About

Until recently I worked exclusively for high net-worth individuals managing large worldwide property portfolios including tenanted residential and commercial property.  Among the properties was a large high-end mixed use complex in central London.  With an in-house team of over thirty, and budget of £20 million +  I had responsibility for all aspects of managing the property including service charge management, section 20 works, capital projects and  preparing for First Tier and Upper Tribunal cases. 

Very recently I started working for one of the large property management companies and have had my eyes opened to a very different world.  One of inefficiency, incompetency, low staff morale and leaseholder dissatisfaction.  Level upon level of estate managers, property managers, regional managers, et al, leads to nothing more than delay upon delay.

Preferred contractor lists (in reality meaning, 'must use or else') means that contracts are negotiated somewhere in the ether so that personal relationships with contractors can't be built and prices can't be brokered.  Far from buying power leading to best price, a lack of competition leads to higher prices and complacency on the part of the contractor.  Works are given low priority and take far longer than is necessary often leading to additional costs and inconvenience for residents.  Low purchasing authority levels of building managers means authorization from one, two or three levels above causes delay after delay and any expediency is lost as those making decisions have no idea what is going on at ground level and how urgent matters are.

Huge management fees supposedly buying the efficiencies of back office support, in fact buy lumbering systems too big to succeed,  IT departments too busy to help and accounts departments too far away from the estate to understand the individual concerns and issues.

Box ticking and getting complaints closed seems far more important than actually dealing with issues and human contact is avoided at any cost.