What are the duties of a housing association manager?

Hello again to the blog at Southern. Today we will be discussing the duties, responsibilities and tasks of a property manager within a homeowners’ association. These are of great importance and are essential to the smooth running of the association.

Communities and administrator

We all know that it is essential to keep a thorough record of all the issues and matters relating to the day-to-day running of a residents’ association. From dealing with public authorities to ensuring the property is kept in good condition or monitoring the association’s financial stability, no one is better placed than a property manager to handle all these matters – which are of great importance to both tenants and owners of the building – with the utmost professionalism and rigour.

What is a property manager?

So, how can we define a property manager? Although, given what was said at the start, we already have a general idea, it’s worth going into a bit more detail so that we can understand it better.

We can therefore say that property managers are responsible for handling the financial and regulatory matters that are essential for the running and management of housing estates, either at the request of the owners of municipal or rural properties, or following a resolution by a owners’ meeting.

In short, they are professionals who specialise in the general management of owners’ associations.

These administrators must be registered with the provincial professional bodies where they carry out their duties.

What does a property manager do?

Within a homeowners’ association, there are numerous areas that need to be addressed to ensure its smooth running. We shall therefore break down all the tasks carried out by a property manager into three main areas, which we describe below.

Finance, Accounting and Consultancy Department

As the estate’s accounts manager, they are responsible for invoicing and collecting – usually by direct debit – the ordinary and extraordinary charges set by the estate.
 

It is also responsible for the safekeeping of the community’s funds, ensuring that they remain available to the community through the persons authorised by the Governing Board.

As the person responsible for managing fee payments, you must monitor, chase up and manage any outstanding payments relating to invoices issued for any reason.
 

Furthermore, they must keep the owners’ association’s accounts up to date by maintaining them in accordance with standard practice and financial regulations. Naturally, they must provide the association’s chairperson with access to these accounts when required. In addition to monitoring expenditure and income, they must be responsible for drawing up the association’s annual budget.
 

As the community manager, their duties also include implementing the resolutions adopted by the Owners’ Association and drawing up the civil or commercial contracts necessary for the day-to-day running of the owners’ association (contracts for building works, the provision of services, lettings, etc.)
 

Finally, the estate manager provides advice to the owners’ association on matters relating to the block of flats, as often as required.

Community Secretariat Department

When a owners’ association appoints a property manager, the latter usually takes on the role of secretary to the association. As a result, a number of responsibilities will be delegated to them for management.

Among the tasks it must carry out is the preparation and dispatch of notices convening both ordinary and extraordinary meetings. Furthermore, it will be responsible for ensuring that residents receive the information accompanying the notices, in accordance with what has been agreed with the residents’ association.

As Secretary, he shall attend ordinary and extraordinary meetings and draw up the minutes of the meetings, recording them in detail in the relevant register, and shall subsequently send a copy to each and every owner.

He will also be responsible for drafting and sending out as many circulars, letters, correspondence, etc. as necessary, both to property owners and to public bodies, private organisations, etc.

The role of secretary authorises the administrator to hold and keep the minute book, ensuring that notices of meetings, communications, powers of attorney and other relevant documents arising from the meetings are retained for five years.

Property Management and Maintenance Department

To conclude, we outline the duties relating to the management and upkeep of the community that are usually carried out by an administrator.

It is responsible for contracting or replacing services and supplies, as agreed and authorised by the Owners’ Association.
 

It will also deal with reports of faults and incidents, taking the necessary steps to resolve the situation, either through the various technical service providers under contract or through those designated by the owners’ association as trustworthy.
 

As an extension of the above, it will monitor any incident that occurs in the building, working alongside the residents’ association’s own insurance company. It may also file reports with the police regarding offences such as damage to property, theft, vandalism or malicious acts, and any other criminal offences that cause financial loss to the residents’ association.
 

On a day-to-day basis, you will be responsible for overseeing the carrying out of building works and routine maintenance and upkeep, whilst managing service quotations with the various suppliers.

Finally, in addition to all these administrative duties, the community administrator may, if this has been agreed with the residents, stand in for the chairperson at meetings when the latter is absent or unable to fulfil their duties.