Estates & Management Ltd Reviews 355

Any property managed by this company is an IMMEDIATE RED FLAG.

That failed to send the service charge invoice to the email address that registered on their own online payment portal, instead sending it to the wrong email listed when the property was first bought over 10 years ago. Due to their incompetence we were late in paying the (outrageous 80% increase in previous year) service charge. When we realised the issue and tried to pay it, they had blocked online payment portal access. We tried to pay over the phone and after an hour on the line with a useless employee, discovered they’d sent it to a debt collector and refused payment. I made a formal complaint asking why their correspondence has been so inadequate, and still have received no response.

We’ve lived at the property for over 10 years and everything has gotten worse since this disgrace of a company took over management. I’m going to be making a complaint to the ombudsman and urge anyone buying a property to check that e-m is not the management agent prior to making an offer.

Con artists or idi*ts? Both? We're trying to extend lease on a flat we own and so far, after 3 years of trying and spending thousands as requested, they suddenly say the process has been going on too long. Now we're in limbo. We're taking it to the ombudsman. Absolutely incompetent scum.

Me and my partner spent 9 months trying to buy a flat owned by this company. We ended up pulling out after months and months on end of trying to get the Deed of Variation from E&M. My advice is do not buy a property with them, they’ll make it impossible to sell. We are now having to start the whole buying a property process again due to their complete and utter lack of care.

My solicitor has been trying to get a deed of variation and answers to enquiries before contract for over two months from this company. They have failed to respond and I am in danger of losing my buyer. I can't conceive how they can get away with such appalling service. Is there no regulator overseeing them? Absolute negligence.

Honestly an atrocious company. I tried to buy a property off someone who owns a property managed by E&M. The mortgage provider needed E&M to confirm a reduction in ground rent with a deed of variation. It took them 4 months to send an UNSIGNED and INCORRECT deed of variation which consisted of just 1 line with 10 words of text to modify the leasehold agreement. This document didn't satisfy my mortgage provider so the offer expired. I've now had to pull out the deal and lose a property I was really looking forward too.

You're a total disgrace and should be closed down, I lost £350 in solicitor fees because of your total incompetence. You have no heart and you seriously do not a care that your properties are owned by real people who suffer and have been caused a tonne of stress because of you!

NEVER buy a property owned by these lot, as you'll never be able to sell it!

Think again if buying a property which E&M are involved in. After 20 years of owning a flat which E&M represented the Freeholder I had almost got used to their total incompetence. They really do not have the required level of competence to carry out their role as indicated by all the negative reviews on this site.
When I sold the flat last year I was pleased that I wouldn’t have to suffer them anymore. However they have a sting in their tail and don’t let you get away that easily. My story is the same as many other reviewers on Trustpilot. I sold the Flat , the Buyers Solicitor sent E&M’s Property Transfer Department the necessary Deed of Transfer and related documentation which any competent Management firm would use to remove my name from the 6 Monthly Ground Rent Demands and replace it with the new owners. Not E&M this relatively simple task is apparently beyond them. Instead they insist that I am still the owner and a year later they are still issuing me with Ground Rent Demands together their usual bully boy threats if I don’t pay. It’s impossible to contact them as they don’t issue email addresses but rely on a Contact Form within their website which you complete and submit. They never reply to these and it appears the moment you press submit the form just disappears into the ether due to incompetent IT. Alternatively the staff just don’t bother reading them or actioning them. You could try ringing them during the few hours each day the phone line is available but 9 times out of 10 you will wait an hour and the phone will not be answered. If it is all you get through to us a call Center staffed by people who are pleasant enough but unable to assist as they say they are not trained in anything specific. Worse though is they are not able to contact any of the various departments so it’s a completely pointless call Center. I have a My Account with them but you can’t really use that for anything but pay them money.
I’m obviously refusing to pay them the ongoing Ground Rent and when it eventually ends up in Court I will present all the legal ownership paperwork that E&M have already been provided with together with copies of all my unsuccessful attempts to get them to engage. I wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy and I feel so sad for the more vulnerable in society when attempting to deal with such appalling behaviour and refusal to engage.

I don't have the words how bad the customer service is. They close at 2pm, the menus options on the phone take forever to go through. When you eventually do you are on hold a very long time. when I eventually spoke to someone re the fact I could not get into my online account, I was told they could not help me and I had to email them. I have not been able to access my account for months. Online it tells me I have to reregister because I have not accessed my account online since a specific date. When I try and re-register it tells me I already have an account to log on to that but when i try it goes back to you need to re-register. Its just a pointless circle and nobody on the phone can help me resolve it.

Downright awful, honest advice, if you pay annual ground rent, pay to get out, the grief and level of unprofessional conduct from this company when you are dealing with the grief of losing a parent and selling a property is far worse than any other utility company I had to deal with, failure to respond, inaccurate information, unhelpful, threats of debt collectors, seriously, don't do it to your kids, pay up and get away from them, surely there is some guidelines these companies have to abide by.

very bad company send out incorrect bills then send threatening letters even though I told them their error. when you email them you get a response of boiler plate statements that do not address the issue and if you try and phone you have to wait ages and then they are unhelpful and rude. Avoid any property managed by these people.

This Company is such a waste of time, calling them waiting over 30 minutes every time. The first lady who answered was OK and more helpful, given me an email for correspondence on my issue. Emailed Said it can take 10 to 15 days to respond. I waited over a month with no reply. Rang up the company again, there was another lady who was very rude down the phone as I tried to explain my issue. She told me I don't understand do I, which I insulted by this, very unprofessional. My issue is that my partner and I received a final letter that said to the occupier assuming us as tenants were responsible. Me and my partner we worried about this as we all ways pay our bills on time. When we went through the letter, the letter said dear "Paradigm charitable housing assoc" so we were told to query a d found out we weren't responsible for paying. That was our mistake paying a bill, a now we our out of pocket. Not happy, with this company and would not recommend them or their services to anyone.

I have been paying a £40 charge each year and have asked E&M why, all they say is that it is in the contract - there is no service or anything they provide for this fee - absolute waste of money but if it is not paid then they threaten you with further charges! Day light robbery!

I am trying to purchase a property managed by E&M and it is being a nightmare trying to get the deed of certificate. By law they should provide it within 4 weeks of request, we are now on week 6 and still NOTHING! I am reading horror stories and is putting me off buying the property. Do they realize that their behaviour will reduce the price of property? Incompetent should be their name. Trying to complain to the Property Ombudsman, but I don't think they are registered.

DEED OF variation DO NOT proceed with this company. Our sale fell through after 7 months of back and forth, the landlord of our house we wanted to buy (Lylecraft Ltd) ran by E&M refused to amend a doubling ground rent on the leasehold until our mortgage offer ran out. Very greedy, money grabbing company who trap current owners in dodgey lease terms. Avoid at all costs

My experience is much the same as has already been said by many others, an absolutely horrendous company, who shouldn't be allowed to operate.

I came within hours of losing a property I was trying to purchase, due to E&M's consistent refusal to provide the answers to questions requested by the Solicitor representing the buyer of my flat. Both myself and my Solicitor spent months trying to get a response from E&M without any success, including submitting a complaint to their listed email address for this. They just ignore all attempts at contacting them. In the end, as it was the day before the final extension ran out for purchasing the property I was trying to buy, out of desperation I contacted the Property Ombudsman, who gave me the direct email address of the appropriate person in E&M to contact. Only then did my Solicitor receive the correct answers to the questions he needed, which was achieved a matter of hours before the final deadline ran out.

Since then, despite notifying E&M several times that I'd moved, I was still receiving requests for payment of the following years ground rent. They even sent notification they had employed the services of a debt recovery company to get the money from me, even though I'd made it clear I didn't owe anything as I'd moved! This again, is something that's been highlighted by other customers who have been unfortunate enough to have dealings with E&M.

Funnily enough though, whenever it came time for them to request the annual ground rent payment, there were no issues with the admin round that and the payment process was seamless!!

They are absolutely shocking and a disgrace to their profession.

I've been in contact with the Property Ombudsman again to request details of how to enlist their assistance with formally taking action against E&M. I've just received the relevant information back, so will now begin the process in the hope I might be able to prevent someone else having to experience the same disgusting service?

Well done, your have ruined my partner's life with you complete and utter lack of respect for you and your company. My partner is locked out of her account and You will not answer the phones as you are "closed due to exceptional circumstances" she now has been calling and emailing for the past 6 months to try and get help, and when you do answer, you refer her to another company called Tysers who cannot help her as her account is locked, and you still have not responded once, not even with an acknowledgement email or courtesy call. She now has got interest charges on her account and you won't even help by answering the phone or email back to help. Solicitors will now be involved and I expect an answer by replying to this review where I can contact you to get this resolved.

I hope I never have to deal with this incompetent and unprofessional company again. Trying to get through on the phone is almost impossible, I have contacted them on line at least 3 times now, and have never had a reply back, I even resorted to writing to them and have heard nothing.

Absolutely appalling company - my father's property sale was completed in December 2022 yet today I have received further correspondence. Diabolical company.

This company are the biggest bunch of wasters on the planet! They fail to answer solicitors queries and lose people flat sales. If I could give a minus score I would! Nearly 12 months on and no completion/exchange date in sight thanks to their ineptitude! Absolutely diabolical!!

It would appear that this company should not be allowed to conduct any business of any type. It's total lack of communication with clients (apart from requesting ground rent etc.) is appalling, neglectful, and downright ignorant, if not illegal.
Any homeowner attempting to obtain information apart from making payment) online is proving to be totally non productive. As soon as you mention you are a homeowner you are blocked from continuing to obtaining further information. Regretfully the same applies to written requests. Having made several attempts online and two written attempts to obtain a
Lease Extension Application Form with no response or reply I can only surmise that this company must be
about to cease trading. This could prove very beneficial to it's clientele if a totally new company took over the management.

Over six months ago, I completed the purchase of a property "managed" by E&M. They deal with collection of ground rent and occasional other fees.

Despite my solicitor sending them deed of covenant and notice of transfer, they refuse to register me as owner of title to this property. This means that I cannot pay the ground rent (a cheque sent to them was returned to me) and buildings insurance.

Attempts at communication by myself and my solicitor are simply ignored. Their legal obligations are completely ignored.

What to do?

UPDATE: 09/03/2023. I have been forwarded letters that show that they are still pursuing the previous owner for ground rent - with threats of legal action!