Bad experience with Flat maintenance agent(Peverel OM Ltd)!

Esio_Trot_2

tomstickland wrote: »

Track the owners down using the land registry deeds data (£2 a time).
See if more than 50% want to exercise right to self manage.

Sorry you are a bit out of date here.

Land Registry is meant to be cost neutral, and with the downturn in the property sector that started with the credit crunch, many fewer transactions have taken place and they have been in deficit. To balance the books they are shutting offices and have put up fees. It now costs £4 a pop to get sight of each title deed

As an aside, and a positive note, it is possible to get out of the clutches of Peverel (or any one of the myriad of associated companies) with perseverance. It is not right (and being a self-help forum will no doubt be against forum rules) that I in any way promote the company I work for, but I can say that with our help a group of leaseholders with properties in a leasehold development finally wrested control from Peverel OM last Summer and passed management to our company. It took over a year, but has meant that the service charge has dropped by 40%, as well as the abolition of the exorbitant fees for things like 'consent to sublet'.

Don't just moan about them, start taking action. First, study your lease. At the end of the day it will be your friend. There will be a way to get rid of these parasites - but it will take work and effort.

The biggest obstacle you will find though is apathy by fellow leaseholders. It can be disheartening when some of those who are most vocal in criticising, then don't want to actually do anything to change the situation.

themaster12

Artistxman wrote: »

I own a flat which is managed by Peverel OM ltd. They made a contract with builders Barratt and now in charge of the all the flats for the leasehold period of 999 years. From the start any problem was fobbed of as builder's fault including a faulty lift. It breaks down atleast 10 times/year and the repair cost is borne by all.

I also feel they charge everyone of us approx. £900/flat for 6 months (100 flats) and the service they provide is minimal such as window cleaning, external lightings etc. and very poor. I haven't seen anyone inspecting the quality of service.

As the most of the flats are rented out...it's been very difficult to get a good local committee to take on Peverel. When ever..I write to them...I get a letter with excuses and no progress. I am very frustrated by the monopoly of Peverel who seems to have national presence and get away with the expensive management bills and poor service.

Any body else feel the same here? and how shall I bring this to the attention of housebuilders and house buyers and to media.

I feel the same mate i'm going to just pay what i can afford, and see what they do about it. Take control away from them and register to pay online,that way they cant just take ur money.

themaster12

themaster12 wrote: »

I feel the same mate i'm going to just pay what i can afford, and see what they do about it. Take control away from them and register to pay online,that way they cant just take ur money. Themaster12

keyboard_warrior

Hi,

This thread has been most useful, and i'm glad to know i'm not alone in my dislike for this company.

See LW has not been back for awhile and no other activity other than singing their false praises.

I'm going to do some more research and start the process of seeing if we can get rid of them, any one know any decent property management companies to contact?

I also have another query in relation to Administration charges.

They sent me a bill dated 01/12/2010 and that was just after my father passed away, and it did'nt get paid on time.
They state they sent me a reminder on 10/01/2011 which i didn't get, then a follow up on 07/02/2011 which I did get, and another letter from Property Debt Collection on the 24/03/2011 which I also never received.

Peverel Om (Om property management) charged me £60.00 administration charge and £9.02 interest on arrears.

I paid their balance online on the 30/03/2011, however property debt collection have added on £150.00 administration charge.

This is the charge I feel is unfair as their online system did not inform me of this and accepted my payment, and I did not receive their notice of charging on the 24/04/2011 only a further letter in April saying I owe them this £150.00. I sent them a letter explaining my situation and that I felt it was unfair, however they have wrote back (via email) stating it still stands and I am to pay this asap.

Is there anything I can do about it? or have they got me over a barrel?

Surely £210.00 in administration charges is extortionate for a half yearly ground rent of £584.84?

Hope you can help.
Thanks

huangdi

Hi

i have had nothing but trouble from this company since they took over our development a few years ago.

cant help you anymore with the details im afraid. sometimes ive paid them, sometimes not. i contested some charges a while back and recently they relented. the precarious position of the company and the fact that its offshoots are in administration mean that i always leave it to the last minute to pay them.

head over to TTAS if noone here has any suggestions for you.

plenty of people on that site for help if you dont know it already! they will know plenty of alternative management companies.

glottalstop

Peverel have been dreadful bullies. When you disputed a payment instead of dealing with you they would send further demands, ignore your correspondence, add charges and pass your file to a debt collector and solicitor. This is quite illegal - there are strict rules about how a company pursues its debts, the OFT would love to hear from you about what is a clear case of harassment.

Peverel OM, OM Property Management, Peverel Retirement, Solitaire, Pembertons Property Management, Consort, CEM, Stonedale, Kingsborough Insurance, Cirrus, Careline Monitoring, Interphone Security, Estates & Management, Fairhold, Aztec and Proxima are all in this complex web of related companies.

The Peverel empire is in serious trouble, and some say they have eased off bullying, but others have noticed that they are quick to cry "harassment" for their own protection when they don't like what is said about them. Talk about double-standards !

While you might feel sorry for some of the genuine staff, do not relent with the Peverel company - the senior managers are the same people who have been exploiting us with scandalous charges and are now facing questions about how the company has conducted business over recent months.

If you have a genuine dispute make that clear to them in writing, state your case, offer to work to find a solution, perhaps even make a payment which you think is fair (if part-payment is accepted it is further acknowlegedment of your case). All penalties which they have added are not payable, and they do probably not have the right in law or under your lease to add third party charges such as PDC's demand for fees.

I successfully disputed such a situation, and all charges were reversed. A friend in Scotland has faced down threats from no less than David Edwards, senior board member and head of legal services for the whole of Peverel, over charges related to her relative's retirement property. This escalated up to the point of being served with a letter saying the next step would be a court case - but this has turned out to be extreme bullying, Peverel don't even have the paperwork to build a case, and are now trying to fiddle a deal. These are recent cases, which just goes to show nothing has really changed. Peverel are rats.

Stand firm.

propman1

I have similar bad experiences of Peverel OM with my accounts- i own quite a few properties. there have been serious overspends and recharges on top of high service charges in the first place. An apartment block they managed where i own a few apartments has been left in an awful state as funds were not available for basic services due to the overspend. Simple repairs cost a fortune and we were hit with an enormous water bill as it hadn’t been dealt with for years. The Good news is that i organised for OM to be removed as the management company- they are now gone- the service charge has been reduced and the place is already looking much better. I am now organising to have management companies removed from a couple of other sites i own property at where similar issues are occurring- happy to share my experience of how we got rid of them with anyone else in similar circumstances if you send me a private message through this site

kennethw_2

My issue with Peverel is as a tenant & wonder whether I have grounds regarding my right to peacefully occupy the premises.

I have received several accusations, mostly pure fabrication, such as the one about moving furniture by night. This was subsequently traced to another source. no apology received

The latest is selling a few items from my previous address on ebay, plus having a couple of friends pay a visit. This is serious enough to complain to my landlord - seven visitors in 10 months.

I'm tempted to suggest that having a visitor's car park is unnessecary since any visitors are verboten

Bongolad

I have once again received a letter from Dickinson Dees (Solicitors) demanding payment as I have not made payments.

They claim that the managing agents (Consort Property Management) have sent me several reminders. I have not received ant request or reminders! Similar thing happened in 2010 and I ended up paying unnecessarily.

My flat is in Cardiff, Victoria Wharf.

Is there anyone else experienced the same? If so, what do I do?

Many thanks