Leaseholders say they’re being fleeced by Property Management Company at Shorncliffe Heights

Leaseholders on the Shorncliffe Heights Development are up in arms about the service charges they are paying. They say they’ve increased considerably and are being fleeced by FirstPort, the property management company which manages the site’s leaseholders.

 

The current property management company is FirstPort.

As of today, 5 February 2025, FirstPort has been suspended from its trade body the Property Institute for three months. The suspension concerns excessive delays over handover of leaseholder funds at sites where right to manage has taken place, according to the charity, Leasehold Knowledge Partnership.

FirstPort, is the biggest residential property manager in the UK. They were taken over by French private equity firm Emeria in August 2022. The Current CEO of the Company is Franck Chartier (below left), and in the opinion of the directors of Emeria, the controlling party are funds managed by Partners Group Holding AG based in Zurich, Switzerland, according to the latest set of accounts published by Emeria RES UK Ltd on Companies House – (see last page of accounts). 

It was Taylor Wimpey who brought in FirstPort to manage the the leasehold company at Shorncliffe Heights. The current CEO of Taylor Wimpey is Jennie Daly CBE. The managing director of FirstPort (UK) is Martin King. 

Now for leaseholders on the Shorncliffe Heights Development, they could use ceoemail.com to find the email address of Franck Chartier, David Layton CEO of Partners Group CEO (2nd left), the CEO of Taylor Wimpey, Jennie Daly CBE, or Martin King of First Port (pictured right)

They too could use Rocket Reach to discover the email addresses of all four as well.

Using gravity by dropping something in from the top, is better than pushing up from the bottom, as more often than not those at the bottom do not have permission or power to change anything.

FirstPort‘s customer reviews on Trustpilot are largely negative, with many leaseholders reporting poor communication, neglect, and excessive charges. Some have even reported being robbed of their sinking funds by the company. A petition has been started on Change.org calling for an investigation into FirstPort’s practices and for tougher laws to protect leaseholders and freehold homeowners from unfair charges and bad service.

It’s worth noting that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 has been passed into law, but it does not offer enough protections for leaseholders and freehold homeowners, and the protections that it does offer are not yet in force.

Due to onging issues with FirstPort, their MD Martin King attended a meeting recently after being summonsed to Parliament by 24 Labour MPs. 

Also the Leaseholders affected by the service charges have rights to apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) for various matters related to their leasehold properties. These include:

• Determination of Service Charges: Leaseholders can apply to the tribunal to challenge the reasonableness of service charges, whether they have already been paid or not.

• Administration Charges: Leaseholders can seek a determination of the liability to pay and the reasonableness of administration charges.

• Lease Covenant Breach: Leaseholders can apply for a determination in relation to an alleged breach of a lease covenant to enable forfeiture action to proceed.

• Right To Manage (RTM): Leaseholders can apply to determine their entitlement to RTM, the reasonableness of charges relating to RTM applications, and the amount of accrued uncommitted service charges due to the RTM company.

• Four-Year Rule: Leaseholders can seek a determination on the reasonableness of applying the ‘four-year rule’ before another RTM company can exercise RTM.

It was not too long ago the residents of The Grand, used their rights to bring in a court-appointed property manager, and then later set up their own company to acquire the freehold after bankrupting the freeholder, Hallam Estates Ltd. They also challenged the reasonableness of service charges, making Michael Stainer and his wife personally liable for over £167,000 on their own flats, thereby bankrupting them as well.

So it can be done. 

As they say, if you want something doing…

The Shepway Vox Team

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