"Mainstay – avoid if you can"

Mainstay has retrospectively levied a significant uplift in service charge across the whole of the Elephant Park development (Elephant & Castle, London SE17). Apparently this is pretty normal course. To make matters worse they have been very very slow to respond. If you’re buying a property or renting and Mainstay is (or will become) the property manager, watch out, think again.

"Owning a flat in London"

Owning a flat in London. Mainstay is the property manager. I found mainstay not very good property manager.
1. Mainstay added a deficit for 2017 costing to 2019 service charge
2. When asked for service charge receipt, no one at mainstay provided these.
3. The communications between onsite teams and mainstay. Is poor. As the lift keeps breaking down, and mainstay has no record of these events.
4. The recent service charges have gone up by approximately 30 %
5. Mainstay has not provided a clear indication of the boundaries of the service charge areas.
6. I believe the service charges have been duplicated
7. When querying this extra service I received late payment fees, and payment demands letter with legal ramifications

I found mainstay customer service very poor, I emailed them about points no one has go back to me. I am not the only person in my block who has had experienced this first hand.

"Awful company"

Awful company. My son owns a flat which has damp - this is causing severe health issues, but all they seem to be doing is passing the buck and stalling for time.

"Very shady company"

Very shady company

I don’t know where to start....I’m the owner of a flat in London and Mainstay are the management company for the block. In December 2019 they sent all owners a bill claiming a huge deficit in year 2017/18 and slapped it on our bills (it is not an insignificant amount). They have:

- failed to provide any justification for the deficit and corresponding charges:
- sent threatening letters not long after the original bill claiming court action
- failed to provide receipts for the additional charges

As many are affected we are joining together to dispute this. We have involved our local councillor also. Mainstay have failed (twice) in their commitments to respond to our concerns (promising a response on two dates and missing them). We do now have somewhat of a response but it does not go to where it needs to in order to respond to our concerns. Receipts still not provided, yet day by day they think they can threaten us. The most abominable way to treat people - expect them to hand over money with zero justification and evidence, then threaten them when they don’t get it. This is an ongoing dispute and far from being resolved. Anyone out there considering contracting Mainstay please watch out. Anyone who is a landlord/owner of property managed by them please take note of the above and do not feel intimidated to just ‘pay up’ when things seem wrong.

"No flexibility even when you call to…"

No flexibility even when you call to pay your balance. I haven't received a bill for late payment but apparently it's been applied to our account and there was no way of removing or reducing it, even with it being over 30% of the total bill. I found the person I spoke to rude with no flexibility or customer service. I didn't pay anything in the end so my bill remains outstanding.

"Really aggressive horrible company with…"

Really aggressive horrible company with zero flexibility

"Holly Robinson (Property Portfolio Administrator)"

Just want to say a huge thank you to Holly Robinson from Mainstay.

Holly's customer service has been absolutely excellent, she has always answered all questions and has helped throughout all the issues and queries we had throughout our moving period.

Furthermore, she was very punctual and always chased contractors and helped in any way possible to get all issues sorted as soon as possible.

The days when she wasn't in, her fellow peers were also ever so helpful. I couldn't have asked for anyone better to deal with the queries we had.

If we had any questions or issues to resolve, Holly would always be our first point of contact because her customer service 5* +

Many thanks to Holly!

The 5* rating to Mainstay is all thanks to Holly, i hope this feedback does reach you :)

"The people we have dealt with have been…"

The people we have dealt with have been prompt and helpful, sorting out the issues we have faced having recently moved in.

"The letters I get from Mainstay are…"

The letters I get from Mainstay are worded like I'm a criminal, I'm not. Instead of asking me to pay ground rent, every year they send me a 3 page threat about how they will fine me if I don't pay them immediately . It's as if they are run by a mafia.

Last year I was on holiday and returned home to a fine. I called them and they said that is insufficient reason to not reply to their letters and that next time I travel I should let them know that I will be out of the country (they actually said this to me in an email). Eventually I got hold of a manager and they cleared the fine but it still took me multiple calls and numerous emails.

@callum, you cannot just declare you have high standards while your customers think you treat them like excrement. All you need to do is not start a your new year's letters with threats. perhaps start with Happy new year, we'd like to remind your bill is due and how to pay. If we ignore you then feel free to start your threats

"Barking and Dagenham reside"

Unprofessional and heartless money orientated individual. They have built new builds out of paper the noise levels inside each home is a joke. You can here other neighbors business such as shouting, kids screaming, banging, domestics violence and banging from some none human neighbours having sex like elephants.

The building is always cold and full of mould growing on the walls and floor. The carpets are always wet and damp and smell of mould. Fur going on the back of furniture beds, cupboards, chairs etc.

There is a lack of insulation for sound and heat. The outside walls and floor seem to be observing water inside the home causing walls to scrumble. The walls are cold and wet and smell.

There is also black rust on every frame work inside the build. The ceilings are made of plaster board and there is a neighbour on top that you constant hear banging and stamping and sex noise. You can’t even go to the bathroom because you can hear the neighbors in their kitchen banging, washing up, using microwave and talking. There is no piece full ness to even use the toilet in piece or have a bath.

In every room you can hear a neighbour in their bathroom showering and using their toilet. You can actually hear the difference when a man is urinating and when the woman is doing her thing. No piece of quiet 12am you can still hear water biting what it sounds like the ceilings and then flashing down the pipes. It seems like everyone’s water passes through my home and it’s constantly a lack of sleep.

I have had a suryeor out and I have had the builders who built the build out and there seems to be damp and moist areas throughout the home confirmed with a thermal device.

However it has been 2 months I have contact these people to see what the next steps are and I have just been left and no correspondence back.

This has been the same issue for other one year and a half I have just been neglected and in the mean time these people take my money for a build that is not even liviable nor has it been given its building licences yet.

Not to mention the drainage smells constantly and drains are placed outside your front door and windows and it smells bad. Can smell it inside your home.

Also the bin small and are never jet washed. The bins never have their lids down or even have lids on them. There for there has been a major rat problem. The bins on bin day are left outside your home smelling for hours with no lids on. The look a mess and u tidy but yet they are left outside your home about 8 of the metal bins.

I have spoken to mainstay before about this but they are full off rubbish and talk bs and after year or so they have done nothing. They are also a money orientated business with rubbish standards .

Other builds and companies have fobs to get into the bin area where the bin men themsleves take out the bins when they arrive and then place them back inside. That is what we pay our council ya for. But instead the bins are taken out 7:30 in morning and then left till 12 for when the bin men come back and empty them and the. They leave them outside again. Then you have to wait for the cleaner to come around an hour or so later to place the bins inside.

This issue is mainstay they do not want to pay out money for more then two cleaners for the build. The change around in staff keeps changing as they do not even look after their staff correctly


I would not recommended anybody move to the Barking and Dagenham reside as even Barking and Dagenham reside are dishonest and have shown neglect and even their change around of staff have all gone.

This whole project is a mess and they rather take your money on a monthly basics and have you live like the rubbish in a home that is not for for purpose. This is why the builds took so long to move people in as their was major issues and all they did was mask them with a bit of paint