You became a named RMC Director because someone had to. You didn’t apply for the money side of it, the chasing payments, the invoices you can’t quite decode, the sense that you’re meant to just trust it. And you’re doing all of this on top of a full time job and everything else going on at home.
That’s the problem. Not the numbers themselves, but not knowing if you can trust them, on top of not really having the time to check.
Here’s what’s actually going on
If you’re managing the building yourself, every awkward conversation (the neighbour who hasn’t paid, the contractor quote that seems high) lands on you personally. There’s no buffer.
If you’ve already got a managing agent, the awkward part is different. Do your invoices have enough context? Do you know what’s a fixed cost and what you need to challenge? Nobody’s translated the jargon, so you nod along and hope for the best.
Either way, you’re carrying risks and responsibilities you hadn’t realised you were signing up for.
Three terms to understand
Before you can challenge a budget, it helps to know what you’re looking at. Here are three that come up regularly:
Sinking fund
Money set aside now for big costs down the line, like a roof replacement in ten years. It’s not being wasted, it’s being saved, so you’re not hit with one huge bill later.
Section 20 consultation
The legal process your managing agent has to follow before major works go ahead, giving leaseholders a chance to see the plans and raise concerns. If it’s skipped, that’s a red flag.
Apportionment
How the total service charge is split between everyone in the building. It should be laid out clearly, not just handed to you as a final number.
You don’t need to memorise these. You just need someone willing to explain them when they come up, instead of assuming you already know.
Four questions worth asking
You don’t need to be an accountant to understand your service charge. You just need clarity on a few things:
- What’s actually driving the costs?
Is it ongoing running costs, or one-off work, and does that make sense to you?
- Is there a plan, or just reactions?
Good management looks ahead. If everything feels last-minute, that’s a risk.
- Do the costs match the risks?
Safety and compliance spending should be obvious and justified, not buried.
- Can someone explain the “why,” not just the “what”?
If you can’t get a straight answer, that’s worth noticing.
If your answers to these feel shaky, that’s not a you problem. That’s a sign your building isn’t being managed the way it should be.
What happens if nothing changes
You keep fielding calls you’re not equipped for, squeezed in around your actual job and your actual life. You keep signing off budgets you don’t fully trust. And the job you never wanted keeps getting heavier.
What we do
At Centrick, we take that weight off you with our Building & Estate Management services. We handle the money, the compliance, the difficult conversations, and we explain it all in a way that actually makes sense, so you can ask those four questions and actually get answers. You stay the director. You just stop being the one who has to carry it alone.
If that sounds like what’s missing, get in touch. We’ll talk you through what this should look like for your building.
