TTAS has previously reported on the problems faced by residents at the exclusive ‘Port Marine’ development in Portishead, Bristol and it would appear that things are yet to improve, despite our publicity.

Following the publication of the ‘Find a Friend‘ pages, over fifty residents from Port Marine (PM) have been in touch to tell us about increasing charges, lack of services and a general consensus that Consort Property Management / OM Property Management are letting the development deteriorate into a state of dis-repair – whilst profiting from service charges.

On top of the above (and we’ll come back to these points shortly) – Peverel / OM / Consort recently wrote to their Port Marine customers, after they discovered that a survey had been sent to all Leaseholders and owners of Freehold properties to identify whether they wished to activate the right to take control of the management in accordance with clause 7.10 of the leasehold/freehold documentation.   (Clause 7.10 may only be unique to Port Marine, but we recommend that others check if such a clause exists in your documentation.)

Peverel / OM / Consort apparently felt the need to contact residents, in the position of the current Managing Agent to give a balanced judgement on this survey and provided a Q&A Guide, that contained answers to many questions residents may have.

This Q&A Guide can be downloaded by clicking this link and makes interesting reading, because it has clearly been produced with the intention of ‘protecting’ themselves and is not in the residents best interests.

One resident who supplied us with this information told us:

Clearly this letter is a warning from Consort advising us against taking control of the management of our properties.

It’s the usual ramblings and unsubstantiated claims, but it’s the first time they’ve sent letters to everyone on this issue so must feel threatened about the survey that was sent out.

The ‘better the devil you know’ claims within the letter have inadvertently given me much in the way of festive cheer.  They are completely clueless about how their customers really feel about them.

I’ve asked Consort if they have plans to survey all of their customers (rather than a random selection) for their opinions on the cost and quality of the service they receive, but this seems beyond them.

Ironic given their recent Customer Service award…

I think TTAS is fantastic and makes me feel better to know others feel the same about this increasingly doomed group of companies!

Thanks for your hard work, it is very much appreciated.

We already know of a number of management companies that have secured contracts with residents at Port Marine who exercised the right to proceed with clause 7.10 of their leasehold/freehold agreement and would suggest that Consort’s action is more preventative than actually to address the problems residents are encountering.

Consort’s comment about costs increasing by 41% having moved to the new managing is an outright lie.  We know the two managing agents in question and have documented proof that this is not the case.  If anyone would like to know of these companies, do get in touch with us.

However, one more concerning point is the discovery that Crest Nicolson - lead developer of Port Marine are opening advising potential buyers of properties in their sales literature, that Peverel / Consort are the managing agents.

This was quite a revelation, especially when staff at Crest Nicolson’s Port Marine sales office openly told us (as part of our recent ‘Mis-selling by Developers‘ report) that the managing agent were yet to be decided and that we’d discover once the legal process had begun.

Other unhappy residents from Port Marine, who are growing tired of ever increasing service charges and lack of service told us:

I’ve just been reading your ‘Find a Friend’ piece.  I own an apartment in Port Marine and am currently paying £113 per month service charge on a two bed property with one allocated parking space.

I pay my service charge to Peverel OM and my ground rent, £75.00 twice yearly to Estates & Management.

My parents own a three bed townhouse on the same development and pay £350 twice yearly for the upkeep of a communal green – which quite honestly is in disrepair – to Consort and have just had contact from them advising their ground rent has been taken over by a different company to be advised of shortly.

Crest Nicholson are continuing to build on the other side of the marina to Port Marine – town houses which have been sold in excess of £500k and apartments.  I enquired at the sales office if Peverel are still being appointed as managing agents for this development – Dockside - and was given a price list which states they will be the agents and service charge for a two bed apartment is an estimated £1380 a year plus ground round!

Which certainly won’t be the case based on my experiences!

Another resident also expressed their feelings to us:

The charges are extortionate and I don’t see what we pay as value for money.  We have had regular conversations with Peverel about the maintenance of communal areas and the grounds but with no success.

The service charges have been pretty much unchanged in the six years I have owned the property.

We are looking for an apartment for my parents in law that are in their 70s and looking for a lower maintenance property.  When I heard Peverel will be the managing agents it did make us think twice about progressing with it / recommending it given the problems we have have with them.

It sounds like Port Marine residents are suffering big time and unfortunately for Consort / Peverel….. I (as Admin of TTAS) have family (in-laws) that also live there and I’m advising in an anonymous capacity!

Although, the discovery of the 7.10 clause is one that I will certainly be raising with them over the Christmas period, as this is the first time we’ve been made aware of this “escape route”.

In other news

Our ‘Find a Friend‘ directory is starting to grow with more information being supplied on the development list that documented the number of properties at each site.

As an when people supply more details, we are moving these estates to the ‘Find a Friend – Definitive List’ as this gives others specifics of where they are located.

The response to the ‘Find a Friend’ directory has been magnificent and we will be improving it with listings of sites that have escaped Peverel / OM Property Management….. the only thing we request is help from contributors in terms of identifying said developments.

Please keep sending us details of your OM Property Management / Peverel managed development as the more listings we can accumulate the better it will be for everyone.