Experience with Homeground Management Ltd

Firparkloony

Follow up to previous comment, I have just phoned Long Harbour Residential Freeholds Limited as advised in the thread, despite the fact that they "are in the same address and are a holding company " for Homeground Management, the chap I spoke to has no knowledge of them in fact all he knows of them is "when people like you ring up asking for them". It would appear that, that avenue of contact is no longer viable.

Firparkloony

I wouls like to apologise to Homeground Management for my last post, The difficulty I have , arose from the fact that their parent Co is Adriatic Land 2 Ltd, they are also the parent Co od Landmark Collections, who it turns out is the company that was chasing me for arrears for invoice I did not and still have not received. Once again I would like to apologise unreservedly to Homeground Management for my misunderstanding.

NewburyLandlord

My property is managed by Estates and Management Ltd who also use J B Leitch as solicitors. After 7 years of not getting any ground rent bills and then threatening letters from JBL I got fed up and got my solicitor involved. He soon sorted them out!

These guys are just bully boys. They're not the only ones; if you Google the whole leashold industry, you'll see there are an awful lot of leaseholders who are not getting their bills, but are then getting stung for additional charges.

I'm going to report these guys to the Solicitors' Regulatory Association. The more complaints they receive, the more we're likely to get action. In the meantime, I've paid this year's ground rent and told them where to stick the admin fees!

Luckily I've got a very good tenant who is not phased by being sent a letter to "the occupier" saying they have been instructed to take legal proceedings which may be served at the property and that the property address may be affected by any judgment obtained. That's just pure scaremongering. But it could have a negative impact on some tenants and therefore as far as I'm concerned is tantamount to harassment of my tenant. If, as a result, one of my tenants felt compelled to give notice, I would happily take out a county court action for loss of rent.

Don't let these guys spook you. If they really want to go to court, I'm up for it. And you're all welcome to come and watch!

Johnottw

All,

Really sorry to hear about everyone's woes with these people.

I found this forum as I was looking at gifting my half of my apartment to my wife and received a quote of quite exorbitant costs from this company for assigning lease.

So did some googling and found this forum, what a nightmare for everyone.

But I have a suggestion some owners may be able to take to try to put the brakes on their activities.

Myself and my daughter bought 2 separate apartments new from Barratts 3 years ago and last year they sold the freehold and Homeground now unfortunately manage the ground rent etc.

I have decided now that I will not be gifting my share to my wife, BUT i will be writing to the CEO of Barratts and David Wilson with copies of this thread demanding to know why they are selling their Apartment Freeholds to Landlords who utilise the services of Homeground, hence creating a bad reputation for Barratts .

I suspect they probably sell many of their Freeholds to the same Landlords and this is something that needs to be stopped.

But same situation no doubt applies to other major Builders , perhaps gleefully unaware of Homegrounds methods of operation.

So I suggest anyone else in similar situation write asap to CEO of the builders whom you bought your property from demanding to know why they are putting you at risk.

This will do serious damage to future chances of Homeground expansion going forward.

Secondly I propose to pop a letter into all the post boxes in my block, addressed to the owners, with a link to this forum, so they are all aware that they need to pay their ground rent in good time ,
and suggesting they likewise write to CEO of Barratts.

I think the best way forward for everyone is without doubt a 'class action' against Homeground as others have suggested. Individually the charges should be minimal. If there is interest I may be able to recommend some solicitors who did a commendable job for myself and a large group on investors who were cheated in a large property scandall.

Regards,

John

pizzarelli7348

hi there,

I am in the same position as some of you. I am almost at exchange on my flat and last month found out that the freeholder has now appointed home ground to collect all the ground rent.

The solicitor has attempted to contact home ground to see if there are any post completion requirements and so for no response.

What can I do to speed up the process?

Just out of curiosity johnnott: how much were they asking for assigning the lease to your wife?

Thanks

Keith_hince

Hi
I have just made a complaint to the ombudsman about Homeground if everyone was to do the same perhaps we could get this company closed down. Same problem as others don't answer e mails letters a terrible company

Witthome

Just read all this and got a sinking feeling!!! I also am trying to complete on a sale. If this gets out to the the buyers then the property will become unsalable and worthless!! Happy to engage the ombudsman, and any other relevant bodies, trading standards. if you have any contact details we can channel it to the same source. If anyone has managed to get a workable tel No for Home Ground then this would be good also.

charlie76022

The best way I've found dealing with this terrible company is by raising a formal complaint: I can't post links so you need to google: "homeground formal complaint". There's a PDF document on Homeground's website that tell you how do do this - it's easy and seems to be the only way they respond to email. If this doesn't resolve the issue then you can contact the Ombudsman: enquiries@os-property.org

zoros

Try this from the FCA website:

Address:
One New Change London EC4M 9AF UNITED KINGDOM

Phone: - 02033012629
Fax: - 02076917909
Email: baj@homegroundonline.com
Website: homegroundonline.com

Linked I n shows all the staff but it is still not easy to contact them unless you have a premium LinedI n account.

ajayanthony

I would like to add my frustration with the rest in this forum on HOME GROUND management. I have rented my property for a short period, in which Trinity estates have changed the ground rent collection to the Home ground management. I have lived in my property for the last 5 years and i always paid all the maintanance and ground rent by direct debi and never missed a payment. Having changed the company's I was not aware and where I did not get any letters or information but when I moved in August i got a letter charging extra fees for not paying on time. I was surprised and emailed them but their reply is Email quiet harsh and not even helping to set up a direct debit. If if do not pay in 7 days they will take further where i will be paying more than £100. They have no consideration or don't even take into consideration any situations.
Help me how can take this further..