Help needed over appalling Management Company

[alisonf]

Hello,

Our building (16 flats total) is managed by a company called CEM (County Estates Management). We are mid contract with them and they have the most appalling customer service.

One of the flats is owned by and 89 years old lady, she had a leak in her roof and it took them 2 weeks to get a quote over a month to get the builder on site and 4 weeks later the work is still not finished despite numerous complaints to them and I have even compalined tot he owner of the company.

We requested quotes to have a handrail put up back in early September (we stressed that we needed this urgently as many of the elderly residents slip over especially in the rain and ice) We still have no quote.

One of the garages is subsiding we have approved a quote for this but they still have not gotten work men in.

They are repeatedly rude to nearly all the residents and are basically making our life miserable.

What can we do? We dont want to reclaim all payments made to them in the last 6 months as they really havent done any work for us. CAn we do that?

Also we want to brak the contract and get a new company in but can we break the contract?

Please help.....

[RETURNED TO SENDER]

Send them a letter signed by all the tenants giving them 14 days to start the work, also threaten to use moneyclaim online in your letter to sue them for the total amount the tenants have paid so far if they do not start within the 14 days.
How long has the contract run and how much time until it ends ?

[alisonf]

I do not have the contract to hand but it is around June time that it runs out

[RETURNED TO SENDER]

I find a lot of companies do not assist until you threaten legal or actually issue a summons.

[alisonf]

I toiok your advice and wrote them a letter, I emailed it to the head of their office last night..

Dear MsXXXXX,

OFFICIAL COMPLAINT

The residents of XXXXX now feel it is necessary to make a second official complaint about the services received from CXXX EXXX MXXX (hereby known as CEM). We now believe that CEM have breached the management contract between CEM and Pxxx Vxxx Residents Association by both the continued lack of action and lack of communication with us as residents.

Flat 16 has had a leak in the roof for nearly 2 months now. We contacted CEM at the beginning of October 2006 regarding this matter, but despite repeated calls to S O and N P, work did not commence until 30th October. The contractor comes and goes all day long with little work being done and to date the leak has still not been repaired. The leak is now spreading and is starting to come through the coving in the hallway as well as in the airing cupboard.

On top of this, the insulation in the roof cavity is sodden and the wooden roof joists are also wet. Without immediate action this will lead to serious structural issues for the entire building. We now consider this matter to be both critical and a direct result of CEMs incompetence.

The owner of Flat 16 is Mrs. XXXXX, an 89 year old lady who, to this date, is emptying buckets of water 2 or 3 times a day.

I quote from the brochure you gave us “Your Property Manager receives backup from our Property Maintenance Co-ordinator who is responsible for the day-to-day liaison with contractors”. This afternoon S O called Mrs. XXXX to find out if she was happy with the completed work, I would like to point out that if S or N had been liaising on a daily basis with the contractor they hired they would know that the leak had not been repaired.

Flat 16 is going to need, at an absolute minimum, new insulation in the roof cavity and a complete damp inspection of all roof joists plus remedial work to treat any rot that has already taken root and to protect against any further rot, especially dry rot, that may occur due to this neglect. The section of roof that is currently leaking will have to be removed and re-instated as well as any remedial decorative work that is required. The other damp spots will also have to be inspected, repaired and treated for damp related issues where necessary. Most importantly, the initial leak still needs to be found and repaired.

Towards the end of the summer Ms. S K Secretary of Pxxx Vxxx Residents Association, requested a quote for a hand rail to be put up outside the main entrance to the building before the weather turned. Many of the residents have slipped over here due rain, wet leaves and ice. Needless to say the weather has already turned and we have yet to even received a quote, let alone been lucky enough to witness the work starting.

Ms K also requested a quote for having the carpets in the communal hallway cleaned, I would like to point out that this is also still pending.

Once more we refer to CEM’s own text; “A successful property manager must embrace a professional and friendly approach at all times” and “Regular communication promotes a reliable, trustworthy and confident engagement with lessees”. We, sadly, have not found this to be true. May times we have found N P and S O to be rude and demeaning. They rarely return phone calls and we repeatedly have to call them to get even the smallest thing done. We feel that CEM is unreliable, untrustworthy and we have now lost any confidence we may have had in your company.

We initially made an official complaint on the 25th October 2006 and Mr. OWNER OF COMPANY assured ME that Mr. S G would look into the complaint and deal with it as soon as possible. We have still have had no response to the first complaint. The residents of Pxxx Vxxx are now officially giving you 7 days notice by way of this letter to respond before we present this matter to the ARMA and seek legal advice.

As we believe that, by your inaction, you have not fulfilled your contractual obligations as management agent we will also be seeking a full and total refund of any monies paid to CEM by Pxxx Vxxx Residents Association and we are prepared to pursue this refund via the county courts if it is not resolved to our satisfaction within the afore mentioned timeframe..

We are now organizing a residents meeting on 4th December 2006 at 6:30pm as a matter of urgency and we request a representative of CEM to attend to discuss the report we expect to receive in respect to our on-going complaints.


Yours Sincerely,







xxxxxx and xxxxxx
On behalf of Pxxx Vxxx Residents Association.

[RETURNED TO SENDER]

Looks good, give them two weeks and if no action by them send them a "letter before action".