Crabtree Property Management
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The worst company EVER
The worst company EVER. If you are looking to buy a flat and it's managed by Crabtree, run a mile! Our service charges have gone up just over £2000!! So total, just under £4k and we get nothing for that. Yes, you read that right, a development in COLINDALE has higher service charges than some places in central London. I for one will now struggle to put food on the table, but Crabtree don't care, because they are crooks. They don't even ATTEMPT to offer a reasonable payment plan. Mine is now £550 a month, gone up from £162. Who the hell has that kind of money? A lot of the reason for the increase is to do with vandalism AND mistakes made by the builder and general mis-management over the years. Instead of pursuing the builder for the charges (relating to the AOV) they just pass it on to the residents. Instead of actively trying to do something about vandalism, they blame the police and put in a mosquito vandal deterrent alarm - as if that's going to sort our problems out. They got rid of the only two decent security guards we ever had (like, REALLY good guys! and brilliant at their job but couldn't bear to work with Crabtree any longer) and replaced them with useless agency people who are just beyond useless. At one point, we all to complain to TELL Crabtree to tell the security guard to keep his phone on. I had gone to the hut they reside in with a friend, called the number in front of his face and the phone was off. I mean, can you imagine employing a 'security' guard who has to be told to keep the security phone on?! Beggars belief. Our car park gates are PERMANENTLY broken due to vandalism, and instead of looking for a solution, they just say oh well gates are designed to be broken (for health and safety reasons) and so just keep asking the contractors to fix them. Each 'fix' takes minimum 3 months and then the gates get vandalised again same day. EVEN if Crabtree can't control the vandalism, you'd think they might find a new contractor who doesn't take 3 months each time to fix it (always the same old story 'waiting for parts' - any contractor with half a brain would keep the parts in stock the rate my building goes through them!), but nope, Craptree just keep using the same contractor!! This is one of MANY examples of their incompetence. The gates are NEVER in operation. This year, I've counted 6 hours they've worked total. It's AUGUST!!! What's more is we know that Crabtree CAN deal with the gate vandals, should they want to (they did it once, and told the vandal's landlord) but now they just say they need to speak to the police about it. Nope, if you could find the last vandal, you can find the next 20!! They just can't be bothered. They just always so go to the police when they know damn well that the police aren't going to do anything. I have had the misfortune to be in this building 11 years and dealing with Crabtree has been the most painful, anxiety inducing and expensive experiences of my life. Sam Barber is the only decent property manager to have managed our building and seems like a nice guy, which is rare - we've had a range of property managers until he took over ranging from just plain useless to actual crooks. But he can't save it, nobody can. Crabtree are disgraceful and are beyond repair (and wouldn't even attempt to get themselves together - all they care about is taking your money). Be warned - if you take a property managed by Crabtree, you will be left penniless and see absolutely nothing for your money. Save your mental health, and your finances and find somewhere else! And word of advice for those of you unfortunate enough to be with them already - I have a friend in a development in Essex whose residents took Crabtree to court over extortionate service charges and won! So, remember, you CAN contest it, you CAN win. Don't let these evil people take your hard earned cash.