What Can We Do?
By admin | August 7th, 2008 | Category: Past Articles | 16 commentsTheTruthAboutSolitaire are amazed at the number of comments we are receiving from other residents of Solitaire Property Management expressing their dissatisfaction.
Harry Meddleton raised a very interesting comment in relation to how residents can go about getting rid of Solitaire Property Management, from managing their homes.
As Jon Hill commented, the residents where he lives are looking to also sack Solitaire.
This brings me to ask the question
What Can We Do?
I believe that it may be in our interests to:
- Put a petition together (any idea’s on this one would be appreciated)
- Take as much photographic and video evidence as possible
- Any correspondence you send to Solitaire ensure you copy info@arma.org.uk and lee.middleburgh@peverel.co.uk into your addresses
- Any correspondence you do send to Solitaire, maybe its worthwhile mentioning this website TheTruthAboutSolitaire – this way they can see for themselves that the residents are fed up!
I know ARMA are associated with Solitaire, but Lee Middleburgh as we understand from ARMA is the Managing Director of Solitaire.
Also remember lets keep building up comments on TheTruthAboutSolitaire – in the hope that maybe, just maybe it may make Solitaire finally take notice that the residents are now aware that they are failing in their duties.
How about starting a petition here:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition-campaigns/United-Kingdom/
A free petition website, which will also make the petition visible online via Google searches.
Hi Jon
Thanks for the Petition website link, we’ve now set this up for people to sign.
Admin – could you remove my above post re Castle Marina please. They are unhappy their contact details are included here.
Hi !
Greeting from Bergenia House. After googling to see what info I could find on our great friends, I was slightly surprised to find this site !.
It’s great (but unsurprising) to learn that there are other people out there who are in exactly the same boat (and it really is a very big boat!).
Keep up the good work!!!
I am chair of the Campaign for the Abolition of Residential Leasehold (CARL). I write to support the intentions behind your website. What you describe on your site is all too typical of the behaviour of landlords and managing agents, and Solitaire are not alone (sorry out the pun) in this sort of conduct.
CARL has been campaigning for over a decade, and is the largest democratic organisation representing the interests of leaseholders in the United Kingdom. We publish a newsletter on a regular basis (see our website) highlighting the issues affecting leaseholders.
Providing a link to the carl website might be of interest to your contacts.
We hope that you are able to achieve a noticeable improvement for leaseholders who lives are being blighted.
We are freeholders with grounds surrounding our estate owned by Solitaire sold to them by the builders after completion of the estate without our knowledge. We have experienced over ten years of problems. Submitted the observations to ARMA who I think dealt with ‘blinkered’ vision. We have been to the Leasehold tribunal to find the land is rented and not leased. I have written to parliment in the hope the public would be protected to be told ‘see a solicitor. Very few people in authority want to know. What we are missing in this country is Truth, Trust & Honesty and HELP when we are confronted with problems. We all need to meet and collate our complaint and view the evidence. Those in authority will then have to listen. Would someone like to start the ball rolling? WE are using a Barrister at the moment – other evidence would come in handy.
Hi Syd,
In my experience i’ve found that it is a complete waste of time going to authorities and looking for truth and honesty as these are ‘luxuries’ that people like ourselves have to pay through the nose for in courts to get anywhere near just as you are doing at the moment.
I feel that we should all get together – i guess we’d need a solicitor or something to get everyones details – and share the cost of paying for the best advice and direction we can get. I have a vague idea about the mechanics but only enough to feel that this would be the best route rather than belly aching on the net about the gripes we have with this company.
I too have tales to tell about solitaire but to put it in a nutshell, we pay a great deal for a small service – if it can even be called a service!!
Lets all be business like about it and sort this mess out.
Harry Meddelton
Hi Harry. At the moment we are waiting instructions from our Barrister on the way forward. To make certain we are not alone we will need evidence on the way forward so that our complaint is general and not in anyway biased. We need a list of all those – either individual or Association to meet with the view to legal proceedings or summon the Chief Exe. to the meeting – we will need a Secretary to record the event. Anyone want to take Leadership PLEASE.
I’ve just received a call from the Technical Director of David Wilson Mercia, to arrange a meeting with myself and the other residents of Eden Gardens to discuss “what options are available to us” regarding Solitaire..!
Hopefully with our landlord on side we can finally rid ourslevs of their ‘services’.
Hi Syd and Jon,
Great to see a bit of progress in the right direction. Please keep us all posted.
My main gripe with the company is the sheer amount of money we pay for the “service” we get. Just to put it in perspective – if you had an ex council place the charge is ONE QUARTER of what you pay solitaire. Granted there is a fund being collected for a rainy day but I see no evidence of any of that money being spent on the areas for which it was intended – unless the Christmas party is written into the small print and I’ve not seen that part in the small print!
Syd,
What i had in mind was to set up or allocate a new management company – preferably set one up – to run each of our own developments as Solitaire are just far far far too expensive and poor at managing to consider reading them the riot act and hoping that they’d mend their ways overnight. Is this what you had in mind or are we singing off different hymn sheets?
Hi,
It seems to me that we need to make more Solitaire residents aware of this website. I have just printed off some flyers and have put them through the letterboxes of the other residents and onto block notice boards at this site. I have done the same at another Solitaire ‘managed’ site nearby. I am also wondering why photographic evidence is not being posted onto this site via flikr – photographs can shock – we need more.
If you are not already aware of them, there are other websites where the comments of Solitaire residents can be found and where your opinions, positive or negative, about Solitaire can be voiced. Look up:
‘Managing Agent Review.com’
‘Yahoo Solitaire Property Management’
‘Solitaire Property Management Reviews’
DO IT NOW !
How about forming a residents co-operative to buy shares in Solitaire PLC and have a say on the management of the ‘management’ of our homes at the next shareholders meeting?
There seem to be enough disgruntled residents that for a small personal outlay we could have a considerable impact and perhaps raise a vote of no-confidence on the chief exec.
Sorry too late!
just checked, they delisted themselves about 2006
Hello everyone.
What can we do about them – how about this.
How about using this website to list the housebuilders and property developers and other businesses who employ Solitaire ? It might deter them from dealing with Solitaire in the future. My development was built by Broseley Estates Limited.
Harry Meddleton sorry not answering before but just found ‘the comments’ The was a news programme on Southtoday Tues.16th Dec. where an Assn was complaining about a company C P M another Company just come to light under Pereral – The Estate was built by Redrow the same as our and we have identical probelms – they too have a web site ‘Greenbelt Action Group’. I have been in touch with them and we are all prepared to give evidence to an renquiry intoLand Commission being looked at by 2 MPs’ Jim Devine & Gordon Banks. Get hold of your MP report your complaint and ask him to liaise with the two MPs’ mentioned – they too have web sites for ease of communication. If I can get your E-Mail address I will forward. Unity in numbers we will win. Regards Syd.
I feel we should regionalise UK and have one head representative to put in writing the complaint(s)both criminal and civil. Then arrange a meeting with each rep. at a central point. We can then systematically record the complaints and decided action to be taken. If there are suspected criminal intentions -charging for services that are not on site which will be in the hands of the investigating authority and cost nothing – or all club together and go civil. With the turmoil in Parliament at the moment MPs’ will have their minds on other problems. The Chairman of our site has made a written application to Solitaire to meet with an Executive – naturally it has been ignored. Fellow Complainants lets do positive action.