"Slow to respond"

Slow to respond. Change the systems without proper notification. Set debt collectors on without talking to you. Their changes caused the monthly payments I had arranged not to go through. When I tried to arrange again to spread the cost again monthly, they can't do it. Not impressed; I wasn't going to say anything but they asked me to leave a review. So, here it is.

"Roof repairs "

I have found Michaela tried her best with some challenging issues with the roof to get an equitable outcome.

"This company is a total scam"

This company is a total scam. They’ll gladly take your money for services they have no intention of providing. Trying to get in touch with them is nearly impossible, and when you finally do, you’re met with untrained, unprofessional staff who don’t know what they’re talking about. They’ll threaten you with bailiffs, but can’t even give you a straight answer when you ask for clarification. The communication is a joke—vague, evasive, and full of empty promises. They clearly don’t care about their customers, so do yourself a favor and stay far, far away.

"We had a really great service with our…"

We had a really great service with our lettings manager - Akina‑Marie Rowledge.

She was thorough and very helpful from providing useful and timely information to leading the discussion with owner to get furniture replacements/deposit recovery.

This is my 4th rental property in the UK and Akina has been the best lettings manager for me.

"Unresponsive and lacking integrity"

I cannot recommend Eight AM.  Although things started out well, the quality of service plunged and they weren't been able to keep up with the basic needs of our property or their legal obligations to leaseholders.

Responsiveness: The majority of emails to my property manager get no response at all.  When I do get a response, it's addressing one small aspect of the request, providing a reason they weren't able to respond earlier, or committing to respond on a future date (which more often than not, does not happen).  I don't know whether it is because our property manager has too many properties, Eight AM's 4 day work week, or just unmotivated to work with leaseholders.

Issue Management: Eight AM has no issue tracking system and issues get dropped frequently.  I resorted to sending weekly emails summarizing the state of my open issues hoping that might help.  It did not, even being reminded of the open list of issues did not result in any action being taken.

Escalations / Complaints: After failing to properly respond to a Section 21 request for a cost summary (which is required by law), I filed a formal complaint with Eight AM.  They don't publish their policy, but the ombudsman requires them to have one and they will provide it if you ask.  Eight AM's policy is to acknowledge complaints within 3 days and fully respond within 3 weeks.  I had to reach out after the acknowledgement window was missed and got a commitment that a response would be provided in 3 weeks.  The 3 week window was missed and I got no acknowledgement to weekly emails for the next couple of months.  Eventually someone reached out to schedule a meeting and resolve things.  They were not prepared to address anything in the complaint itself, and instead just addressed why they didn't respond.  The reason given for no response: confusion over who manages the inbox, and it appeared the property manager was already addressing the issue with me.  Both of these claims were false, but attempting to follow up with evidence showing that and asking for a clarification resulted in... no response.  In the end, no assistance or resolution was ever provided and I was back where I started.

Accounting: Eight AM's accounting system and practices are questionable.  As a leaseholder you are entitled by Section 21 to see the details of any expenses and by Section 22 to see the bank accounts and receipts.  Eight AM has all of their invoices tracked in their accounting system, but entered incorrectly (wrong category, charged to the wrong payment schedule, etc.).  Instead of fixing these errors in their accounting system, they create spreadsheets with notes and comments and produce their yearly accounts from that.  This makes it very difficult to check their work, but that may be the point.

Incorrect Charges: I was concerned to find that Eight AM has also billed us for fees they have not collected.  For example, they will sometimes charge a leaseholder a late fee if their service charge isn't paid on time.  If the leaseholder objects, they will often cancel the fee in order to encourage the payment.  The problem is that although the fees aren't collected and deposited into our service charge account, they still invoice us and withdraw those fees from our service charge account.  They are taking money they are not owed, and have acknowledged the "mistake"!

My advice for any leaseholder that are forced into working with Eight AM by their freeholder:

1. Don't trust their accounting

- Exercise your legal rights to inspect the books.  Don't do things informally.  Make sure you have the records if things inevitably go to First Tier Tribunal for resolution.

- Submit a Section 21 request to get the detailed ledger of all expenses.

- Submit a Section 22 request for the receipts and bank account transactions.

- If you see invoices from Eight AM for late payments (labeled S006 or S007 on our invoices), ask for "Final Reminder Fee" and "Removal of Final Reminder Fee" records for all leaseholders to make sure they aren't charging you for uncollected fees.

2. Push for regularly scheduled meetings between leaseholders and the property manager.  Our property manager did not.

3. Track your issues.

- Since Eight AM has no issue management system, you will need to continually remind them of everything you need done.  If you don't, they will likely never be addressed.

4. Use complaints, the ombudsman, and first tier tribunal

- If you file a complaint and don't get a satisfactory answer, the ombudsman can help you.  Their service is free, but you must follow the procedure exactly.  Unfortunately, they won't help for anything to do with service charge, that needs to go to First Tier Tribunal.

- If Eight AM are unwilling to resolve service charge errors or delay too long, take it to first tier tribunal to force resolution.

"Brilliant service "

Akina-Marie handled my tenancy for a year, an amazing person who is always happy to help and respond to any issues I had. Very polite and extremely quick responses , I have had tenancies in the past that where a nightmare but honestly this one was a dream and I'm sad to see the flat go. If I get a property manager as nice in the future - I'll be lucky.

"Thank you very much Ramiro for your…"

Thank you very much Ramiro for your assistance on both occasions. These queries had been on going for eight month. Made many calls and emails but met with no response until last week when i spoke to Ramrio who resolved both of my concerns very quickly. So once again thank you Ramiro and keep up the good customer service. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ :) Have a good day.

"Shout out to RAMIRO, no one else."

I have had a lot if issues with this company, I've detailed these in a previous negative review which still stand, however one person has actually been hired who seems to care, does what he says and cares about his job and has helped resolve some of the issues, if you ask me, sack all the directors and owners and make RAMIRO the boss, the company would actually be great if everyone else took his example. Quit while you're ahead Ramiro, don't let this company bring you down. Thank you for your efforts.

"Fantastic service eight asset management "

Kamila has been the manager for our properties we own & rent at varity house, she has been impeccable, so very helpful, professional, you can only imagine running a apartment building is challenging, every concerns I had with maintenance in the building was delivered. Thank you so much Kamila & also janine for all your support & help. Mario noviello

"Akina has been wonderful to deal with…"

Akina has been wonderful to deal with throughout my tenancy. She is very responsive and has always been on hand to help. Akina is a true asset to this company, I’m so glad I had the pleasure of dealing with her throughout. She has always been at the other end of the phone and nothing was ever too much trouble to get sorted. I’m sure she has lots of tenants to manage but she’s always made me feel like a priority and has truly gone above and beyond for me. From checking in to checking out it’s always been so seamless. I’m really pleased I had the privilege of dealing with Akina, I really am grateful. Thank you Akina and all the best for the future.