A determined flat owner who managed to “kick out” her building’s “overcharging” managing agent and halve her service charge is now on a crusade to help other “trapped” residents.
Paralegal Amber Needham first moved into her home in Unicorn Walk, Greenhithe three-and-a-half years ago but there was no honeymoon housing period to speak of.
The 28-year-old says the problems, poor service — and the “unjustified” hikes to her bills by property management company, FirstPort — started almost immediately.
When she first moved in the service charges she paid to the firm were £1,800 a year, but after only six months she was told they would be increasing to around £2,500.
FirstPort says comparing charges isn’t “straightforward” and fees collected contribute to “long-term maintenance reserves”, which aim to reduce the risk of unexpected charges later.
But, on top of the increases quoted above, Amber says an out the blue bill was just what she got.
Soon after moving in she was told she owed an additional £600 for two Section 20 notices – which are issued when there are major works which leaseholders are required to contribute to – bringing the total to more than £3,000.
However, when such notices are for an amount greater than £250, landlords are supposed to inform their leaseholders and ask whether they want the work to be done.
Not only did Amber tell KentOnline she hadn’t been informed ahead of the work being done, she’s not even sure what works the money was actually for.
She said: “The service charges just keep going up and up and up and they can just send out an extra section 20 whenever, it feels quite willy-nilly, with no justification, even if you ask for it.
“I was looking to move in with a partner and buy a house but it was holding me back, just struggling to afford to pay the bills.
“We have to pay our service charges half yearly, so when it was up at two and a half, three grand, that’s a lot of money to fork out every six months.”
Additionally, when she switched mortgage provider and had the building’s insurance documents she found fire safety checks hadn’t been done for sometime – a cost she was paying for in her service charge.
It was just scary and you feel trapped as well, because you can’t sell the flat and get out of the situation, but then you can’t afford to pay the charges
By October 2023, Amber had had enough and decided to move.
But she found potential buyers were put off by the sky-high service charges which increased each year – a problem her neighbours faced too.
She continued: “It was just scary and you feel trapped as well, because you can’t sell the flat and get out of the situation, but then you can’t afford to pay the charges.”
That’s when Amber, a legal professional by trade, decided to take matters into her own hands and began to look into ways she could challenge FirstPort.
After looking at tribunals and other options, she ultimately decided the best way forward was to “kick out” the managing agent entirely.
And so she did.
The “right to manage” legal mechanism allows leaseholders in a block of flats to take control of the management of a building from the landlord.
This includes responsibility for collecting the service charge, maintaining the building and responding to complaints from leaseholders.
To takeover at least 50% of residents living within the block had to agree, so Amber set about contacting them and explaining how they didn’t have to be paying these excessive service charges and Section 20 notices.
They set up a residence management company (RMC) which took responsibility for choosing contractors to manage the repairs and maintenance, meaning they could choose someone other than FirstPort.
The whole process of setting it up and finding an alternative took about six months and now the building is managed by Stuart Grist of XL Property Ltd.
He came into property management after his own bad experiences as a leaseholder.
Stuart explained: “I owned a flat in Greenhithe and for many years, I had been frustrated with the managing agent.
“The fees seemed to go up every year, but the service was going down.
“So, cleaning wasn’t done regularly. We were really frustrated at the quality of the building maintenance and things like that.
“And after many years of moaning, I decided, do you know what? I think I can probably have a crack at doing this better myself.”
He got training and accreditation and now provides management services for 20 estates in Kent.
My personal perception is there’s greed that’s coming into the industry and people are being overcharged
And everywhere he goes he finds people being charged way more than they should be, he adds.
Stuart continued: “First of all, we wanted to reduce service charges because we saw the industry was overcharging residents and there seemed to be no regulation and no limits of what managing agents can charge.
“I’d say every single estate we’ve taken on, we’ve reduced service charges between 15 and 50% in total.
“My personal perception is there’s greed that’s coming into the industry and people are being overcharged.
“So we look to make sure that we are charging fairly. Yes, our business makes a profit, as every business should, but we don’t want to be greedy with our profit.”
Amber and her fellow leaseholders now have much more control over what repairs are needed for the building and her service charge has halved in price.
But she’s decided not to stop there.
She had spread the word to other residents in her estate and now one other block has taken back control, with others in the process.
And because the service charge for her mother’s flat in Rochester, also managed by FirstPort, had increased more than £800 within one year, she set about work there too.
She managed to sort her mother’s flat in Lyron Court much more easily as they already had an RMC and so they just needed to contact its director and to choose an alternative contractor.
Amber has also been contacting people via the FirstPort Residence Action Facebook group and explaining to them how she solved her issues and how to go about it themselves.
Amber added: “I think the right to manage on its own can sound quite overwhelming but I think it’s quite nice if you can do the right to manage and someone can talk you through it because I didn’t have that.
“I’d really recommend, if people are in the same situation, just look into your legal rights, don’t be afraid to look at right to manage, don’t be afraid to look at your lease, and find out if there’s a residence management company.”
She’s encouraging people to ask for help if they need it and is in the process of starting up her own company, Needham RTM and Property Services to take the issue nationwide.
“Reach out to people, for example, like myself, that are trying to help, join Facebook groups, because there are ways out of it, and it can be a bit overwhelming at first,” she adds.
“I think there just needs to be a lot more transparency and regulation around what these managing agents are actually charging people for, because it feels at the moment like there’s no limits on it.”
Amber isn’t the first resident to take charge and kick out FirstPort.
The controversial company was axed from the 400-home Faversham Lakes site earlier this year after residents revolted over rising fees
Nearer to Amber, residents in Ingress Park, Greenhithe spoke out over “astronomical” fees and safety issues
And residents of Springhead Parkway, Ebbsfleet – with the support of Gravesham MP Dr Lauren Sullivan – banded together in a bid to end their ordeal with the firm – who insists it does “everything we can to keep costs as low as possible”.
Politicians are standing up and taking notice amid concerns the leaseholder system is “completely broken”.
Rochester and Strood MP Lauren Edwards says increasing service charges and costs from management companies is a common issue faced by her constituents.
“It’s a really widespread issue across my constituency,” she added. “People are also seeing their annual statements go up, really significant increases, but they’re not getting the explanation as to why.
“And some of them are quite rightly sort of saying, well, if we’re not seeing any repairs, what are we actually getting for our money?
“The system is completely broken and the government is committed to introducing legislation this year to tackle some of these issues.
“For instance, to get proper regulation of estate management companies, to make it easier for residents to demand the full breakdown of the invoice.
“We also want to give residents more rights to deal with the matter through a tribunal, because often a lot of hefty legal costs deters a lot of residents associations from taking things further.
“So I am confident that this year the government is going to start making some really positive changes in this space.”
Elsewhere her Labour counterpart in Dartford, MP Jim Dickson is also calling for change.
He said: “It’s really important that residents choose their managing agent rather than them having to accept what they’re given.
“The government is moving quickly to support residents who are suffering from ‘fleeceholds’, or from poor service by a managing agent, and we’re going to see consultations this year on service charges.
“And we’ll potentially get a new ombudsman service to allow freeholders and leaseholders who feel they’re not being treated properly to make a complaint.”
The problem, he adds, is that managing agents like FirstPort operate “within” the legal framework that’s set out at the moment, which he believes “hugely disadvantages residents receiving those services”.
“I’d go as far as to say they’re being ripped off and they’re being abused by some very poor practices,” he added.
“But the legal framework is going to change and that is going to give more power to leaseholders.”
FirstPort says comparing charges like for like isn’t always easy and it does its best to advise customers.
A spokesperson for management firm said: “Service charges are used to cover the day-to-day running costs of a development.
“Comparing charges isn’t always straightforward, and we’d always advise customers to check that low headline fees include essential costs, such as long-term maintenance reserves, which aim to reduce the risk of unexpected bills later.
“It’s disappointing to part ways with a development, but we do everything we can to make this process as smooth as possible.
“Any remaining funds are transferred to the new agent in stages.
“Some funds are retained temporarily to cover any outstanding costs, which is a standard procedure in line with industry guidance.”
