ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Fisher, Director
MIH Property Management
When I took my driving test I thought I knew everything about driving, however I was quickly bought back down to earth when I crashed my car on the day I passed. Twenty-two years later I know (although many wouldn’t agree with me) that I am a better driver because of experience and possibly because I now drive more slowly.
When asked to consider writing an article on qualifications vs experience I immediately thought of all the other debates that seem so important, Coke vs Pepsi, Beatles v Rolling Stones and Federer vs Nadal. Yet all of these are dictated by personal taste and after a lot of consideration I find myself as a property manager who has never sat formal exams with the magic number 22 years of experience coming down on the side of experience where property management is concerned.
So, with my experience hat on, I will start off using the driving analogy again, and in this case would say that I had countless number of lessons and several tests before I passed (3 years later) compared to my best friend who had very little instruction but was constantly driving everywhere.
In the same way, you can know all the rules that are required to manage a property, but reciting the rules of Section 20 or advising a Lessee that you can’t get someone out on the roof in the pouring rain because of Health and Safety does not assist you when water is pouring through their roof.
With this in mind you may ask how experience would improve the management of the issue?
Firstly, you can apply perspective to a situation and are able to judge exactly what the position is by asking the right questions and in asking the right questions you should be able to defuse the situation.
Experience will also give you a good basis of what is causing the issue. After the snows in January I had a situation where water was pouring into a flat via concealed water tanks in the roof and due to limited access to the area (a short plumber was required) it was difficult to tell whether the water was due to the water tanks or the snow thawing. Unfortunately, the tenant was away when the first lot of water came down so could only rely on the fact that there had been recent snowfall and that it was the roof.
However, as an experienced property manager I was able to dismiss this pretty quickly when the leak started again two days later and the weather had improved immeasurably and the snow had thawed. In addition, I was also able to get the right people involved almost immediately which meant that within approximately two days of the leak being reported, the loss adjustor had attended, approved the scaffolding costs and the repairs were carried out almost immediately mitigating the damage to the flat. This was not something I would have learnt from taking any exams!
Notwithstanding the above, I appreciate that having been in the industry for so long, I have managed to build up good working relationships with industry suppliers and this has been hugely beneficial for my management.
Often good management can simply be a case of knowing when you can deal with something yourself or when you need to get some advice. One of the toughest issues facing any managing agents is dealing with site staff, what seems a simple issue such as adherence to a dress code can become a complete minefield. It would seem obvious that working as front of house, you would be expected to be of smart appearance in line with the building but all too often you can feel like you are back in the school yard with what can only be described as trainers being passed off as soft soled shoes which are required because of wide feet.
As this was a few years ago I was a little less experienced in matters and in a gung-ho fashion decided that I would challenge this immediately without any reference to anyone. After all, how could trainers be better for your feet especially in view of all the other health issues that arise from them? In addition, that it was clear that coupled with being comfortable, the trainers were clearly some sort of fashion statement.
The immediate response was that the staff member felt marginalised and went to great lengths to obtain a doctor’s note to say he needed to wear appropriate shoes in order to carry out his job. At this time and again due to age and experience I was able to suggest a viable alternative, shoes from Clarks who cater for feet up to a “H” fitting. However, this was more luck than art and looking back on this I would always look to employ staff through a third-party employment company as they would have dealt with the issue appropriately and no doubt neutralise what could have become a difficult relationship. Again, something that I have learnt from experience not a text book.
Perhaps the most important lesson I have learnt during my career is the difficulty with collecting service charges and the legal battles involved.
In my infancy as a property manager, I prided myself on being an excellent credit controller but did not put any store in how unpopular this made me and how it might come back to bite me in later years. So, while the current Directors were pleased with having sufficient funds to carry out works to the property, when they sold and moved on, which invariably happens, the new Directors were often Lessees who had previously been at odds with me.
Usually, once they became Directors they found a new appreciation for the hard work that goes into recovering service charges and the reason why it is so important to be fully funded but I appreciate that often this wasn’t their best introduction to their property manager.
In later years, I find I am more in tune with both Directors and Lessees and look to find a “win-win” approach that works for all. In particular, it is no good putting a long-term plan together which none of the Lessees can afford to contribute to regardless of the Leases requirement to carry out refurbishment every X years.
While I agree the approach should always be “The Lease is King” I also know that you cannot get money from people that don’t have it and that legal action does not always achieve the desired result. It is far better to provide a client with an alternative approach.
In particular, at a block I have recently taken on, major works are required to the structure of the building however other works have taken priority. This has depleted the sinking fund which means that in order to carry out works, further funds will need to be demanded. Because of my experience I was able to suggest that the company look to invite four leaseholders to buy into the Freehold in order to raise funds so that the Lessees would not have to find further funds to contribute.
This may seem unfair to those Lessees who do not have a Share of Freehold but the “win-win” is that the funds that they are likely to spend on the purchase of the Freehold are likely to be in the same region of the monies that would need to be collected as part of the service charge in order to facilitate the works. The good news is that the Leaseholders have indicated their interest and it looks like urgent works will take place sooner at the building with all Lessees getting something out of this, either a reduced contribution or a share of an asset.
These are practical examples of where Experience wins over Qualification however in an industry which only became recognised with the establishment of ARMA in 1991 and more recently with the Launch of ARMA Q in 2014, the need to adapt in this industry seems to be the biggest driver of moving your career forward.
As a starting point, I would always agree that formal qualifications need to be sought by those wishing to start out in Property Management, but this needs to be in tandem with training which will ultimately add that extra depth of professionalism when dealing with clients. However, like all great debates to my mind this is settled on the basis of personal preference and mine is that nothing beats experience especially with the myriad of new (but really old) problems that a property manager may face. So, for anyone looking to start out in the property management industry, I would always recommend that you look at companies who offer a structured training plan but would also look at the staff who are going to mentor you as they are the ones who you will need to rely on to help you get ahead and share their experiences with you.
In conclusion, I am sure in 22 years’ time, all property managers will be equally qualified and experienced in the industry but for now I think that experience trumps qualification.
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