The small retirement block I live in is one of over thirty developments bought by CEM in the summer of 2024. The hopes of most residents here were high, but so far a number of us has been rather disappointed. An example - when I quoted to a CEM manager the ethos proudly described in the Churchill Magazine I was told, "With regards to the extracts from the Churchill Living magazine, this marketing literature applies to all our Churchill Living built developments. Your building was not built by our construction team and was in fact built some years ago. To clarify, we have only taken on the management of ****** ***** since 1st July 2024 and were not involved with the build or the owners who took possession of the apartments previous to this." The inference is, CEM owners are rather second class citizens.Being bought by CEM has felt rather like being invaded by the Normans, with us as the Saxons. No one actually suffered an arrow in the eye I admit, but there is no interest in the wellbeing of residents, or the community we have built up over the years. The company constantly reminds us that it owns the building and the gardens. Deplorably it has no anti-bullying policy so if you have a neighbour who is a sociopath they feel no obligation to act on behalf of residents who may be suffering. It's all very corporate, with an eye to profits and shareholders, and so far I haven't found a beating heart. Fortunately we have a superb couple of managers here who were in post before 1066 (if you are still following my analogy!) We are also blessed with a community of residents who support and have fun together.
