How to select a managing agent?

Hello, We wish to obtain quotes from managing agents to take over the management of our small block of 7 flats. I have obtained a list of 5 agents who operate in our area but only one of them is ARMA accredited.

Are there other equally respected accreditations?

For example, one MA who have a local office and who I had a brief informal discussion with are not ARMA accredited but have TPO and SafeAgent accreditations indicated on their documents.

Ideally, we’d like to engage with companies who are reasonably local and have a long established presence in the area but looking at ARMA website they only have the one aforementioned member in our town, though there are a few more within the county.

Also, what research measures can we use to gauge the reputation of an MA who we have no prior knowledge of?

Thank you,

Richard