Information on the property firms: Equity Asset Management, CPM, MSH, Hull & Co, M.A.S, Regis, Regisport or Pier Management

One of the most common requests that we hear from our site visitors, is a cry for help on how to handle problems that customers and leaseholders are having with Equity Asset Management and its associated companies. This page summarises some useful information for people having problems with this organisation.

Who are these companies?

Equity Asset Management has also been known as Regis Group, Regis Direct, Regisport, MAS and Hull and Co. Until January 2005, Equity was owned by Mount Street Holdings (MSH plc), and this parent company has recently acquired CPM in Hertfordshire. Francis Maintenance, AIS and Pier Management have also been associated with these companies in some way. The site Cash4GroundRents.com appears to be owned / operated by Regis.

Not happy with your bills, the way that MSH, CPM or Johnson Cooper are maintaining your property, or you have another customer service problem that you can't get resolved? Here are some suggestions:

Complaining to MSH / CPM:

In the first instance, complaints should be addressed to the Managing Director of the company you deal with. You can find company details the following places:

• Our contact information page

Contacting the media:

• BBC's Watchdog featured Equity Asset Management in December 2003 and November 2004 - see their report on the BBC Watchdog site. It's well worth keeping Watchdog informed of problems you're having with Mount Street Holdings, as they could be persuaded to run yet another follow-up on these companies. Watchdog are particularly interested in hearing stories that make good telly - issues around poor property maintenance and threatening letters were uncovered. Incidentally, the 'new managing Director of Equity Management, Peter Butler' referred to in 2003 resigned six months after the piece was aired, and at the end of the 2004 show, the BBC reported that Andy Zahn, CEO of parent company MSH, has resigned as a director.
  Contact Watchdog: To contact Watchdog, fill in the short form that you'll find here
  
• Also, if you have a strong case, consider contacting local or national press - You'll find contact details at www.mediauk.com. See a recent story on Equity from the Essex Evening Echo
  

Complaining online:

Try making your voice heard at one of the following:

• Blagger.com - leave complaints and comments about companies you have used
• Grumbletext - Send a complaint by text message
• Howtocomplain.co.uk - Log your complaint online, MSH are already featured
• Add a review to Regis Group's entry in TouchSouthend

Your Local MP

One of our team contacted his local MP (in Southend-on-Sea), and received a very sympathetic response, highlighting that his was not the first complaint that had been received from local residents.

• Contact your local MP by fax for free: www.writetothem.com

Discussion forum:

For help and advice, discuss these property firms in an online forum.

Some years ago, a basic page was created to allow customers to comment on issues affecting them. The archive of this can be found here. Equity started its own forum, but this was heavily censored, and finally abandoned by Equity. ConsumerDeals ran a busy forum on this site for around a year. Mount Street's Chief Executive Andy Zahn used to be a regular contributor to our forum, but in July 2004, this suddenly changed, and he instructed a firm of London solicitors to take action to have the forum removed. Mr Zahn and MSH have not been in contact with us to explain their sudden change-of-heart. The letter from Andy Zahn's solicitors highlighted of prime concern, a thread in the forum about a fraud investigation into an Andrew J. Zahn in the US, found via a Google search, and although MSH has not confirmed this, we have it on good authority that discussion of this topic may have played a part in Mr Zahn's decision to force our forum to close. We started a petition to reinstate the forum, and MSH then took action against the firm hosting our online petition.

A replacement forum, no longer part of our website, can be found at the following external link: equityforum.freepgs.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl

Trade organisations:

Many UK property management firms are a member of one or more trade organisations. These can be useful when making a complaint about your managing agent. We've found it difficult to identify an organisation that Equity, CPM or MSH are members of - if anyone knows of one, please contact us.. Here's what we know so far:

• Association of Residential Managing Agents - Membership terminated in early 2003
• Association of Residential Letting Agents - It seems that Regis Group are a member
• National Approved Letting Scheme - It seems that Regis Group are a member. Contact NALS here
• National Association of Estate Agents - Not a member

Taking it further:

Other options available to you, are:

• Contact your local Citizens' Advice Bureau office for advice
• Submit a complaint to your local Trading Standards online for free
• Go to court. The Small Claims Court can be used to resolve a dispute with a property management company. For information on this and how to get free legal advice, see the Community Legal Service Direct website.

Sack them:

The best way to show your dissatisfaction with a company, is to stop dealing with them. First off, get hold of a copy of your lease, and then talk to other leaseholders to see if they feel the same - if they do, you can get the ball rolling to change your managing agents.

Other ideas:

Talking to others in the same boat is a great way to get ideas and ask for help - Consider joining the Equity mailing list , signing our petition, and visiting the independent Equity Forum (external link). If you have any other suggestions, let us know.

Associated pages:

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