How to find a new managing agent: what your options actually are

Published by Leaseholder Led · Independent guide — 8 March 2026

If you've decided it's time to change your managing agent — or you're seriously thinking about it — you'll quickly discover there are a handful of services that claim to help.

They're not all the same. Understanding the differences will help you choose the right approach for your building. Here's how they compare at a glance:

Option 1: Online directories and listing services

These platforms maintain a database of managing agents and let you search by location. You browse, you contact agents you like the look of, and you run the process yourself.

What works: You can see who operates in your area. Some platforms show portfolio information or case studies that give a sense of an agent's experience.

What to watch out for: The agents you see have typically paid to be listed. That shapes the pool you're choosing from. You're also doing the qualification work yourself — assessing whether an agent is right for your specific building type, leaseholder mix, and management challenges. That takes expertise most leaseholder groups don't have. And the process support — leaseholder engagement, RTM if needed, transition management — is entirely up to you.

Option 2: Quote comparison and tender platforms

These services take your building details, invite a selection of agents to quote, and present you with the results — typically filtered by price and distance.

What works: You get multiple quotes without having to contact agents individually. It removes some legwork.

What to watch out for: Price is doing too much of the work here. The cheapest quote rarely represents the best outcome for your building. An agent who has won your business by undercutting competitors is starting the relationship under financial pressure — and that pressure tends to show up somewhere in the service you receive. These platforms also typically end their involvement when quotes are delivered. The work of evaluating, selecting, and transitioning is still yours to do.

There's also a question of who funds these services and how. If the platform doesn't charge agents to quote, it's worth understanding what their business model actually is.

Option 3: Independent expert-led services

A small number of services take a fundamentally different approach: they provide active, expert guidance through the entire agent change process — not just a list of options or a set of quotes.

What this looks like in practice:

• •An independent expert assesses your building's specific needs
• •Agents are curated against those needs — not just filtered by location or price
• •You receive a shortlist of agents who are genuinely appropriate for your building
• •Support continues through leaseholder engagement, RTM if required, and the full transition process
• •The expert is accountable for the outcome, not just the search

Which approach is right for your building?

About Leaseholder Led

We're an independent expert-led service for residential leaseholders in England and Wales. Our founder personally led a 150-unit building through an 18-month managing agent change — so the guidance we provide is grounded in real experience of exactly what you're facing.

Our service is free to leaseholders. We're transparent about how we're funded. And we'll tell you honestly in an initial conversation whether we think we can genuinely help.