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Review summary
Crabtree Property Management has room for improvement based on customer feedback. Customers particularly appreciate service and professional, though some mention concerns about communication and customer service.
These people are crooks, plain and simple. Extracting ever-increasing sums money under threat of legal action, then providing literally no services in return. Constant churn in our allocated "property manager" with no handover from one to the next, promises broken, invoices never materialise, meetings never happen, emails not answered, out-of-office replies giving no indication of when they may return. I cannot understand how they are legally allowed to charge fees for "management" when no manager is in place, how is that not theft?
NEVER TRUST THIS JOKERS, Still waiting for them to refund me £42.50 for a car park key fob, always pass the buck from pilliar to post. despite having paid them back in April
AVOID THEM AT ALL COST.
Absolute disgrace and I will never live in any building run by them, ever again. They are so incompetent I cannot believe they survive. Our once lovely development is overgrown, infested and overrun with flytipping/drug dealing. Crabtree rarely open emails and even after 2.5 years don't recognise me as a leaseholder. I've been literally begging them to let me pay my service charges but they just ignore.
I help out with our resident's association and when going through the annual accounts/charges there are so many errors and overcharges it is unbelievable. I'm not sure if they're crooks or just completely useless.
Please someone go undercover and make an exposé on them as I've no idea what they do all day - certainly isn't managing anything, they couldn't run a bath
Contacted the out of hours on 9th May as I was issued a parking ticket despite my disabled badge being clearly displayed, was told that it would be sorted, now received a debt recovery bill for £170 and have spent 1 hour on the phone but no one has answered as yet!
Mafia style company specialised in many things but I'll be more specific below:
Lease Breaching:
Oh, where do we begin with this rogue mafia-style operation? Let's start with their creative approach to lease agreements. They’ve raised the service charge by a mind-blowing 180% over the last two years, despite the lease explicitly stating they shouldn't increase it beyond the cost-of-living index. It’s almost like they’ve decided to rewrite the rules of economics. And, for the cherry on top, after paying a hefty £2500, you’d expect some semblance of service, right? Wrong. We haven't seen a gardener, cleaner, maintenance worker, or repair person in the last five months. They’ve turned "non-existent service" into an art form.
Fundraising for Bogus Reasons:
If you thought the service charge was extortionate, wait until you hear about their whimsical fundraising efforts. They conjure up amounts out of thin air and send you surprise bills that are neither legal nor backed by the lease. For instance, £550 for balancing a charger from more than three years ago (a legal no-no), and £233 to cover other leaseholders not paying their service charge (also against the lease terms). It's like they're hosting a telethon for their bank accounts.
Deception:
Honesty might be the best policy, but deception is this company’s modus operandi. They never provide evidence to support their service charge estimates or invoices for what they've allegedly paid. Here’s a sample of their phantom expenditures:
Cleaning: £15k (seldom and superficial at best)
Landscaping: £15k (non-existent)
Repairs: £30k (haven’t seen a single wrench)
Window cleaning: £4200 (windows remain blissfully untouched)
Pest control: £1500 (rats have declared it their kingdom)
Bulk removal: £6100 (a figment of their imagination)
They lie about everything and anything. Complaints are met with the sound of crickets.
Extortion:
The only time you’ll hear from them is when they send a demand letter for money. After that, they vanish into thin air until the next fiscal year. And if you're late with a payment, prepare for the storm of threatening letters. Mafia tactics have nothing on these guys.
Conflict of Interest:
Crabtree Management Company has been appointed by the estate company to manage the estate, but guess what? Crabtree themselves have been appointed directors of the company. This is a conflict of interest so blatant it makes you wonder if they even know what the term means.
Totalitarianism:
No Annual General Meeting in three years. Residents' concerns are ignored like background noise. No voting on directors. At their last online meeting, they muted everyone and presented their agenda of lies. It was like watching a dictator's highlight reel.
In summary, they are the worst company with the worst people to ever grace the face of this planet. Dishonest, with an arrogance and sense of superiority that could rival the biggest tyrants.
STAY AWAY 🛑
I have lived in a block looked after by Crabtree for 12 years. Crabtree are fully aware that hard working, honest residents have saved and subsequently spent life savings on flats that are often not safe or built for purpose, with significant defects present from build. In increasingly difficult and challenging times, Crabtree directors and management have failed to actively support individual residents in addressing ongoing issues, shirking even the most basic maintenance responsibilities and this neglect has often resulted in small issues becoming significantly more complex and costly for residents, where preventative measures could have been put in place much earlier on. Despite these failings, Crabtree unashamedly continue to increase service charges regularly despite the development being in a state of disrepair. Where no action is taken by Crabtree, service charges are consistently used incorrectly to address original building defects that original developers should be being held accountable instead of being used correctly to effectively maintain the development.
When attempting to resolve issues, property managers in previous years have been significantly challenging and unpleasant to deal with often adding additional unnecessary stress in often challenging circumstances that residents have found themselves in. There is an embedded culture of a lack of care, empathy and regard for residents and general disinterest.
The only positive is that more recently there has been a significant improvement in the quality of Property and Site Managers. The new site manager, Ardeep Birk is incredible and exactly what Crabtree Property should aspire to stand for with their residents. He is in possession of the morals and values that Crabtree desperately need to acquire - they can learn a lot from him. He is 100% committed and dedicated to the residents of the Pulse development and regularly goes above and beyond for them and for this reason, is held in high esteem. Ardeep has a personable manner and is always approachable, kind and helpful. He really cares about the residents as individuals and always actions any concerns raised in a timely manner so that residents feel fully supported and reassured. He really wants to make a change and a difference and tries to embed this everyday in the work that he does for Crabtree on site despite the ongoing challenges that he faces daily.
Damian has also been a more recent positive addition to the team. I am hoping that this new team will push for Crabtree Directors to begin to hold those responsible more accountable moving forward and set a new standard of higher expectations. Both Ardeep and Damian both try and work exceedingly hard however can only achieve the above if Crabtree directors are willing to reflect upon feedback provided, engage with residents, listen carefully and learn from feedback provided to make relevant changes so desperately needed to improve in the future.
It is quite simple - Crabtree are the worst company I have ever encountered and should not be operating. We have been waiting for them to move forward building renovation works for years. The building is now in such a state of disrepair that we are looking at a much more expensive bill to put this right. They do not engage on any form of communication. The senior management refuse to engage. The team turnover is exceptionally high within their property management team. We are significantly out of pocket as a result of their incompetence and mismanagement. Avoid at all costs.
Damian Purcell has been an excellent block manager. He has been extremely responsive, has got everything done in a timely manager and is very friendly.
CrabTree is an absolutely terrible company. You charge exorbitant service fees under false pretenses, provide no actual service, and consistently fail to respond to emails. On the rare occasion that you do answer the phone, your tone is aggressive and unhelpful, as if you can't understand why anyone would even bother calling. For a management company, you operate more like scammers. It's baffling how you're still in business, but it just goes to show how the system in the UK allows companies like yours to continue operating. I strongly advise everyone to avoid CrabTree at all costs, as well as any future ventures the owners might pursue.
Crabtree manage the block within which I own a flat and as a result of the complete inaction and appalling management the building has fallen into disrepair (as stated by an external surveyor). The long leaseholders have been battling with Crabtree for 18 mths-they never come back to queries, are completely incompetent and don't seem to want to rectify the problems they have caused. We are all significantly financially worse off as a result of the repair works and loss of rental income stream. Do not use them
Took 6 months before anyone could…Crabtree management
Took 6 months before anyone could answer my questions regarding my charges and even now waiting for a response from a manager now! Absolute shambles in terms of organisation. I have deep regrets in having to deal with them, caused stress and anxiety. Shameful!!!
Ardeep who has helped me with some of my minor maintenance work has been brilliant. Certainly one of the best aspects that has come out of Crabtree. The 5 stars are for him.
I had an outstanding experience with a member of staff (Ardeep) who assisted me on several occasions.
His professionalism , knowledge , and dedication were truely impressive .
He went above and beyond to help me and other tenants .
I couldn't be more grateful.
Thanks Ardeep
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