Property management company issues

benjus

Just wondering if anyone has any bright ideas on how to proceed.

My wife and I bought a leasehold flat almost a year ago now. There are 3 other parties involved - the freeholder, the RTM management company set up by the residents in 2014, and the former management company (OM Property Management) which still collects the ground rent (as far as I can tell this is now its only function). In order to register the purchase with the land registry, my solicitor had to get sign-off from the first 2, which was eventually completed in December 2014.

However, OM steadfastly refuses to acknowledge that we are now the owners of the leasehold, and continues to send ground rent demands to the former owner. I've contacted them but they insist that my solicitor needs to formally notify their property transfer team.

So I called my solicitor's assistant who said she thought OM had been notified, but she'd get it re-done.

But nothing's changed as far as I can tell. The solicitor didn't contact me again, and OM are still sending out letters to the previous owner. The solicitor and assistant won't reply to emails and are never available to speak to on the phone. They are based where I used to live and are too far away to visit in person.

I'd really like to know whether the fault lies with OM or the solicitor so I can badger the right party.

Questions:

1. Does it really matter? If I just leave things as they are, is it likely to cause issues? What about if we want to sell?

2. Could I start returning OM's mail to sender? What happens if I miss a ground rent demand or increase (I believe there is an increase due this year)? If they have not invoiced the correct person for ground rent, can they still cause trouble for me if I don't pay on time?

anselld

Have you tried contacting the freeholder directly to pay the ground rent?

OM can only cause you trouble for non-payment if they admit you are the owner. However, it would be better to get it paid since ultimately failure to pay ground rent could accrue further legal costs and ultimately forfeiture of lease.

Freecall

I think that you probably do need to address this issue as clearly there is ground rent due. Given that (obviously) the previous leaseholder is not going to pay then from the point of view of OM they will simply consider it a late payment and start to apply penalty charges.

OM Preperty Management (now known as FirstPort?) can be extremely difficult to deal with and it could end up taking years to sort out any charges placed on the account in error, a headache you don't really need.

I would put more pressure on your solicitor to contact the OM/FirstPort lease transfer department and make sure that you get a proper invoice so that it can be paid.

So yes, I think that it does matter. It must be immensely frustrating but it is one of those problems that will only get more difficult to sort out with time I am afraid.

Look on the bright side, at least you will not have to deal with OM/FirstPort regarding management issues.

benjus

Thanks both - just to clarify I have opened the last 2 ground rent demands and paid them by bank transfer, so I'm not actually behind with the ground rent, just getting increasingly annoyed at the situation.

anselld

OM Property Management ....
"This firm is ranked 13214 out of 13214 in the UK" :eek:
http://www.allagents.co.uk/om-property-management/

benjus

anselld wrote: »

OM Property Management ....
"This firm is ranked 13214 out of 13214 in the UK" :eek:
http://www.allagents.co.uk/om-property-management/

That doesn't surprise me... if they were actually managing the building I think I'd have reconsidered the purchase.

benjus

Well I finally got a reply from my solicitor, seems they are still actively chasing it and OM are just being awkward.

Freecall

anselld wrote: »

OM Property Management ....
"This firm is ranked 13214 out of 13214 in the UK"

Now there is a statistic to be proud of. It must be incredibly difficult to consistently make sure that there is absolutely no company worse than yours (out of 13,214).

How do the people who work for such a company manage to hold their heads up?

Aloke

Hi - I’m the Chairman of the Residents Association in the small block of flats where I live (11 x2 Bed & 4 Studios).Our Managing Agents have morphed over the last decade from: Moss Kaye > Moss Kaye Pembertons > Pembertons > Solitaire > OM Peverel > Firstport. The service we have always received has been shoddy to say the least. Charges have always been on the high side (the average for a 2 bed property is about £1.8K pa, we are currently paying Firstport just under £3.8Kpa per flat).

On 18th May this year some of my residents and I recently raised our concerns with our 2 block managers as well as their superiors, the area manager SW and Regional Director JD regarding excessive charges, and demands for extra payments for items not covered in the terms of our lease. In a joint letter we noted over the past 5 years in general, and the previous six months in particular several concerns had come to light regarding Firstport’s management of our block including:

1) a lack of transparency for how our service charge is calculated and spent;
2) difficulty in getting maintenance and repairs done to a decent standard;
3) the escalation of the service charge annually without justification;
4) Firstport’s tendency every Q3 to issue a demand for an additional top-up payment attributed to unforeseen expenditure or shortfall- again without adequate justification;
5) the habitual inability of staff to provide documentation when requested;
6) repeated staff failure to terminate contracts when appropriate incurring excess charges;
7) repeated staff failure to address legitimate Leaseholder queries- in one case 17 documented repeated requests for clarification went unanswered;
8) Firstport’s default operating procedure when challenged on unbudgeted expenditure - to issue final notices including disproportionate penalty charges attached, as well threats of legal action.

Our letter concluded that given their lack of transparency, coupled with discomfort at their modus operandi, and the total lack of any positive engagement we were encountering, we regretfully concluded there was no alternative but to withhold further service charge payments until our points of concern were addressed. We expressed our wish that Firstport respond positively by addressing our concerns - and that our payments could resume promptly once these were addressed.

In response Firstport have:-
1.) contacted six residents (include myself) and threatened to pass our accounts passed to Debt Collectors;
2.) issued Solictor’s letters;
3.) and, in the case of one Leaseholder, obtained a judgement by default, by deliberately having a Court Summons’ to an incorrect address (an application to have this Judgement set aside is in progress).

This whole experience has proved to very stressful for us, to the extent we eventually felt compelled to engage the services of an independent Property Management Consultant. Doing so is the best thing we did. Since Reliance Property Management Specialists (RPMS) have been involved, their team, headed by Nirmal (Kal) Kalirai has worked ceaselessly to provide us with the re-assurance and support we need to manage our relationship with our dysfunctional Managing Agent. Kal has experience assisting Clients resolving issues arising from Firstports’ mismanagement. He and his team have:
1.) started a forensic review of our service charges to date uncovering unexplained hidden charges;
2.) taken on the role of co-ordinating the leaseholders response to Firstports threats of legal action;
3.) and, are hand-holding us through the application process for us, Leaseholders, to exercise ourr right to manage the block- thereby ending our association with Firstport on 02nd November this year!!

We are fully aware that the management structure varies and effecting change (of Agents) can be slow process, but we believe that with persistence, determination and tenacity in dealing with Firstport we will secure a better set up and deal for ourselves. The right-to manage is legally enshrined, and exists to prevent Leaseholder exploitation at the hands of unscrupulous Management Agents.

Thanks to the efforts of RPMS we are now looking forward to ending our relationship with Firstport and providing Leaseholders with quality service, value for money. We will also be forging a relationship with a new Managing Agent- one with integrity, and at whose core lies protecting the interests of Leaseholders. This matter will not end there. We are planning on pursuing Firstport for refunds on costs which we feel are excessive and damages for negligence.