'Management firm left our estate £13k of debt'

Neil Shrubsole, who has lived on the estate since 2018, is one of its new directors after residents voted to oust FirstPort

Residents of a housing estate have said they are up to £13,000 out of pocket after ousting their property management firm over its "very poor" performance.

The Nelson View development on the Isle of Sheppey, in Kent, was built in 2018, with 110 houses and six flats, and is now known as Queenborough Phase One.

Residents said they took over the estate management in May after years of problems, including "dreadful" communication and unexplained service charge increases but were now facing "really tough decisions".

A spokesman for property managers FirstPort said it was "working through the handover process... within the required timeframe" and "reconciling the final accounts".

Whitstable-based Love Property Management is now responsible for the Queenborough estate, but residents Neil Shrubsole and Stuart Gaylor are directors of the estate, working with them.

Mr Shrubsole, who has lived on the estate since 2018, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) a FirstPort manager used to visit the estate once a month "that we weren't aware of" and residents would have to "continually chase" the firm to get anything done.

In May, residents met and voted to remove FirstPort from management.

But Mr Shrubsole said residents now had "really tough decisions" to make following the discovery of a large, outstanding service charge debt.

Mr Gaylor said: "We've got to prioritise and get urgent repairs or health and safety-related repairs done now, as opposed to just cracking on through the estate."

The final stage of the management handover will be completed in November, and the directors believe they should receive another £4,000 in management fees from FirstPort at that point.

Residents of the estate voted in May to remove FirstPort as their management firm

A spokesperson for FirstPort said it was "disappointing" to part ways with the development but it would make the transition "as smooth as possible".

They added: "We are currently working through the handover process, in line with recognised industry guidance and this is progressing well, within the required timeframe.

"This involves fulfilling any outstanding obligations and reconciling the final accounts relating to our period of management."

The spokesman said some homeowners stopped making service charges once they knew there would be a change of management, and that they highlighted the shortfall this could cause.