Housing Co-ops: Working with Managing Agents and Contractors is guidance on the vitally important relationships that housing co-ops have with people and organisations who deliver services for them.
This guidance is specific to our members, and is available in the Member Area of our website. If your Co-op is a member of CCH then you have 3 available logins to the member area, please contact your Secretary if you are unsure who has access to your exclusive member website access. If you are not a member of CCH find out more about joining us.
Nearly half of the CCH’s member housing co-ops buy management services from managing agents. How that relationship works is vital for the success of those co-ops. All housing co-ops employ contractors and consultants who deliver repairs and other services, and this guidance also addresses those relationships.
The first part of the guidance is about managing services provided by a managing agent. Various organisations act as managing agents – from dedicated agencies set up to support co-ops, to housing associations or similar to small enterprises run by one or more members of staff.
The guidance discusses:
- options for how co-ops provide their services
- the types of managing agents that can provide services
- the nature of the relationship
- the contractual relationship, fee arrangements, performance reporting and liaison
- what services managing agents can provide
- how co-ops could address problems in the relationship with the service provider
The guidance also includes a managing agent checklist to enable co-ops and their managing agents to assess the strength of their relationships.
The second part of the guidance is about working with contractors and consultants. This part covers:
- the contractors and consultants co-ops might need to work with
- how best to identify contractors and consultants
- requirements for contractors and consultants
- a contractor code of conduct
- how best to manage contractors
The guidance concludes with a section on procurement, with a model procurement policy provided.
The CCH would normally consult regarding guidance of this nature, but because providing services to housing co-ops is a competitive field and we could not guarantee consultation with all people and organisations providing services to housing co-ops, we considered that it was inappropriate for us to consult only partially with some housing co-ops and some managing agents.
However, we are open to receiving comments on this guidance from any persons or organisations who have an interest in the relationships between housing co-ops, managing agents, contractors and consultants. Dependent on whether we receive comments and the nature of any comments we receive, we may amend the guidance.