“QUESTION ON FIRSTPORT MANAGEMENT FEES.
It would appear if you forward or deliver a letter or and the follow it up with an email to the CEO of FirstPort regarding ‘ FINANCE ‘ and ask for the TRUTH, the WHOLE TRUTH and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH you do not get a reply.
The only way to get correspondence from Firstport is to delay the payment of their EXTORTIONATE MANAGEMENT FEES by a number of days and you will find that you will make contact.Is that correct FirstPort? YES OR NO.That says something about how FirstPort now works from the TOP downwards.”
“A proper FRAUD company
The worst company ever! A proper FRAUD company. The building is going to ruin. The lift is not maintained at all. The security gate has not been working for a year now. The emergency corridor lights are not working. All issues have been reported many times by residents. The cleaning service changed from once a week to every two weeks (the same price). One thing we always get on time is our bills... In 10 years, the monthly fee has gone up by 300% and will continue to rise.
Topics could include
Building not painted ever
Building badly maintained
Bricks not replaced
Security gates not repaired
Security doors not repaired
Lifelines not working for weeks
Rust on car parks
Lack of general day-to-day maintenance
Road unfurnished
Parking issues not addressed
Nothing gets done until it has broken or damaged beyond repair
Electrics in Core 8-9 are in dire need of attention and potential fire hazard.
Leaks not addressed
Cost cutting which is to reduce the already pathetic levels of service we are billed for
In 10 years the monthly fee has gone up by 300% and will continue to rise.
PETERBOROUGH CONNECT 21 PE15AX”
“Dear prospective homeowner. So... you're excited about a home you like, you've finally hit the big time, and managed to secure a very nice, cosy property for your family.. your troubles are over, or are they?
Welcome to the world of UK Property Law, a veritable minefield where the instant you go for a nice lane walk from your new home, tramping on an anti-personnel explosive device would just ruin your whole day.
That is what you have to deal with here with individual such as Firstport. They take advantage of your eager purchase and lock you into some purely dreadful contractual pay obligations. Builders develop a portion of land through an S106 agreement with a local authority and highways.
When complete, both freehold & leaseholders will in their deed of sale be liable for, rightfully, a service / rent / estate / management charge along with their usual mortgage / rent, both.
What happens is an exploitation using a loophole in UK property law. From the sale you'll hear that the Local authority and highways WILL adopt the commonland and highways "at some point" .. you're not advised, even by unwitting property solicitors, to carefully consider these vague statements.
A read over the S106 agreement also doesn't provide security because: "hey, things change, deal with it." What's usually deliberately omitted from agent sales pitch & legal letters is this important piece of information.
You sign your deed and they, companies such as Chamonix and Firstport (now amalgamated into just one terrifying monster rather than two) ALWAYS attach to your sales deed a Part Title at HM Land Registry.
They own part of your freehold! This is NO LONGER a freehold by definition. By they won't tell you that, until it's too late. When people act like this, you know what to expect, what is coming. You'll do well not to trust them, but it's too late.
The local and highways authority seldom adopt and you're stuck paying indefinitely into a contract you cannot get out of. As such, the law protects these individuals through it's feudal obsolence. It's not been updated. Read about it.
If you attempt to defend or not pay, for almost certain no services and mismanagement, because Firstport and others similar do not keep to their contractual agreements, (they don't have to, they're protected remember), they simply win tribunal cases through default and if they lose, appeal to Supreme Court which guarantees to protect them there.
It is called FLEECEHOLD.
There is a national movement gathering against this misconduct and extortion in the defence of FLEECEHOLDERS for UK Property Law reform and redress from developers and companies such as Firstport, but GOV.UK for 4-6 years have dragged their feet.
Research Homeownersrights on Facebook.. the HorNet Group. Hornets at homeownersrights dot net.. the public need to be made aware.
Fleeceholders have regularly, repeatedly submitted their cases to GBNEWS, Andrew Marr, Lord Stephen Greenhalgh and Best, our local MP's, The Guardian, The Competition and Markets Authority.. and Rip-Off Britain. Some listen, CMA, GOV.UK, HOUSE OF LORDS, ANDREW MARR.. others don't, BBC , RIP-OFF BRITAIN et al.
Dear consumer, I hope the humble attempt at humour kept you reading, but this is with all intent and purpose a very real sober warning. Be very careful. Avoid companies like Firstport, they're crafty and pure evil.
When you buy, before you do, INSIST from solicitors and builders alike, THAT THE LOCAL AND HIGHWAYS AUTHORITY WILL ADOPT THE ENTIRE ESTATE COMMONLAND AND HIGHWAYS, WITH A FIXED DATE WHEN THIS TAKES PLACE.
If you don't receive this, WALK AWAY & DO NOT BUY. If you don't believe, ask fleeceholders & research.”
“Thinking you can rebrand and try to convince everyone you're not Peverel any more is hilarious. This company remains bottom of the pile in this industry”
“Shocking service my daughter is still waiting for you to pull your fingers out and close the deal on their sale it has taken 5 months my daughter is pregnant and needs to get into their new home and attend appointments but cannot has she leaves in another city if they loose this house and if anything happens to my grandchild I will bring the wrath of God down on you”
“Appalling customer service (from the seller of a freehold house point of view). The only thing that arrived in a timely fashion was the Sellers Pack (which you are charged handsomely for). All other requests for information, status updates etc either ignored or 'escalated'. I think Firstports definition of escalated must be 'no need to respond'. Finally completed on my house sale in January 22 after 8 months of hassle, told Firstport - who then requested the name of buyers, solicitors name etc 6 weeks later (I supplied the details immediately, unlike Firstports responses at any stage), but no further response from Firstport (so add discourteous to the list of issues). A month or so later I received an email inviting me to meet with the Estate Manager - I pointed out that I was no longer a client of Firstport and to stop contacting me. Waiting to see if I get a bill for the next 6 month period sent to me... Avoid having to anything to do with Firstport.”
“Rubbish service, I've been waiting since December for a simple change of ownership certificate. No response from emails or phone calls - any ideas as to how I can get a response?”
“Possibly the most inefficient firm I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with. Despite my query being 'escalated' and 'prioritised' I am still awaiting a response to an email which has been holding up the completion of a property sale for over 6 weeks. Nobody is ever available who could action anything. Pathetic.”
“We had been charged twice the same management fees because they are unable to locate the payment. We have provided copies of our bank instructions, copies of swift payments and finally bank statements to show the funds had been deducted from our account..... Still not able to find them, they reply between one week to 10 days after each email, they only take calls until 4.30pm. They are a disgrace of a company with zero customer service or any interest in serving their clients. Stay away from them!!!”
“Had a leak in the roof since Jan 2019.
We are now 2022, with multiple failed attempts by cowboys to fix the problem I am now living in my front room, my bedroom has water comin from the walls that have blown and a ceiling which is the same.
Mould and damp everywhere on ceiling and water coming through when it rains.
Been this bad for week and half and still no contact from FIRST PORT.
I call them and get nothing about nothing.
Even a few days ago, some polite employee told me that there isn’t anyone to deal with your situation and if I could call back Tomo.
Of course, I’ll just keep changing buckets of water till your ready to help
Disgraceful customer service”
“Charging us for re-decorations that haven’t even taken place
Not being able to set up direct depbits monthly to pay service charge
Lost my job due to covid and insist on me paying 500 a month to clear my balance - not possible !
Extremely inflexible
No empathy whatsoever post covid”
“Atrocious services, service charge keeps being raised but no services are forthcoming.
Property Manager is a joke.
Cowboy contractors, suspect someone taking backhanders.”
“I've been trying to claim my refund for overpaid service charge to Firstport for over 2 months. Endless loop of them claiming payments have been made, then apologising and saying they haven't and they'll have to look into it. Endless phone calls, none of the staff seem to care and the service is extremely poor. At this point holding money which they agree they owe me, is nothing short of theft by this awful company
It became clear that there were some huge GDPR data breaches going on which I reported and submitted a Subject Access Request to which they tell me they can't locate the recordings of the 12+ hours I've spent on the phone to them trying to resolve this issue, which in itself is a GDPR breach.
If you ever have a choice stay away from living anywhere that this company manages, they charge extortionate fees, the actual services provided are poorly done, the staff don't seem to know what day of the week it is, and they'll do everything they can to keep hold of any money they get their dirty hands on despite them agreeing it's not theirs.”
“Would give it zero stars if it was possible. The most unresponsive, abysmal property managers.
I'm still awaiting an answer on queries that are 9 months old.”
“Having sold a property managed by first port back in December 2021 I am still receiving almost daily demands for 2022 management charges.I and my soliciter have sent emails plus numerous phone calls to stop this constant harrasment without success.Considering I am registered disabled and firstport are fully aware of this fact I find it a disgrace that I am being treated this way. Their customer service is a waste of time and I suggest you avoid this company at all costs”
“I would strongly advise anyone to rethink when considering purchasing a property managed by FirstPort. Their fees increase rapidly and furthermore when trying to sell they take so long to provide the Management Pack that the sale falls through, despite polite chasing on several occasions. The management pack to sell is expensive so one should expect a first class service and quick turnaround, sadly not the case.
Avoid this company if you can. There are plenty of leasehold properties managed by other companies far superior to FirstPort.
If you already own a property managed by them I strongly advise you to put forward changing the Management Company. This can be brought up at the AGM.”
