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Review summary
CSM Property Management Ltd has mixed reviews from customers. Customers particularly appreciate service and professional, though some mention concerns about communication and customer service.
A lot of the fake reviews pertaining to CSM can be easily countered by the experience of the residents of Woodlands Manor apartments in Belfast. These people had CSM as their property management company. CSM turned their gas supply off for a year or more and decided to do little or nothing in getting it back up and running in a timely manner. These poor people had to go to leisure centres to have hot showers and could not even heat their apartments/homes during an icy cold winter. The cold kills, CSM did not care one jot for the welfare of these people CSM only cared about taking their money.
Terrible service ... I've been trying to resolve many issues (which our block of apartments experiencing) with them. Unfortunately the matters/issues haven't been resolved from beginning of November 2024 (now is may 2025). They very rarely respond to emails (sometimes after a month or longer) or if they respond, the answers are not to questions/issues mentioned in the emails;
CSM has been managing our buy-to-let property for nearly two years. Their tenant finding service is thorough, and they conduct comprehensive reference checks. Regular property inspections give peace of mind, and their maintenance contractors do quality work. The monthly statements make tax time much easier.
Property management companies are not regulated in Northern Ireland, this gives CSM the opportunity to do whatever they want, or so they think.
David Carlisle is our "senior block manager".
David has never set foot in our apartment block, he does not know when the last site visit was, he has no reports of these visits, but "he's getting back to me" on it, maybe the "senior senior block manager" organised the site visits and David makes the tea and coffee.
When I asked why it took the yearly annual meeting over 18 months to take place,he put me on hold for approx 10 seconds and came back with "Errrr Covid".
He advised me not to use my allocated parking spot resulting in me paying extra for my car insurance for parking on a public street, as we have a problem with tree roots breaking through a concrete wall, and concrete sheets falling from the wall, and long sharp nails exposed from the wall.
David booked a 'roofing specialist' to carry out diagnosing the tree roots problem, where a man gets out of a van, kicks the wall with his steel toe cap and quotes thousands of pounds to build a wooden fence...
Yes, a wooden fence to block tree roots which have been making its way through concrete.
When I questioned the contractor giving the work to carry out this, he said "they do other work other than roofing"
A roofing tree doctor folks, what a unique profession and credit to David on sourcing this gem.
The yearly annual meeting happens eventually, 18 months later and the quote from the roofer is giving to leaseholders to vote on.
I would tell you how the vote went but I don't know how I have not heard anything about the vote or anything to do with the annual meeting for that matter, as I didnt attend due to work commitments.
No vote giving to me as of yet, no summary of the meeting giving to me. But be patient folks, it's probably due to Covid.
They also hit leaseholders with two annual end of year charges.
Let me explain,
It took them 17 months to complete 2021 accounts (one month away from leaseholders being legally no obliged to pay)
And the 2022 accounts 6 months late.
So they just do both together and hit the leaseholders with 2 bills at once, in the most notoriously challenging times for families in modern history due to the cost of living crisis.
When CSM become your block management company, you will receive a sales pack which gives you rules such as, no painting the outside unless it's through CSM.
But they don't hold up to these rules themselves and my fellow leaseholders have resulted in painting their own apartments.
I asked David to get a quote for the painting 9 months ago, but he forgot and he's going to bring it up at the next annual meeting, or the next 18-24 month meeting should i say.
There is a Property Ombudsman Redress scheme in Northern Ireland, which it is expected that these companies sign up to this scheme.
Of course, CSM are not. The advise on the scheme website if your property management company is not listed is, it should be reported to trading standards, which I have done.
I am constantly gathering information, evidence of broken terms, evidence of unacceptable service, photographs of health hazards which have yet to be addressed and building a case, while keeping my side of the terms by continuing to pay my service charges etc.
I would advise anyone having problems with CSM to do the same, if anyone would like to discuss legal options, please leave a review with an email.
Lighting in public areas of the block which CSM manage had stopped working. On the Monday morning I emailed CSM. It was dealt with next day. Well done.
I contacted CSM, via their online portal, regarding a query about my quarterly management charge. They responded within about 3 hours, which I think is very acceptable, particularly, as we've just come out of a pandemic and all the potential issues there regarding staffing numbers, etc. I noticed that some of the recent reviewers, some posting multiple times in quick succession (what's all that about?), did so in the midst of this pandemic; as a business owner myself, I have a lot of sympathy for those businesses that possibly struggle from time to time, handling client queries with reduced staff, etc. Anyway, these guys get my vote, for my query; it's an easy five stars and a big thanks to David for his help.
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