CPM Asset Management – Uncovered!

31 Responses to “In the same boat?”

1. 

   PDC eronious links overcharges
   

   28. Mar, 2008

   Hi just recieved extorsionate PDC claim for services on a freehold at Gallions reach se28, originally managed by johnson cooper the company was sold to erinaceous sep 2005 now upto there old tricks, a 202 pound bill (in advance) and a 146.88 late payment charge. They are stating landlords and tennents act to a freeholder so I’ll pay it with claims for legal process.
   good luck David
2. 

   admin
   

   28. Mar, 2008

   Hi David,
   Thanks for the post. Happy to add a link if you have one. The mystical 146.88 heh! I’ve seen a few of those since becoming a Director of our RMC!
3. 

   David Homer
   

   28. Mar, 2008

   Yes I currently rent a George Wimpey flat in Cardiff. And yes my flat flooded however was still under warranty of some such so didn’t need to involve the highly evasive “not our problem” CPM and instead had to deal with the “so you’re the reason our showroom is floody” George Wimpey sales a***s.

   CPM avoid any notion of work blaming everyone else for the issues, ISIS is a tip of litter, illegal parking and disrepair.

   However thankfully tommorrow I move out and am really wondering why its taken me so long to get the hell out.
4. 

   Karen Winter
   

   01. Apr, 2008

   As a landlord in Swindon, but with properties also at ISIS in Cardiff, I too am disgusted by the way in which CPM operate. Despite requesting an EGM over 5 mths ago, I am still waiting. Successfully sacked them from one development in Swindon. Would like to hear from other landlords in Swindon/Cardiff so we can work together to resolve probs. karen[at]investment-portfolios[dot]co[dot]uk PS Thanks for a great website – very useful!
5. 

   Amy Barker
   

   02. Apr, 2008

   Oh my goodness….how can this company still exist with all this bad press!! Nice to know there are many very very angry frustrated residents such as myself!

   I am totally in the same boat…had CPM as managing agents for the past 3/4 years at All Saints Gardens in Chatham Kent. What a complete and utter nightmare!!

   Guess I need to rally up the rest of the residents here in order to start the process of getting them out. I have no idea how to set up a forum/ website for residents so any advice would be much appreciated??!

   Cheers!
6. 

   James Wood
   

   08. Apr, 2008

   We are in the same boat. We have recently moved into a new development and the management company is none other than CPM. We have been having major problems with them regarding the cost of their service charge and the way in which we can pay it (and the lack of a definite handover and the lack of any remedial maintenance being done and etc). It’s nice to hear that we are not alone, so we feel a lot stronger in dealing with them!!
7. 

   James Wood
   

   10. Apr, 2008

   Hi there, I forgot to put the development down, its Quakers court in Abingdon.
8. 

   Mark Robinson
   

   10. Apr, 2008

   This website is exactly what I, and at least ten other residents of St Peter’s Park estate, Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, have been after. I have lived here for four years now and have had nothing but hassle from CPM. I live in a Nova appartment, but pay for my own window cleaner. This has been established every year for the past four years (each year, by much correspondence between CPM and myself)yet every year I recieve a letter from CPM telling me that they will be passing my debt(?)onto a debt collection agency. The ‘debt’ I speak of is 80 pounds plus for – WINDOW CLEANING, a service that they have never provided. I have emailed them, phoned them, written to them and offered to travel to meet with them, but to no avail until last year when one of their staff took the time to get back in touch with me. The residents were informed at an AGM that CPM were getting round to every complaint they had, but there was a huge backlog of them!!! I really don’t know how they keep getting away with providing such a shoddy service and appear to laugh in the face of accountability! I was going to call CPM a Mickey Mouse company, but Mickey Mouse has attained a certain level of respect, so it’s not fair on him.
9. 

   Tom Johnson
   

   17. Apr, 2008

   We are on a new development in Valley Park, Dovercourt and Bovis hoisted CPM on us to “manage” a piece of common land we are supposed to part own. As you might guess, it is a disgrace, they do not respond to letters etc and as I was searching for info on Erinaceous, discovered your site. Looks like we are not alone. There are about fifty new houses on this development so we will take a poll to see what to do. Thanks.
10. 

    David Rogers
    

    25. Apr, 2008

    Hi, we are on a small development in Green Lane, Windsor. We just successfully managed to boot CPM out last month after an unbelievably painful period for us all. To give you a tiny view of some of the stuff we had to deal with – the site was built in 2005 and we had invoices on the accounts for non-payment of bills from 2003/04! We still haven’t completely resolved it all as they are struggling to handover to our new management company! Good to see so many people getting together on this. Will post a full synopsis once all resolved!
11. 

    Ian Worth
    

    02. May, 2008

    We’re definitely in the same boat! CPM trying to charge us for street lighting in the past!
    Over £30′000 for a gardener to cut a small piece of grass a few times a year! We’re a established housing estate built in 2003 who was charged maintenace even though the estate was a building site until late 2005. [... edited ...] CPM threatened everyone if they didn’t pay up with the collection agency. We have over 280 houses on our estate so this is easy money for nothing!They were trying to charge us for a window cleaning service as well but just shifted the figures onto something else on the statement.I reckon around 50% of people have paid the charge for the past 4 years including myself. But I think it comes to the stage when you say to yourself I wish I hadn’t paid that bill but when you’re threatened with ballifs etc obviously you’re going to pay the charge. The builders owe CPM tens of thousands of pounds in subsidies from the first couple of years 2003-2005. I am just hoping in the future we can overthrow CPM and get someone who actually does some work for what they are paid to do! I wish everyone good luck for the future with these crooks.
12. 

    Dean Brown
    

    07. May, 2008

    We are in the same boat as well. CPM are mismanaging Church Hollow in Purfleet, Essex (pelase add us to your list).

    The development built by Bellway Homes was only completed fully this year (I moved in Feb 2006) and when I first purchased my flat I was told by Bellway Sales the yearly charge would be no more than £650, when I moved in CPM were asking for over £900! Bellway say this is down to not having full accounts when the sales team advised buyers of the £650.

    I am currently trying to talk to Bellway and find out why there own staff are the resident directors of our estate and not actual residients which is proving a bit difficult.

    CPM completely ignore what you report to them, I have been trying to get the rendering on the front of our block of flats fixed for the past 3 months and its still not done. They also left us without a working fire alarm system for over 4 months last year and have not fixed a lamp post in the car park areas which hasnt worked since we moved in. The estate is covered in litter, we are paying for a park that doesnt exist and there cleaning of communcal areas is well below what you would expect for nearly £1000 a year, and that doesnt include ground rent!!
13. 

    kentishmurf
    

    12. May, 2008

    Hi I live on the Ingress Park estate, in Kent, and stumbled onto this website while hanging on the telephone to guess who? yep PDC & CPM. Everything I have read on this site relates to everything I have gone through with these two companies for the past two and a half years.

    After reading all these comments I am gobsmakced that so many people are suffering the same fate, but now realise that I need to keep fighting these people. I would therefore like to make contact with other residents on the Ingress Park estate to help me with this issue. Please contact via this website or directly to my email.

    thanks
    kentishmurf[at]talktalk[dot]net
14. 

    JG
    

    30. May, 2008

    Same old boat here im afraid. We live on a Persimmon Development in Littlemore, Oxford and CPM have a huge lists of things they could be getting on with but never seem to!

    Good to see it’s not only us with the problem!
15. 

    Jack Burgess
    

    06. Jun, 2008

    Gyde House is a beautiful listed building, set in 5 acres of park land in Painswick, Glos the Cotswolds, originally built in 1916 as an orphanage. It was acquired by Wain Homes around the end of the 1990s to be converted into 18 apartments. The refurb took place over about 3 years, during which time Wain Homes became Wilson Connolly which became Taylor Woodrow (now Taylor Wimpey) who brought in CPM as managing agent in 2003. There were plenty of opportunities for screw-ups in such a chain, opportunities which were fully exploited!
    Eventually in 2006, after a couple of years of horrendous mismanagement and dramas too exciting to relate here, residents acquired the freehold, booted out CPM and set up Gyde House Management Co Ltd, of which I am now chairman. For the last two years we have been trying to get sets of accounts for the CPM were managing and to recover £13k – £15k of our funds they should be holding. Using acoountancy acrobatics and bare-faced lies they seem to have emptied our bank account with spurious fees, charges and unauthorised withdrawals.
    We are currently employing independant accountants to carry out a forensic audit to be followed up with action under the ARMA procedures (i’m not holding my breath) before pursuing them through the courts.
    The big question is, is there any money left in CPM or insolvent the Erinaceous Group to pay us?
    I’d be interested in anyone else’s experiences of taking CPM to court. We would in principle be interested in a ‘class action’ where there is common ground.
16. 

    Simon Eales
    

    12. Jun, 2008

    < -- edited by admin -->

    Please note, following clarification from it’s author, this comment relates to their experience of Property Debt Colection Limited and not of CPM.

    < -- end edit -->

    Well this makes me feel a bit better. I bought a small two bedroom apartment at Newby Court in Cardiff. The building is in a dreadful state of repair and has not been painted in years. Exterior woodwork is falling off, all the gardens are overrun and a haven for rats as are the external rubbish storage areas. I have just received a letter from PDC; well no let me correct that. My mortgage provider forwarded me a copy demanding £681.03 (including the magical £146.88) stating they had sent me formal notification and reminders. Bullsh*t – I have not received a single letter from them plus the sum they are demanding was not due until 4 days after they sent the letter.

    Is there anyone else from Haxby Court, Kirby Court, Newby Court, or Moorby Court who wishes to join me in taking this on?
17. 

    michael
    

    13. Jun, 2008

    after having several run ins with CPM over the last few years, and after finally getting round to sending flyers round the estate to canvas thoughts and opinions regards this company, this week I recieve a letter informing me that CPM directors will be resigning their posts within the next month and handing things over on this estate to the residents. I can say that this was a complete bolt from the blue and not at all what I expected, to such an extent that I have become very cynical about it, thinking that there is something deeper going on here. It is wonderful news if there isn’t as it will be a victory for the small guy. But will keep you all informed of the progress.

    thanks
    michael
18. 

    Jessica
    

    25. Jun, 2008

    Well, guess what we are in the same situation in Chancellors Park, Long Ashton, Bristol. CPM/RMG are HORRENDOUS, we are fighting a battle to get them out but surprise surprise they claim we all owe them a sum of approx £300 due to a number of flats not being built by the developer that they were originally going to manage as well as ours (these flats have nothing to do with ours).
19. 

    Steve C
    

    30. Jun, 2008

    Hi, Town Wharf Grays… permission to come aboard.

    261 apartments… little management (CPM), trying to get Bellway directors out, then we will sort out CPM. Having trouble with getting an AGM, but won’t give up.
20. 

    Neil C
    

    02. Jul, 2008

    Hi All,

    We are on a large Estate in Thatcham, Kennet Heath – we’re just getting organised as a community with a web forum.

    …everybody is in agreement that CPMs bills are hugely out of proportion to the services they provide (not much evidence of provision….)

    The estate is not actually complete, so the developer is still responible for the majority of the upkeep of the estate & a large proportion of the community areas are not yet released to us – but CPM still charge us….

    Looks like we will be able to pull together to get more accountability from CPM or get rid of them………
21. 

    Deborah
    

    07. Jul, 2008

    I have just received a FINAL demand for my service charge, despite never being approached at all, EVER, with my bill. I bought the house in Oct last year and the owner said it was all paid up and the co would contact me with a new bill. I had no idea when this would be so I just waited for them to contact me. Well now they have. Issued me with a final demand and taken away the option to pay monthly. When I try to ring and rectify this, it cuts you off when you press ‘option 1′ as instructed. The other phone number direct to payment is engaged! Excellent service NOT!

    < --edit--> Deborah confirms that the development is Agecroft Hall < --end edit-->
22. 

    Adrienne
    

    10. Jul, 2008

    Hi, I’m a landlord at Asia House in Manchester. I’ve always paid my service charges on time but in July 07, I noticed an anomaly in my statement of account where a payment I made in July 2004 was deemed to have not cleared!!! I rang CPM to query and told them they had to write me a letter to seek clarification as I was not going to pay that sum. Following a letter from CPM to that effect in October 07, I sent them a copy of my bank statement that confirmed the amount had been paid. I assumed that matter was therefore closed given that I received a demand for payment for service charges related to 2008 in December 2007, sent to my residential address (not the rented out property at Asia House). To my horror, I received a letter from my mortgage lender last week, enclosing a letter from PDC and a statement of account date 24/6 regarding the alleged arrears plus debt recovery cost. I was furious, given that they should have written to me at my residential address which CPM has had on record for 5 years, and given that they provided no notice whatsoever that the matter was going to PDC. I spent 3 lots of half hours on hold to CPM’s credit control department before finally getting through to them yesterday. They have ignored my correspondence to them via email and failed to contact me as promised. Although the alleged debt is in dispute, they have also refused to put the debt collection action on hold. I have now written to them asking them to send me a copy of their internal complaints procedure, which I will pursue. If that fails to provide me with satisfactory resolution, I will report them to ARMA and the OFT.
23. 

    Sarah Gambier
    

    30. Jul, 2008

    Hi,
    Resident of Rosemont Court in Purley, CR8 where we have RMG (formerly Haywards) as the management agent. Have not paid (increased) management charge this year at all – they issued invoice 3 months late, didn’t pay our cleaner for around 4 months and basically messed us around completely. Have attempted communications on many an occasion but still no response from them! All residents are sticking together and we’re going to try and get rid hopefully! If anyone’s got any more info be glad to have a chat!
24. 

    Julie
    

    04. Aug, 2008

    I own a maisonette and have the misfortune of being ‘managed’ by Haywards who are acting for Longmint Limited, along with the couple who own downstairs. I just looked at my lease and it seems to me that there are stringent conditions on my obligations and what will happen if i dont meet them, a section on what the Landlord should provide (note the word should there) and nothing about what i can do if they dont provide them. I am paying over £1200 a year for nothing except buildings insurance. Recently a fence panel blew down in a storm, my neighbour and i must have sepnt well over 5 hours trying to contact Haywards, each time i got through i was told ‘the systems are down’. We gave up and fixed it ourselves.
25. 

    Sarah Kearney
    

    18. Aug, 2008

    Hi. Resident of Melville Gardens Sarisbury Green Southampton (AKA The Bramptons) We have CPM as out management company. We have tried countless number of times to contact people from this company to discuss why nothing is being done in the development and we are always fobbed off with the account manager not being in the office. They even gave a fake name and email address at the beginning of the year. Received a letter for final demand of service charge for this year, called to speak to someone about it and surprise surprise the account manager is not in. They have not called an EGM as expected when the final property was sold last year. Again questions about this were not answered. Any info or help that anyone can give will be greatfully received.
26. 

    John Cruisey
    

    19. Aug, 2008

    I have flat in Califonia Close Station Road Belton Surrey, which I let. CPM are the manageing agents ,and are the biggest useless company that I have ever come across. I have been trying for over a week to speak to someone in there office, telephoning faxing emailing. Can u help ????
27. 

    David Dunning
    

    25. Aug, 2008

    Resident of The Plaza, Cardiff Bay. The experiences detailed above match ours. Following an EGM in April a group of us took CPM on and I am delighted to say that we part company with them in 3 weeks time. We resorted to legal representation, but for the sake of £20 per owner it has been money well spent. Still a lot of loose ends to tie up, but we will get there. Happy to discuss our strategy with any of you guys if it helps.
28. 

    admin
    

    25. Sep, 2008

    From Bharat Karavadra …

    Hi

    We have bee having many many issues with CPM/RMG and I recently decided to go public on my site about the matter (not that much is better YET!).

    I will be keeping this section of my blog up to date and would sincerely appreciate a link from your “In the same boat” section.

    Bharat’s link:
    http://www.karavadra.net/blog/category/my-work-clients/cpm-rmg/
29. 

    admin
    

    25. Sep, 2008

    From P Norvall …

    We are 47 residents up in arms with Taylor Wimpey and mainly CPM based in Soham, Ely, Cambridgeshire

    The site is known as Minerva and as yet has not been adopted by the local/district councils.

    We are currently in the throws of trying to evict CPM from this site under the term “breach of contract”

    We as a group are all freeholders and own our properties, CPM are charged with maintaining the parking areas, as agents on behalf of Taylor Wimpey.

    To Date (4 years payments later) we are still awaiting any work to be done by CPM, in our way of thinking this is a breach of contract on their side.
30. 

    admin
    

    08. Oct, 2008

    From L Sellers,

    I live at Quay Court (or Quay Park as CPM insist on calling it) in Pelaw, Gateshead. We are having exactly the same problems as everyone else but since we moved in in 2006 we have only paid the ground rent as that is all they have bothered to bill us for. We have just received a £1600 bill for all 2 years maintenance charges expecting us to pay in 5 days and threatening with debt collection. My boyfriend rang CPM asking what this was all about and just got rude replies and more threats of bailiffs. At least we realise we are all in the same boat and should not be bullied into paying for something we are not receiving. I’ve written a letter to the Chief exec of CPM explaining how disgusted I am to suddenly receive a final reminder for bills never received and how sub standard the service is and I’m going to encourage other residents to do the same. I intend to stand my ground and not pay this bill, we don’t have that sort of money just lying around to give to them for nothing. Your website has been very helpful and I’m going to use the wording of some of your letters to write to them and get legal advice. thanks.

    Anybody else from Quary Court Pelaw please get in touch.
31. 

    admin
    

    09. Jan, 2009

    Comments for this original post are now turned off. To let us know if you are ‘In the same boat’ please see the description/explanation at the top of the category ‘We are in the same boat!’.The idea is now to give each development its own thread!