Preet Kaur Gill MP slams readmission of under-fire FirstPort to trade body
- Preet Kaur Gill MP
- Apr 16
- 2 min read
Preet Kaur Gill MP slams readmission of under-fire FirstPort to trade body
Birmingham, Edgbaston MP Preet Kaur Gill has written to managing agent trade body The Property Institute to challenge its decision to quietly readmit under-fire property services firm FirstPort.
In December, The Property Institute (TPI) suspended FirstPort for failing to meet standards set in the trade body’s consumer charter & standards. The news came as the firm was summoned to Parliament to answer questions from MPs over widespread shortcomings in services it provides to leaseholders.
Preet Kaur Gill has challenged FirstPort publicly over its failure to manage financial information and accounts for hundreds of properties in her constituency, leading to delays of almost a year in settling finances with a new managing agent after its contract was terminated. In one case, it has led to grinding delays in transferring leaseholder funds totalling nearly half a million pounds.
Writing to the CEO of TPI, MP Gill challenges the decision to quietly restore FirstPort’s accreditation, and questions the value of accreditation as a watermark of “the highest standards of service and professionalism” – as claimed on TPI’s website.
The government has acknowledged that there is a strong case for greater regulation of managing agents as part of its commitment to leasehold reform, with a consultation on the regulation of managing agents due later this year. The previous Conservative government promised to regulate the property agent sector in 2018, but failed to do so.
Preet Kaur Gill, MP for Birmingham, Edgbaston, said:
“The shocking delays and mismanagement of residential accounts in my constituency demonstrates that FirstPort is failing to meet the minimum standards leaseholders should expect. For that reason I find it baffling that The Property Institute has quietly reinstated FirstPort’s membership last month.
“Many managing agents do a good job and will be crucial in the transition to commonhold, but too often leaseholders are being let down. More needs to be done protect leaseholders from abuse and poor service at the hands of unscrupulous agents.
“The sector must get its own house in order, or the new government should regulate it, where the last failed to for too long.”
ENDS
Notes
1. See Preet Kaur Gill MP’s letter to The Property Institute attached.
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