ATP Group Reviews 3

I am a leaseholder and there were some suspicious cracks all over my living rooms wall from floor to ceiling and then on the ceiling in a strange pattern. I told my freeholder,Sanctuary Housing, that it looks like a structural issue. Sanctuary Housing sent 2 different employees who both told me that IT IS a structural issue but sanctuary housing denied what their 2 employees told me. After pushing them,they sent Daren Flight,from ATP Group in 2018 and he arrived without any tools and without any thorough investigation he made a report that it is NOT a structural issue. He even ignored me when I told him to check the flats above mine to see if they have the same wall and ceiling cracks.

After investigating myself I found out that the flats above mine have the SAME exactly cracks at same wall and ceiling,with the same pattern. I pushed again Sanctuary Housing to fix it and they sent Daren Flight from ATP again in 2022 who,to my shock,he said that he instructed my freeholder back in 2018 to fix the cracks. I told him "but,you wrote a report that its NOT structural, and now u are telling me that you agree that its structural and that you asked them to fix it and they didnt? " He didnt reply. Then he told me it is a structural issue and that its obvious and that the flat above mine has the same issue, and I mentioned that I sent photos of both mine and the upstairs flat to the freeholder so to prove that it IS a structural issue but they refused to comment on it. Then Mr Flight told me he promises he will put in his report that its a structural issue and ofcourse my freeholder will fix it because,as he said,"how can they not fix your flat when they will fix the flat upstairs?"
So,you can understand my SHOCK when he wrote a report denying that its a structural issue and that I should fix the cracks in my wall and ceiling myself. I emailed my freeholder and ATP complaining about Daren Flight and after me pushing for a direct answer from Mr Flight he replied avoiding to answer. He proved that he is a liar and a crook. The other director left ATP Group, i wonder why! Sanctuary Housing are crooks who obviously paid Daren Flight money to lie. What is disgusting is that he lied to me,a woman, repeatedly and that he didnt keep his promise to put in his report that the issue is structural and needs to be fixed,that makes him a coward and not a man!
I am reporting Daren Flight to RICS

ATP Group (Architects and Surveyors) are supposed to be supervising some major roof work at our development. The leaseholders/residents had been told that the scaffolding was going to be alarmed but it was not. This created a serious security risk as they started work opening up the roofs since the top floor flats are accessible through loft hatches. I enquired what was going on and why residents were being put at physical risk from our (inept) property manager, Montalt Management. This is the response I received:

"With reference to our letter we had planned to install an alarm on the scaffold, however when this was discussed in more depth with both ATP and the contractor [name removed] they advised that in fact the alarms sometime prove more of a nuisance by being triggered in the early hours by cats/monflex sheeting etc, it would also require someone to reset the code and being that it is a secure development the decision was made not to install an alarm. However, due to some recent issues with the gates we have reviewed the security and have decided that it may be best at this point to install an alarm which is currently being arranged by the contractor."

A wise man once said: "When the facts change, I change my mind." In this case no facts have changed. Montalt Management are fully aware that there are serious, on-going security issues with our vehicle gates and should be aware that the scaffolding creates easy access for burgling top floor flats as they have recevied at least two reports about trespassing on existing scaffolding. I can see no reason for this unannounced flip-flop other than it being a bizarre and rather pathetic lie to cover up the negligent project supervision by both Montalt Management and ATP Group. It's a remarkable coincidence that a few days after my complaint a contractor appeared to install the alarm. A related, pertinent question here is who exactly was going to profit from the cost saving of not installing the alarm?

The alarm arrived and a control box appeared in a communal part of our building. After a few weeks I noticed one evening that the LCD display was no longer active on it. I checked with a neighbour in another building about the status of theirs. Their display was active, i.e. ours was off. I made a complaint to Freehold Managers plc to find out what was going on and whether they considered Montalt Management to be doing their job properly. I know they have a standard, formulaic response and that's exactly what I received. It contained an account of numerous "alarm resets". I walk past the control box several times a day and I hadn't seen it on for about four weeks. This account looked implausible. Yet again, ATP Group failed to supervise the project and their sub-contractors.

The piece de resistance was on 14th October 2019 when a ladder was left overnight against the scaffolding with the scaffolding alarm still disabled. I would prefer to rely on proper project supervision and property management rather than luck to avoid vandalism, burglary, robbery or worse...

On a minor point I had also complained early on about the scaffolding as one of the planks looked like it was touching a cylindrical pane of glass. I mentioned this to the scaffolders and was told it wasn't touching and that it was clipped down to prevent movement. I had a closer look and the gap was about 5mm. I could see paint transfer marks on the glass indicating contact at some point and I could see no clips. This is the sort of basic inspection I would expect ATP Group to be doing. Custom radius glass can be very expensive and as a leaseholder I'd prefer: a) not to have to monitor this work, and b) not to have to pay for anything they break.

Back in 2017 I thought ATP Group was ok. Everything I've seen since has progressively lowered my confidence in their abilities and honesty. I would not use them for anything now. It doesn't surprise me that Montalt Management initially selected them - there's clearly a clustering effect here with incompetents.

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