SDL Property Management Reviews 89

I would give them negative -10, if there is an option. (1) using really poorly skill repair compant to do the building repair work and recharge the home owner for the fees. (2) never have a person to answer phone to deal with the residential issues, unless make the payment option! For the apartment i living - there is the dog poop and human poop around resident paring space and stairs and not have any clean been action on it for a week ago. Car parking entrance electric rolling door leave it as open / broken for 3 month and never been fixed.

We bought our lease apartment on Oxford Place Walsall in 2011 and got tied to (CP BGWOOD at the time) SDL property management unfortunately.
Total ignorance and neglect! Only bills arrive on time (currently we are overpaid)
Even simple repairs in past years like broken gutters or electrical issues with communal corridors lights are taking around 6months to fix (after reporting and chasing them with countless emails).
Communal green areas are just completely neglected grass not cut!
Disruption in communal cleaning (July 2018) for 8 weeks and we still paying for it!
We are charged for services we are not receiving, like window cleaning when they dirty and not cleaned for years, or disruption in corridor cleaning service. Not a single correction or refund, our accounts always in deficit regarding to their very poor accounting.
We try to contact them (emails) over the years to report or complaint but managing team (Ali Shah, Tamara Crosdale, Conor Moran) just don't seem to care. Awful customer service, calling them is just waste of time.
How this is even possible to operate like this without any repercussions?

At the moment we have same problem with wooden doors to garages communal corridor got vandalised. We ask many times to replace them over the years!

We can just hope things will improve or sell our beloved home apartment and buy FREEHOLD!

The property manager of our block is a narcissistic bully. My property has been targeted by thieves twice now. The police were less than helpful, but did say no action would be taken unless I could show the offenders on CCTV committing the offence. I installed CCTV but because it also captures data from the pavement directly Infront of my property, I have to display signs to alert people that they are being recorded. The site manager asked me to remove the signs - apparently it's against the lease agreement to erect ones own signs. Being a tenant, I have never had a copy of the lease agreement. I asked the property manager to send me a copy and he said as I'm only a tenant he would not be sending it to me. He treats tenants as second class citizens, even though we pay money to our landlords, which no doubt is the money the landlord uses to pay their service charge to SDL. No sympathy or empathy for the two thefts we've gone through. Perhaps if SDL invested properly in CCTV themselves, I wouldn't have to operate my own scheme. When I said this to the property manager, he said I'm only a tenant and don't contribute to the upkeep of the premises - astonishing. In essence, the property manager spends a lot of time arguing with good tenants who do nothing wrong but doesn't worry so much about all the issues at the development that dealing with would really benefit the neighborhood. So in short, if you are looking at moving into a block managed by SDL:
1) Don't - go somewhere that isn't managed by SDL
2) if you're a property owner, you will be paying through the teeth for not much in return
3) if you're a tenant, you'll be treated like a second class citizen and your opinion will be considered void
4) if you send them emails, they will likely ignore them, but then when they want you to "comply with them" then they will be very quick to contact you and tell you if you haven't taken your signs down within 4 days then they would be taking them down - how about quiet enjoyment of premises? How about the fact that would be theft seeing as they'd be removing my possessions without my consent? How about go away and pick on someone else? How about I pay good money to live here and am an adult, so stop trying to boss me around over minor issues?

All in all, evidently where they have given the individual a little bit of power, it has gone to their head.

Once the property manager had sent me the part of the lease that evidenced I was not allowed to have the CCTV warning signs up, I took them down. However, it's illegal to have the CCTV and record a public right of way without signage. As a compromise, I suggested I could have a sign inside my window instead - also not allowed I've been told. So if I leave the sign in my window is he going to break in to remove the sign? - actually would not put it past them to be fair. Can't even have something in my window. I may need to wipe my bum later - do I need permission to do that as well? No doubt SDL have a policy to prevent someone toileting - no doubt they would say it's defacing the drains and if you don't remove your toilet roll by the end of the long weekend then they will remove it themselves!

No doubt the well regarded (by SDL) lease agreement (that I've never been given nor signed) has a clause for that!

Absolute sham of a company, don't ever respond to emails where you need something but happy to respond to emails where they need your money... Shocking experience and they shouldn't be allowed to run as a company.

ASKED FOR DETAILS BUT NEVER GOT BACK TO ME! A response on here is literally to make the reviewers look like the company has responded, when they don't

I have sold my property and my lawyer has chased on 3 occasions the share certificate indemnity form from SDL. No one emails back saying they will look into it...it's as though the email has gone into a black hole. I am concerned that the sale will fall through with the buyer becoming inpatient waiting for SDL

This company now wise estates are useless. They want your money but ignore all emails, do not do some of the work in the contract, but still want your money, get rid of them asap don't forget they are wise estates now should be totally unwise

This company seems to have a unique objective : rip off the customers! The service charges are the highest on the street and they keep increasing in the 2 digits every 6 months. Between 2020 and 2021, the charges increased by 33% with no sensible justification. If you are seeking some explanation from the management then good luck. It will take you days before you get any response. Extremely bad experience.

Highly recommended I thought they were very professional

Worst company I have dealt with and why Bovis Homes associate with them I do not know. Got threatened by court action after they wrote to an address I did not live at, I had told them 2 years previously I did not live there and luckily they had confirmed they had my new contact details.
Now they are writing again to 2 addresses I do not live at and have been told I have never lived there.
I have emailed them several times and they completely ignore my emails.
How this company survives on reviews like they get is beyond me.
Now they have transferred the property management in question to Wise Estates and so far they are as bad, totally ignoring emails.
I will never buy leasehold again.

An absolute sham of a company. The management services are terrible with promises made and never kept, staff turnover is high so someone different is always "managing" you, and can take weeks to get a response. Avoid at all costs!

I must say that again I am writing disappointing news. So finally managed to get a call with (removed name) (Director - I had noted his full name but been asked by Trustpilot to remove) and (Estate Manager - also been asked to remove her name but it’s the same name many people on here have complained about previously - just shows the incompetence as so many people have named the same person) and kept being told by the Director that we need to work in a collaborative nature (which I thought I had been by reporting all of the issues on the SDL360 Portal). At the last count I had maybe got the total up to around 70/80. Many of these are points SDL had been paid for (as our estate manager) but in my opinion never actually acknowledged or did anything about (i.e simple landscaping/repair works or issues that I deemed to be a danger to health if not looked at in a prompt manner).

In order to find the details of the Director that I have been asked to remove, it is quite easy via a simple search via Companies House using number - 12673845, click through to people and he is noted there as one of the younger Directors. Being publicly available information I’m hoping that I am not asked again to remove details.

Not long after I then received an email to say that we were being handed over to a new company (Wise) but we would have the same estate manager. It didn't take long to look online to see that it is SDL but are just changing their name - unless SDL have a different view that I am missing here. I was also then informed that the portal requests I had previously made would not automatically go over to the new company.

The following day I then received an email saying that SDL/Wise are serving our estate notice and therefore handing the estate back to the developer. So what happens to all of the points/issues/defects as raised over the last 18 months that have not been addressed - just happily ignore or will they be fixed at SDLs expense (after all, they have been taking their fee for the last couple of years, but not addressing the issues).

In a way I am very happy that they have served us notice, just hoping they will be at least looking at and fixing issues before we have to pay for the new managing agent to mop up after SDL.

For anyone with issues, I would recommend reporting them to their ombudsman who are 'The Property Ombudsman (TPO)'. It takes some time, but no doubt the more people who complain maybe will make SDL/Wise look at how they treat their customer base.

A very frustrating company to deal with. SDL deals with my yearly grounds fee for the housing estate I live on. This year the fee increased by 33% which I questioned twice but never received an answer. I'm not entirely sure what I pay it for anyway as I do not see any benefits. I am a single parent on furlough so this increase has been a struggle for me. Any response would have been appreciated.

This company who have now rebranded to WL Estates ( Wise management need to avoid like the plague, watch out like covid they will adapt and change but unerneath they are the same evil people running the business, driven by greed with no morals.
Remove them if you can, or they will take your money away.

So I last gave an update about this company on the 18th Feb. They emailed me and stated they would have a resolution by the 4th March. Well today is the 4th March and as per usual this company (head office now may I add) have failed to get In touch). I did receive an email from A staff member, who asked me if they could arrange a zoom meeting and asked for my complaints to be noted down.
This is despite having nearly 7 years of emails to read through whereby my complaints are extremely obvious. I replied I didn’t want that zoom as the last time they organised a zoom. I lost a day off work (losing more money) as they failed to attend their own meeting! I have stated I prefer everything in writing. Over the years I have been told lies, threatened, given false hopes so I do not know what to believe when it comes to anything they say. If I could give any advice when dealing with this atrocious company is to record absolutely everything to protect yourself. I will update when I hear, although I am not counting my chickens on that one!

When working at SDL I was always impressed by how Samantha Massie treated everyone with the same respect and a positive attitude. She genuinely embodied the company’s spirit and its core values in everything she does and she inspires us all to do the same!.

Sam has been a breath of fresh air, we have dealt with the worst in this business and she and her team at SDL have restored our faith in professional agents. Even in the face of pandemic where any drops in service levels are understandable and excusable, we have not felt any difference from Sam and the team. We are grateful as at least one aspect of my life is resolved efficiently and I am assured is in good hands. Thank you to Sam and all at SDL.

V K

Re Miss Sam Massey
We have always enjoyed working with Sam, she is refreshing to work with and very good at what she does.
It makes a pleasant change to deal with someone who understands what is required and then assists in its delivery.
We would be pleased to work with her again and to recommend her to anyone who is needs someone of her calibre, in other words anyone!
On one project we dealt with her on was not an easy one, with varying requirements.
Once we had audited the site she then spoke with the incumbent contractor and ensured that all works required to ensure the safety of the installation were carried out.
Thereby looking after her clients health and safety as well as servicing requirements.

As a contractor working for SDL we have found Gemma Jones and the rest of the team to be a very professional group of individuals to work with. We look forward to a continued professional relationship.

I would just like to drop a note to say how helpful Gemma Jones has been at SDL. For a contractor to carry out repairs efficiently, it is vital that the Property Manager is able to provide the right support and initiate a site liaison.

Gemma has been invaluable at providing the required information regarding works on site and has been proactive at dealing with issues as they arise.

Ken Passey
iLEX Compliance

Myself and the other residents where having very bad service from our previous management company but eventually SDL were appointed after we met one of their team and were impressed with their offering. It’s early days but so far Ross from SDL has managed to appoint a far better cleaning company that’s finally doing what’s it’s supposed to do and sorted a problem with vandalism we had within a day of the problem being reported. Well done SDL keep up the good work.