Our scheme was bought by Churchill Estates Management about a year ago in 2024. The organisation seems to be in two parts. Central office is efficient, polite and friendly. At site and area level however, things are very different. I sense a culture of complacency and condescension, and a general lack of respect towards owners. I have two main areas of concern. The first is communication where at site/area level owners' legitimate concerns are either dismissed or ignored, emails are seldom acknowledged or answered, and information is patchy or non-forthcoming. Although I have not raised any, I understand that formal complaints cannot be escalated beyond site level. Second is a worrying opaqueness in CEM's business processes. Ancillary services such as the alarm system are provided through wholly owned CEM subsidiaries and while these costs seem competitive, the scope is steered to what CEM can provide so there is a sense of buying from 'the company shop'. At site/area level decisions seem to be based on expediency rather than best practice and value for money is questionable. As it is the owners' money that is being spent this is of particular concern for me.As part of the buy-out the existing site manager transitioned to CEM, and initially the relationship between owners and CEM was relatively positive. Now there is a new manager, one appointed by CEM the relationship has deteriorated significantly.
