Victor Tchenquiz Interview with NewsOnTheBlock.com
NewsOnTheBlock.com has published it’s interview with Victor Tchenquiz, following the recent media reports that have contained vociferous complaints from leaseholders in retirement homes, with the Peverel Group being at the centre of this controversy.
NewsOnTheBlock.com, as the leading independent magazine providing help and advice to leaseholders, landlords and managing agents, asked for access at the highest level so that they could put the flat owners case forward and hear from the landlord and managing agent directly.
You can read the the full interview by signing up to NewsOnTheBlock for free, but to wet your appetite, here are a few of the questions that were asked by NewsOnTheBlock (NOTB) with Mr Victor Tchenquiz’ (VT) and Nigel Bannister (NB) of Peverel Group replies:-
NOTB Why, in 2007, did you purchase the managing agents, The Peverel Group?
VT As a Landlord, I have long been aware of how poor a lot of property management is. Peverel attracted me because I had many years of dealing with them. They impressed me with their professionalism and high standard of service. When the opportunity arose to purchase the company I jumped at it.NOTB Recently there have been various comments, opinions and allegations made in the news about you. How do you feel about this?
VT Obviously I don’t feel good about it and I don’t feel it’s correct.NOTB As a managing agent, is there a conspiracy against leaseholders?
NB Absolutely not. We are building an enduring business model and if we don’t have our customers on board then we are simply not going to be able to do that.NOTB Some leaseholders use Right to Manage (RTM) to take control of the block management from you. Although RTM is a no-fault procedure, do you view it as a form of ‘punishment’?
VT RTM is a tenant right and we would never obstruct that right. RTM should be a last resort. Too often the process is used by a vocal minority who bully other residents into taking action to resolve relatively minor problems. We try to enter into a dialogue with residents to resolve any problems. Alternative managing agents do not necessarily supply a better service. We have developments coming back to Peverel as their managing agent, after going RTMNOTB Surely you are just trying to make more money from leaseholders through additional hidden charges?
NB No, there are no hidden charges. Generally, most things are covered by the management fee. If an individual asks us to provide extra services then there should be a charge to cover them; it shouldn’t disadvantage the other leaseholders. As Vincent stated, we only have about £100 return per annum per property.
The Q&A session certainly made interesting reading, but didn’t go any further to convincing us that they will change. They are truly of the opinion that Peverel offers a service that is value for money and that they are not ripping residents off! (pure arrogance we feel)
If you have a complaint, Consensus Business Group have committed to reviewing all correspondence received, therefore please write to:
Louise Smith,
Consensus Business Group,
35 Park Lane,
London,
W1K 1RB
Once again, the full interview can be read online at NewsOnTheBlock or by clicking the aptly named report ‘Truth About Tchenquiz‘
December 12th, 2009 at 10:09 am
Be careful – hidden charges will include hyper inflated building insurance where Solitaire attract a major commission and we are talking about approx 50% !!!
December 12th, 2009 at 10:58 am
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December 13th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Dear MR V. Tchenquiz,
I dispute your following statement,
“We try to enter into a dialogue with residents to resolve any problems”
Please read “Story of Nicky Vogg”. It started in December 2006 and still continuing. You only see a part which I have endured since 2006.
1. My flat was left damp but passed as dry by contractor Revival, John Murphy on 15 January 2008 in his final report. I have my independent witness expert report to confirm that. The flat is still damp.
2 Two reports were created. One hand written where the reading were changed after I signed them.
3. The address on the both reports did not belong to me. I think one may have been changed to correct address when my ex-solicitor complaint but second one still has the wrong address but readings are correct which can be confirmed.
4. My flat was left contaminated and I was harassed for almost 2 hours to sign the papers as satisfied customer (I think harassed means when someone keep asking the same thing again and again for long period. They do not leave you alone or accept your explanation so I think I am right to use the word. If someone does not agree then please write to me). He would not let me put my comment on what really took place. Thank God I did not sign. I have my independent witness expert, who spoke to him and ordered him to leave my flat or accept my signatures with my comments. But he still carried on chasing me to sign as per his demand. In the end he left without any signed documents.
Since 15th January 2008 no inspection has been carried out by Peverel while I am losing rental income and suffering.
So what went wrong with Peverel staff? Why my enjoyment of life in my flat are not important which may lead me towards financial ruin further making my life intolerable?
My builder demands a certificate that the flat is safe to restore as they suffered physical symptoms due to contamination, when they inspected the flat to give an estimate. Please note that I am not alone who is affected by it.
I like to meet you so I can put my full case for you to consider. I like you to take action against appropriate contractors and staff to make them accountable otherwise your words have no meaning but empty gester.
Nicky Vogg
December 13th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I find the reply “RTM is a tenant right and we would never obstruct that right” somewhat amusing – with regard to Riverside Plaza in Maidstone, a member of Solitaire Customer Services stated that they will fight any attempts that the residents mount for RTM – when I put this topic to CF in an email she refused to comment upon this subject – her reply in full was “I cannot comment on what you may have been advised by the Customer Services team regarding RTM and I would welcome advice as to where this came frm in order that I may appropriate action. It is not for us prevent RTM companies forming but up to the lessees to seek legal advice and approach us in the correct manner.” – I have asked her again if she would clarify Solitaire’s stance on RTM and she has refused to comment further.
As an aside – Riverside Plaza residents are seeking a meeting with CF in early January, as she has made the statement that “We are very willing to work with the residents to ensure their satisfaction and we trust that the previous issues can be resolved and positive action taken from now onwards” – this will certainly be interesting as there is a massive gap between the way that Solitaire wish to conduct their business and what we think is an acceptable minimum for a management company’s conduct – let alone what we would consider to be a value for money service
As for the comment of arrogance – this is a Peverel/Solitaire trait – Bethan, Jonathan and now CF see nothing wrong with the way that Riverside Plaza is being managed, which puts them in direct opposition to many of the residents, who see Solitaire as purely collecting monies and undertaking nothing on the development.
December 14th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I would like to raise some points:
1) Re. RTM VT says “RTM should be a last resort. Too often the process is used by a vocal minority who bully other residents into taking action to resolve relatively minor problems…” – well if the minor problems were dealt with appropriately in the first place by the Managing Agent then there wouldn’t be a ‘vocal minority’! Interesting that ‘they’ are observant of other people’s ‘bully boy’ tactics (…do you think they were taking notes so that they can use the same themselves?!)?
2) Re. Insurance NB says “We have an in-house company which deals with the claims and administration…” – I still have a claim that is part outstanding (in that Solitaire still owe me some money!) In the time that claim was running I initially dealt solely with my Property Manager and her Assistant never with any ‘in-house company’ (which I assume he’s referring to “Kingsborough Insurance Services”) so going back to a previous post of mine where I asked Andy “What does Kingsborough actually do?” Andy, WHAT DOES KINGSBOROUGH ACTUALLY DO to deserve their excessive fees and commissions?!?!?!?! (apart from raise more profit for CBG?) You have still not replied!?
The ONLY reason my claim was even part settled was that I started talking to Oval (the brokers) directly and they managed to authorise the work and settle the balance of the claim without too many problems at all (and not waste much time! They were in fact brilliant!) If I had relied just on Solitaire to manage and administer this then I think I still would be without a bathroom now, one year later on!! Solitaire have just dragged their feet (…yes I have n-o-w heard back frm EFrench about this but it so intertwined with other issues now that I lose the will to live even thinking about responding to her probably only get back another wordy reply that goes no way to solving any of the problems I had stated!!)
If Kingsborough genuinely are supposed to be dealing with the “claims and administration” for insurance then I would be interested to hear from any ‘customers’ who have had ANY dealing with Kingsborough directly??? I doubt there are any!
3) Re. Criticism online NB says “There is some fair criticism but we find some of the critical blogging quite difficult to deal with, particularly where it’s anonymous…” – I nearly fell of my chair when I read this!!! What does he think ‘Andy’ the anonymous Peverel employee and his “Solitaire Online Feedback Manager” title is!? There is no transparency in having an “Andy” as an online presence to be the ‘official’ voice of Solitaire! Also NB says “We prefer that people let us know who and where they are…” likewise NB! We would like to know who exactly we are dealing with too! And rather than have to go through an ‘Andy’ at every step to get anything done surely it would be better to have a direct line to our own Property Managers?! As I said before I have given up on the Customer Service number after months of bad experiences – whether they’ve improved now or not I really don’t know but in my view they had their chances and failed!! Also talking about knowing who you are dealing with and anonymity then why are Solitaire / Peverel so determined to get all their employees names off any web sites too! I agree that anything abusive should be moderated and I think Admin on TTAS has done a good and fair job on that front, there should be no need for Solitaire / Peverel to insist on the removal of names as if the job was done properly then there would not be a problem! Not ALL of the blogging is anonymous in any case, I’m sure Solitaire know exactly who I am!
After reading the article I sincerely think that VT, NB, Andy, and the rest of the boys at Solitaire, Peverel, CBG etc. really don’t think that they are doing anything wrong!? And if that is the case then are we really going to get anywhere with trying to change their behaviour and attitudes to us, their customers??? I think not! In the long run, as painful a process as it is then I think that RTM is really the only way to go and any future government should also be looking at ways of making that process easier too and not just regulation of the industry too as I’m sure that there’ll be ways for companies like Solitaire to get around any restrictive terms that get applied to them!
December 15th, 2009 at 11:49 am
“lose the will to live”
Nirmal posting has touched my cord on many levels especially with his statement, “ I lose the will to live”
I assume that he is a fighter like me but we are made to feel that life is not worth living because no one hears and we are just going around and around the circle. This is a very cleaver technique used to break the record to stop the opposition. I believe they play number games and most of us just give up and crawl back under our stones. Over all they are the winners and we are labelled as “serial complainers (dribbling geriatrics)”.
Whenever, Peverel are at fault or they are vulnerable then in my experience they use in defence:
1.Not to answer in full
2.Just stop responding all together if they will implicate hemselves by answering
3.Make you lose money
4.Threaten you with inappropriate action and false claim
5.Blame the leaseholder
6.Total denial that they are at fault
I believe there are many others who have suffered far more then us which we do not know about yet? The real horror stories are yet to come. Let us not forget many of the leaseholders do not use internet or now what is taking place.
Oval was insurance agent introduced by Peverel and their contractor was Circle Britannia, who carried out tests in my flat from 2 January 2007 to 3 April 2007. The plumbers were totally incompetent, who carried out inappropriate testing. It was Peverel who companied each plumber on each visit and made appointments. No reports have been forwarded yet except one. Now there is total denial that the tests ever took place and blaming me because I refused access.
The Company is so bold and obnoxious that makes my hair stand when they know my ex tenant holds a legal position in the banking sector, who stood by me to fight Peverel on unjust tests and is my witness. I believe if they accept the tests were carried out then they are implicating themselves.
Nirmal could you tell whether Oval settled your claim quickly since you are writing on the site or was it before? I am interested to know more details about your bathroom problem. If you wrote before then tag details please.
We have a Management Company, who we owe their living, their management skills are cracking down our spirits right down low as righty stated by Nirmal “ I lose the will to
Young Vincent Tchnequiz I seek justice and will carry on screaming to see me till I “go blue in the face” and crawl back into my box of final resting!!!!!!!!!!
December 15th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Nicky, my details: leak from a third floor flat in our block affected my bathroom on the first floor with waste water coming thru the ceiling and down the walls! This was at the end of Dec 2008 (I think in between Xmas and New Year though I would have to check my dates!) Trying to contact Solitaire in that time was a nightmare as the their Office’s (Barnet at the time) were closed some days for the Holiday’s and people were on leave etc. This was before any CareLine 24 hour support was implemented (which, apart from this web site, and the out of hours phone message on the Solitaire Customer Services number I would not even know anything about as Solitaire have failed to notify people in writing of this even though we are expected to pay for it!)
A Contractor was sent by Solitaire who turned the water off to the third floor Flat at the mains as the occupants were away at the time and could not be contacted (no breaking in was done!) and also as the third floor Flat was let under management one of their own plumbing contractors subsequently attended too! 2 leaks were eventually isolated, one in the Flat and one from a communal pipe.
In the New Year managed to liaise directly with my Property Manager (HDearing) and her Assistant (STaylor) at the time, things got delayed as claims were made that emails had not been received etc. Also directly telephone calling the PM and AssistantPM was reasonably problematic at that time as I hardly ever managed to get them on the first attempt though at least I could leave them direct voicemails and, all credit to them, she would respond directly to me, likewise for direct emails to them too. Now with the implementation of the general Solitaire Customer Services number this has become nigh on impossible. Also now any direct emails to PM and APM get blocked by Solitaire’s servers and only the general one will go through, only to get the automated “we’ll reply in 10 days” response and then never to hear from them again! To be honest, if something like this were to happen again now then I really do not know how it would EVER get resolved!???
Going back, I had to off my own back arrange various quotes (as did the owner of the second floor Flat that was also affected) and submit them to my PM / Solitaire. Again more communication delays resulted in my contacting Oval Insurance Brokers directly regarding the claim – things THEN started to move, some more quotes later and work was approved (by Oval) and remedy work was started in about Apr (all this time had non-functioning bathroom!) Work completed end of May, invoices submitted to Oval and Solitaire upon satisfactory completion of works (as signed off by myself) – again due to the delays from Solaitaire and timing from the Contractor who completed the works I had to pay them directly from my own pocket on agreement from Oval and Solitaire that they would settle with me. Oval obliged in less then 2 weeks. I am still waiting on Solitaire over 6 months later on!! Though as I have said I have had a response from EFrench recently after highlighting on this web site and emailing ‘Andy’ but she was just asking for more info (even though they know full well the situation!) at the thought of the merry-go-round that getting back to her will start I have decided to wait until the next set of bills to arrive and try and do it all in one go!
Nicky, your story is truly terrible and I do sincerely hope that you get things resolved though I do think it is going to take a LOT of (more!) effort on your part!
In all these Insurance dealings I have had I have never heard the name of “Kingsborough Insurance” (a CBG company) mentioned or had them involved!? Which is why I have asked Andy twice now what it is that Kingsborough Insurance actually do???! As highlighted in the Times post “…Kingsborough Insurance charged some residents a commission of 33 per cent for its services…” that we all end up paying!? According to the NOTB article NB says “We have an in-house company which deals with the claims and administration…” but if no one has ever dealt directly with Kingsborough Insurance then what are they exactly doing (again Andy?) apart from unreasonably generating more profit for CBG???! Surely it is part of the MANAGEMENT COMPANY’S direct duty to source and provide the most cost affective Insurance cover to it’s leaseholders, paying a sister company up to a third of the (inflated!) premium for little or no (additional) service at all is just scandalous behaviour!
December 15th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
What’s interesting, when you visit Kingsborough’s website (http://www.kingsborough.co.uk) – the footer also mentions another insurance company called Sonata Insurance Services (Registered in UK No: 06704179), yet the Registered in UK No for Kingsborough is incorrect.
It is actually illegal, as all websites must detail the Registered in UK Number, if they are a limited company. By failing to publish the correct number is punishable, the correct number is: 03479579 and not 03479569.
On the 4 November 2009, there were many Director changes within Kingsborough and our friend DE was listed as a new director!
Sonata according to a TimesOnline weblink, was purchased by Vincent Tchenguiz on March 2008, in a joint venture with Paul and Clive Rayden. With whom Paul Rayden is alledging that Vincent owes him 3.5million still (full link: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article6936996.ece)
Sonata is yet another name that we must all be aware as being part of The Consensus Business Group.
Be warned!
[ADMIN EDIT]
It would appear that director changes or ‘Director Particulars’ have changed for many of the Peverel / Consensus Business Group companies on the same date – 4 November 2009!
December 28th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
I have been thinking on Nirmal situation of none payment of his expenses by Solitaire and have ideas which may help others too in similar situation.
If Peverel/solitaire owe money and do not settle and keep dragging with questions after questions then my solution would be ( do edit my bad English please)
Send them Formal Notice of my intention and post by registered mail and e-mail with copies to as many as I can.
(Top of the letter): First Notice
Must be addressed to Company registered name ( not the person I would be in contact with)
Dear Sirs
I attach my previous correspondence, which clarify my claim, so far your company has not acknowledged ………..
I hereby give you 14 days notice to pay me in full otherwise legal action will be taken against your company. I sincerely hope it will be settled amicably.
Yours faithfully
C C :
No response after 14 working days
(Top of the letter) Final Reminder
No response then address again to the register address as first reminder / if response then address to the person writing to me.
Dear Sirs/ Mr./Ms.
I have received no response to my first reminder so far/ I have given you enough explanation but you are not taking any notice……, therefore, have no choice but to give you finial 7 Day notice for you to settle in full otherwise legal action will be taken.
I believe that will do the trick if not you can file a case in a Small Court Claim which can be done on the internet. There are always guidelines how to fill it. There is no need to a hire solicitor. Any problems ask for help on TTAS.P. again.
I hope that will be useful.