Who are PDC?

If you happened to have got into ‘arrears’ with your service charge [maintenance fee] with CPM Asset Management running your Management Company, what ever the reasons, you may well have come into contact with this company.

It is this company and in particular the relationship between PDC and CPM, that the author finds most onerous. Firstly, let’s look at how CPM handle ‘debt’ collection.

The two major parts of CPM’s role [or any managing agent] are managing expenditure (outgoings) and collecting the Service Charge (income) from residents. For this they get paid. If/when they fail in collection they then employ Property Debt Collection Limited for a fee.

This would be OK if they stumped up the fee themselves (after all they have already been paid to collect funds in and failed in this part of their duty) but they don’t. The fee is charged to the Residents Property Management Company. Not only that but it is paid to PDC upfront with, it would seem, no requirement that they actually succeed! If the resident still refuses to pay the fee is simply added to the outstanding balance of the residents account where it remains. This means that essentially the Residents Property Management Company has to pay twice for the particular function of collecting the service charge yet may actually be no better off. This is the case in several instances at Lancaster One.

In the authors opinion this is, at the very least, mis-appropriation of funds. Further, though PDC do not appear under the Erinaceous masthead what if there were a link between the two companies? If this could be shown then it would actually be financially beneficial for the relationship if CPM were to ‘fail’ to collect the service charge – this would constitute a gross conflict of interests and, quite possibly, fraud!

Take a look at this example from our story …

The author and several other active residents began to hold back a proportion of the maintenance charge in order to get a more active response to our concerns out of CPM. The reasoning was explained in detail in several letters to which no response was ever received. Instead the author received what were clearly standard/generic ‘print off’ reminders, demands and final demands, threats etc. Five in total, each one responded to, each response ignored. On 7th December 2006 I received this letter from PDC (JPG file): PDC-LKB 07-12-06 , which prompted the response (PDF file): LKB-PDC 14-12-06.

Now here is the interesting bit. Some time later, after a number of further letters including one to Mr J Todd, MD of CPM Northern, I got this letter from Ms C Gibson (JPG File): CPM-LKB 19-02-07.

As we can see Ms Gibson is responding to the authors letter dated 14th December 06. This is the letter I sent directly to PDC. This is rather intriguing and clearly indicates a link between the two companies over and above services employed. I explored this further during a meeting with CPM’s property manager Mr P Sanderson. Making a throw away remark along the lines of “If indeed they [PDC] are a third party agency”. In an equally throw away manner Mr Sanderson confirmed my implication that there was a link between the two companies.

However, in a letter dated 05 November 07, Mr. G. Tona, director of Property Debt Collection Limited denies any link at all stating;

‘I would also confirm Property Debt Collection Limited is an entirely independent company who act as a debt collection agent on behalf of CPM…’ – [emphasis added]

If Mr. Tona is to be believed then that would mean that Mr Sanderson lied. The author can understand why someone might lie to cover up such a link but not to indicate that there was one where there wasn’t.

Too close for coincidence?

Another indicator can be found in the addresses of these companies. Though Property Debt Collection’s registered address is – 320 High Road, Wood Green, London, N22 8JR – the address on the letter dated 7th Dec 2006 is – PO Box 129, Hoddesdon, Hertfodshire, EN11 8ZS. CPM also has an address in Hoddesdon – CPM House (formerly Belcon House), Essex Road, Hoddesdon, EN11 0DR. Close enough?

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