The Leasehold Advisory Service has finally decided to bar controversial managing agent Benjamin Mire from advertising on the LEASE website.
The decision was announced today and applies to Benjamin Mire’s companies Trust Property Management and Benjamin Mire Chartered Surveyors.
Mire, a property manager based in Colindale, north London, resigned from his judicial appointment to the property tribunal during an investigation last summer.
In an exceptional move, the Ministry of Justice made clear that Mire would have been sacked in any case. He had
‘failed to observe the standards that could reasonably be expected of a judicial office holder and that this failing was sufficiently serious to justify his removal from office’.
LEASE’s decision to dump Mire comes in the form of an appeal by Sir Peter Bottomley to a decision by LEASE in April to continue to take Mire’s advertising.
On April 23, Anthony Essien informed LKP / Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation that “it was concluded that Trust Property Management had complied with the applicable terms and conditions” of Lease Conferences Ltd, the commercial arm of the quango. Therefore his advertising would stay.
But today LEASE chairman Deep Sagar has reversed that decision.
He does so on the basis of information long available to LEASE, and repeatedly referred to on this website.
Sagar refers to the statement from the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (above) and to “34 different determinations by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal purportedly involving Mr Mire, TPM or BMCS”.
“By an expert review on my behalf of the determinations and representations, I have concluded that 24 determinations have clear and recent conclusions of poor professional practice.
“Thus LEASE Conferences Limited should not knowingly offer its platform to these firms, as its objectives are to improve professional standards and service consumers, including leaseholders.”
LEASE’s decision is a volte face of its previous position over the issue, which surfaced in November last year when it was made clear that Mr Mire was to have been sacked from his judicial appointment.
At the time, Trust Property Management was up for four property management awards organised by the insiders’ trade magazine News on the Block. It did not win.
In May the issue became the subject of a parliamentary question and housing minister Kris Hopkins stated that “the practitioner list is not meant to be a fully comprehensive list, nor does inclusion constitute a recommendation by LEASE”.
When LEASE first turned down dropping Mire, Anthony Essien said new terms and conditions would be binding on advertisers in the professional directory.
These would apply when contracts came up for renewal: those concerning Trust Property Management required renewal this month.
But rather than drop Mire quietly with a bureaucratic manoeuvre, LEASE has instead chosen publicly to remove the managing agent.
Related posts:
Benjamin Mire’s Trust Property Management up for sale
[Eight] Ten days after talking tough, LEASE seems to have dropped ‘Mire for hire’
Kris Hopkins says Benjamin Mire’s promotion by LEASE does not ‘constitute a recommendation’
LEASE chairman Deep Sagar to rule on Benjamin Mire advertising in its professional directory
LEASE: Benjamin Mire’s advertising stays, but new terms and conditions are issued
Israeli magazine reports London leasehold
That Mr Sagar and Lease have now done the right thing is to be welcomed.
Perhaps an apology to LKP for threatening them with legal action to prevent Mr Mire’s actions(and Lease’s lack of action) being exposed should now be given?
Well done to LKP for not backing down.
Well done LKP. I run a small managment company secilaising in RTM work and my clients have been constandtly hassled by a firm of solicitors called called JB Leitch. The tactics used by this firm border on the unethical and I feel they are in breach of the Solicitors Regulation Authority Code of Conduct. However complaints to the SRA have been fruitless. Yet another “self regulation” system that just doesn’t work..
JB Leitch was one of the sponsors of the LEASE annual conference. I was so incensed about this I wrote to LEASE in March complaining that they should not take money from a company who act in such a way. I gave them examples of letters issued by JB Leitch to back my complaint. I have had to chase LEASE twice since and at the time of writing they still have not given me an answer, even one to say they don’t agree with my complaint!
That LEASE should take such tainted money is a sad indictment of their current management and board. They are a much changed organisation since they were formed, sadly for the worse.
.
Steve,
Do not worry JB Lietch is well on our radar for various reasons. Drop us an email with more information. We’ll write about them one day.
There are lots of firms Infamous for the “throw mud at a barn door and some of it will stick approach” to charging legal and admin fees.
They will of course maintain that they are only acting on the instructions of and information provided by, their client.
On another site I have put up a fairly simple (delete as appropriate) standard response to these sorts of letters and they work every time.
Martin,
It is not often i post about my personal circumstances. However, back in earlier times i too was a victim of JB Leitch.. From memory, losing to them in court cost me just shy of £4,000.
I made a promise that i would do my level best to cost their client E&M/ Peverel 100 times what it had cost me!
How am i doing?
JB Leitch are due to sponsor the “Young Property Manager of the Year” award. Would anyone want that on their CV?
For any young property managers out there just remember past winners at the property awards include some of those in the sector with the worst reputations.
I am the other complainant re this action with Sir Peter Bottomley MP. I was thus very surprised in that Deep Segar (Chair of Lease) reacted so quickly.
In fact it was the same day as an Ombudsman report to me (with this as part of his report) was issued but its fair to comment that Deep Segar acted so promptly, to instruct his Managing Director, to remove Trust Companies owed by Benjamin Mire from the web site,
What a shame that the MD, Anthony Essien does not respond as quick as Deep Segar, in that, as of the 10th July it has NOT been removed
Colin
I wonder if he will let this removal go unchallenged 😀
Dear AM
Good point as I see that on Monday 14th BMCS are still on the web site
Perhaps they are obliged to keep him on there until the current contract expires? As the decisions referred to are some time ago ( I am working on a recollection of looking at the argument some time ago), he might , if he felt it were worth it, argue that his business has changed since then.
I did work with him some time ago when he was a one man band, for a mutual client, and later saw him put his head above the parapet, unlike some, and address complaints on public forums, in part out of self interest but also as part of taking an active part of the day to day, rather than sitting on LVT panels! 🙂
One would have thought that if you are on a panel,. and your firm keeps ending up as aa respondent, that your time is better spent at the coalface, or taking your senior managers round behind the bikes sheds and, with a sock full of marbles, explaining your expectations 🙂 No, lawyers say don’t do that.
Hi
No, after discussion with a lot of people in the know we think, as you said in the first place “He has threatened Lease including a Judicial Revue”
I am aware of cases that Trust have lost recently and more to the point of some that are coming up.
Maybe Mire is getting his “Cum-up-pence” at last – I do hope so!
Colin
Based on the forum posts ,which are more recent than the refered to decisions that some of the issues result from a legacy of poor manangement, and efforts to reverse that were very poorly handled.
In one case, through my ramblings offline, the group won a nice little chunk of service charge refund at the FTT, to start off their life in RTM, and a long list of overdue major works to handle.