Remember Keith Edgar, Nigel Bannister, Philip Cummings, and Kevin Barr, now joined by Pat McEvoy and Allison Hirst.
Remember their time at Peverel when they were responsible for systemic fraud carried out against innocent leaseholders.
Remember the poor service, the extraordinairy fees and the threats made against leaseholders for having the audacity of questioning accounts, or complaining about lack of service provided by these property management sharks.
Remember the description of them by a cabinet minister as a "monstrous company"
Remember the Prime Minister ordering them off a development.
Remember the references to their shoddy practices in Parliament.
Remember their hounding of Eric Mathews, a 94 yearold WW2 Squadron Leader.
Please take time to read the Strand Court, Rye, LVT decision (one of the most savage reports against a property management company in the history of freehold.
Remember the price fixing fraud. In a crude attempt to increase income, vulnerable residents were targeted to have major works undertaken at great expense (even though to a large degree those works were not needed) and than collusive tendering took place, which inflated the costs of the works and ensured that a Peverel company was awarded the contracts. Even that was not enough for these villains. Some of the work was done by the "losing bidders" pretending to be Peverel!
It was the connection between the freeholders (E&M, Fairhold, Proxima, Peverel Properties, that was the genesis of the subsequent problems.
Until the administration both freeholding and managing agents were ulimately part of the same company. As the freeholding companies sank into financial trouble, so they called on the managing companies to increase their income to support the servicing of loans. Of course in turn Peverel relied on the freeholders for their appointment to manage.
The need for such a realationship still exists, but was thwarted by the terms imposed in order to escape administration. Under these terms the companies had to be separated, a financial disaster for both companies.
E&M/Fairhold/Proxima are in serious trouble. The banks have given them two years grace in order to effect a sell off of their assets. In the meantime, they need to increase earnings to service debts. They can't use Peverel/Firstport any more. Enter Freemont Property Managers, a company run by people complicit in the relationship between freeholder and managing agent and actively engineered vehicles to divert resident funds to the freeholding companies.
Without having to be connected (as was the previous case) Freemont Property Managers will have no compunction into entering any mutual agreement with the freeholders in order to gain management contracts.
Such an arrangement would of course be an advantage to the freeholders.
It is expected that in future years, the freeholders will try to move away from Peverel/Firstport and "encourage" residents to use Freemont.
All residents should be warned. On no account should Freemont Property Managers ever be used.
If there were any kind of meaningful property management sanctions, these people would have had lifetime bans from ever working in the property management sector.
