ management company should secure the handover file, bank mandates, service-charge accounts, contractor list, keys, compliance documents and live disputes before the resignation date. Abodient can hold property documents and compliance certificates against each property, which matters here because a resigned agent’s handover is only useful if the new manager can quickly see what is missing, expired or overdue.

Can a property management company be dormant?

A property management company can be dormant if it has no significant accounting transaction of its own, and that can be true even where service-charge money moves through a leasehold block on trust for leaseholders. The Companies Act 2006 test is blunt: “For the purposes of the Companies Acts a company is ‘dormant’ during any period in which it has no significant accounting transaction.” For many flat management and RTM companies in England and Wales, the key distinction is that service charges are not company trading income in the ordinary sense; the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 says service-charge money is held “on trust to defray costs incurred in connection with the matters for which the relevant service charges were payable.” That is why a residents’ management company may file dormant accounts while a separate service-charge account pays insurance, cleaning, repairs and utilities. Dormant status is a Companies House/accounting status, not proof that no management is happening and not a defence to poor management.

Last reviewed August 2026.

Sources

• Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 s.24, quoted by the Upper Tribunal — “The appropriate tribunal may on an application for an order under this section, by order (whether interlocutory or final) appoint a manager to act in relation to any premises to which this Part applies –” Source
• Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 s.24 — “(iii)that it is just and convenient to make the order in all the circumstances of the case;” Source
• Shelter, right to manage for leaseholders of flats — “The right is available regardless of the quality of existing management.” Source
• Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 s.90 — “The appropriate tribunal may, on the application of an owner of a managed dwelling, by order appoint a person to carry out, in place of an estate manager, such functions in connection with the estate management relating to that dwelling as the tribunal thinks fit.” Source
• Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 s.124 — “The other provisions of this Act come into force on such day or days as the Secretary of State may by regulations appoint.” Source
• Scottish Government, Code of Conduct for Property Factors 2021 — “A PFEO is an order requiring a property factor to undertake such action as a First-tier Tribunal considers necessary, and, where appropriate, make payment to a homeowner, as the First-tier Tribunal considers reasonable.” Source
• Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 s.70 — “In section 64 (overriding power to dismiss and appoint manager), in subsection (1), for "two thirds" substitute "a majority".” Source
• Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004 s.28 — “(d)dismiss any such manager.” Source
• Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 s.2 — “(c)a person who, in the course of that person's business, manages or maintains land which is available for use by the owners of any two or more adjoining or neighbouring residential properties (but only where the owners of those properties are required by the terms of the title deeds relating to the properties to pay for the cost of the management or maintenance of that land), and” Source
• Department of Finance Northern Ireland, Review of shared property management policy — “At present there is no legislation dealing specifically with shared property (e.g. the communal areas in apartment blocks) in this jurisdiction, and no regulation.” Source
• The Redress Schemes for Lettings Agency Work and Property Management Work (Requirement to Belong to a Scheme etc) (England) Order 2014 art.3 — “For the purposes of this article a "complaint" is a complaint made by a person who is or has been a prospective landlord or a prospective tenant.” Source
• The Redress Schemes for Lettings Agency Work and Property Management Work (Requirement to Belong to a Scheme etc) (England) Order 2014 art.5 — “A person who engages in property management work must be a member of a redress scheme for dealing with complaints in connection with that work.” Source
• NRLA, taking over management from your agent — “Landlords are usually required to serve notice to their agent, so you must provide the adequate notice period as stated in the business contract.” Source
• Shamsan v 44-49 Lowndes Square Management Co Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 436 — “Since Farebrother were plainly independent contractors, Lowndes could not, on established principles, be vicariously liable for any negligence on their part.” Source
• Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 s.48 — “A tenant, a landlord or the Scottish Ministers may apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a determination that a relevant letting agent has failed to comply with the Letting Agent Code of Practice.” Source
• Propertymark, UK regulation — “There is currently no letting agent regulation in Northern Ireland and there are no legally binding requirements on letting agents to join a redress scheme or have Client Money Protection (CMP).” Source
• The Property Institute, Changing Managing Agents advice note — “If a managing agent resigns, they should respect the terms of the management agreement when giving notice.” Source
• Companies Act 2006 s.1169 — “For the purposes of the Companies Acts a company is "dormant" during any period in which it has no significant accounting transaction.” Source
• Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 s.42 — “(a)on trust to defray costs incurred in connection with the matters for which the relevant service charges were payable (whether incurred by himself or by any other person), and” Source