“Business As Usual” as Administration Continues for Peverel

Interviewed exclusively for News on the Block, Rebecca Bridle said it is “business as usual” for the operating companies within the Peverel Group after all the holding companies in the Group were put into administration in March 2011. The Administration happened soon after Peverel’s high profile owner, Vincent Tchenguiz was arrested by the Serious Fraud Office.  Mr. Tchenguiz was released without charge by the SFO and the administration was not directly connected with Mr Tchenguiz's arrest.
 

What was your reaction when you were informed that the Peverel holding companies had gone into administration?
Our first priority was to inform both our customers and staff that the administration of the holding companies would have no effect on the operating companies, and that it was business as usual.

What steps have Peverel taken to calm concerns of worried leaseholders?
As it is business as usual for the operating companies, we have prepared our customer service team with information to reassure concerned customers. We also prepared information leaflets to explain that development bank accounts are entirely independent and fully protected.
 
Can you give a brief outline of the corporate structure of Peverel and the relationship of the holding companies to the operating companies?
The full list of operating companies within each division of the Peverel Group is set out on our website: www.peverel.co.uk/ourservices and in the company organisation chart illustrated.
Each of the operating companies is a separate limited company. This protects them from the impact of the holding companies’ debt/administration.

 How has the insurance position been affected (if at all) on any of your client blocks?
 It hasn’t.

Are leaseholders reserve funds safe?
All money in contingency funds is completely safe. Bank accounts held by management companies within the Peverel Group with Bank of Scotland in respect of client monies are designated client bank accounts held by way of statutory trust in accordance with Section 42 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987.

This process remains entirely unchanged and, indeed, is both a legislative requirement and condition of industry codes of practice issued by The Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA) and The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) that we adhere to.

We are happy to provide leaseholders with a copy of the latest bank statement(s) to support the separate identity and naming of development bank accounts held with Bank of Scotland. In addition we can provide a letter upon request from Bank of Scotland confirming no right of offset etc between these designated client accounts and corporate monies.
 
Here is a link to one of our leaflets available to our customers: www.ompropertymanagement.co.uk/pdf/OM_LAYMoney_V5.pdf

Have any Major Works in the blocks you manage been affected by the administration?
No. It is business as usual for the operating companies.

Has the administration affected the payment of contractors?
No. It is business as usual for the operating companies so contractors have continued to be paid as normal.
 
Are more blocks now interested in exercising their Right to Manage following the administration?
We manage thousands of blocks across the UK and only a small proportion of them have exercised RTM since the legislation was introduced. We haven’t seen any particular increase since the holding companies went into administration.

Has the administration caused any disruption or additional pressures to the business day-to-day?
No. It is business as usual for the operating companies.

How have the staff reacted to the administration?  What's the atmosphere like around Peverel HQ? 
 Our 4,500 excellent staff have acted with their usual professionalism. We have made sure that we’ve kept them fully informed, with briefing sessions with members of the management team for staff to ask questions, FAQs on our company intranet and weekly newsletters. The feedback we’ve had from staff is that all of this has helped reassure them and answer their concerns.

What impact do you think social media has had to play on the publicity surrounding the administration?
Social media allows information to spread at an incredibly fast pace, but speed often comes at the expense of accuracy. Incorrect and misleading information on the web will cause concern to residents, so we’ve been working very hard on a proactive and reactive basis to reassure all our customers and staff that it is business as usual.
 
Due to the web, information is much more accessible to residents.  Does this help or hinder a property manager’s job day-to-day? 
Not at all. Our property managers spend a large proportion of their time responding to residents’ enquiries, so new channels of communication can only make this process easier.

The web is an incredibly valuable tool for property managers, and plays a key role in both customer service, and increasing transparency across the industry. Following a successful trial last Autumn, we’ve actually just launched a new maintenance update area on our award-winning, development specific customer website for OM Property Management. It gives customers up-to-date and real time information about the status of reactive and planned maintenance works via the web or a smartphone.

This part of our £200,000 web investment programme over the past two years aimed at delivering improved services for our customers at no extra cost.
 
Generally speaking, as an industry, do you think that the traditional business models managing agents have been used to will have to evolve as a result of a changing business environment?
Our business has been evolving for several years now to allow customer service and transparency to be at the forefront of everything we do. Initiatives like our award-winning customer website are crucial to this evolution.
 
Do you think a renewed push for regulating managing agents would be beneficial?
Absolutely – this is something we have been advocating for some time. Regulating businesses will ensure they have appropriate governance structures and processes to provide the services laid down by legislation. It will also reassure customers that the business they are dealing with can provide the services it advertises to a high standard.
By regulating individuals, the industry can ensure not only business heads are appropriately qualified, but their teams are supervised by someone qualified too.
The sooner the industry agrees on the framework for regulation, the sooner we can move the profession forward.

How long do you expect the administration to take and what do you think the outcome of the administration will be? 
It would be inappropriate to comment on timescales, however what we can say is that  the administrators are  looking to secure a sale of the business as soon as possible in order to protect its stakeholders and the value of the organisation. The Administrators are committed to finding the right buyer for the Peverel group and are confident a successful outcome will be achieved.