Long call wait times can be annoying and irritating at the best of times, but we all accept that they may vary depending on department opening times. But when nobody answers the phone throughout the day, it can be very concerning, especially when trying to get hold of a company that your firm partially relies on for business.
It is not yet clear why, but nobody is currently answering the phone lines at ARPM, a popular go-to company for some estate and letting agents when dealing with outsourced tenancy administration and property management services.
A number of agents across the country contacted EYE yesterday to express concerns. Some have tried calling ARPM within the past 24 hours, while others have sent emails, but there has been no response either way.
Rumours are circulating among some agents, with several unsubstantiated claims made about what could be happening behind the scenes at the company.
EYE understands that some members of staff have left the company in recent days, including ARPM’s business development director, Tim McGlashan.
EYE has made several attempts to contact ARPM but without success.
Are you experiencing issues with the company?
Comments (42)
The deafening silence from anyone connected with ARPM lends weight to the possibility that they have ceased trading. Very serious indeed for all concerned.
Knowing the involved people, many innocent people will lose their money here.
One Director leaving the company ignoring all calls to speak with the people he made promises to, while another director has a long list of dissolved companies on Companies House. Not promising at all
wow this is going to explode. How many agents outsource their work which they “should” be doing themselves and have given it to ARPM? Is there any clue as to the number of agents that are going to get bitten at best and shut down at worse by this?
Anyone here use them?
Its a fatal flaw.
Found this on ARPM’s website:-
“White-labelling means while we provide the service, we do it in your name and under your brand. All communication we have with tenants, landlords and contractors is done in your business name. Our service agreement will be completely confidential.”
So, what they do and not do they do and not do in your name.
Any agent which subs out to a company using an insurance backed scheme may regret that decision and should let their PI Insurers know..
Owners should have full oversight of their business and outsourcing doesn’t change this fact. Giving away control to the extent that an owner can’t see software, statements, remittances, deposits, client bank account is inherently risky.
Any outsourcing company worth their salt should be able to provide full visibility to all elements of their work and actually evidence reasons why if they go to the wall, the agent’s continuity and financial security is assured.
How many outsourcing providers, software companies and others are telling agents who work with them that they don’t need CMP? This is incorrect advice and as we can see, when the bubble bursts it ends in tears.
On the one hand, agents outsource for the expertise and to some extent all business is done on good faith, but equally there is a place for due diligence and research.
Outsource/use networks at your peril – just ask any of the mortgage brokers who were with Network Data and other networks that didn’t have their houses in order when the Credit Crunch hit. Many brokers lost tens of thousands if not more and in many instances their businesses.
If you can’t do it ALL properly yourself you really shouldn’t be doing it.
Very true…. We were with the Mortgage Times Group – we got shafted on commission big time.
This is a shock, we used to work with them a good few years back but perhaps, as they were then outsourcing their outsourced managed properties to us for out of hours coverage, that should have been a sign.
I disagree with the comments saying you shouldn’t outsource, and if ARPM have indeed gone out of business, that’s not the fault of the businesses that outsourced to them.
ARPM have been around a long time, and on the surface at least, it’s understandable that companies would trust them. We all know that property managers are a different animal to estate agents, so the solution offered, on paper at least, is a good one.
None of us have a crystal ball.
And it’s not as if the business model is flawed. There are several other outsourced property management companies out there who seem to be making a decent fist of it. Perhaps that’s ARPM’s problem – I know at least 3 members of their staff have gone on to form rival companies, and maybe there is too much competition in what is a limited marketplace.
Outsourcing company’s mantra is:- a problem shared is a problem halved.
Seems more like:- a problem shared is a problem doubled.
I can see the benefit of limited outsourcing, such as referencing and inventory/checkout reporting, but removing oneself from all the process is asking for trouble.
Surely there is a much bigger storm brewing here which goes beyond what this story is about? CMP will only cover the rent monies collected and held, together with monies held for contractors and presumably agents commissions etc. The deposits will no doubt be covered by an insured scheme as there seems to be a problem returning them and that provider is likely to take a big hit which will affect us all in terms of premiums charged in future.
I personally would think very carefully about outsourcing any part of my business that cannot easily be bought back, as you are then reliant on that party in terms of their ongoing viability, their staffing issues and abilities and of course increasing fees charged. Your business will be judged on their performance which could prove detrimental to yours.
As we emerge to the new normal, businesses across the Country (not just agency) are trying to catch up with commercial rents, deferred VAT and PAYE payments along with other bills accrued and the ending of furlough, we are likely to see many more failures and who knows where that knock on effect will go and what businesses that will ultimately affect? My advice would be take stock of your own business, bring as many facets as you can back in house ring fencing and retaining control of your own destiny.
Deposits will not be excluded from the CMP. It will be the likely case that it is the agent, not the landlord, that has the service arrangement with ARPM. Anyway, I would expect it will ultimately be the landlord’s responsibility to reimburse the tenant for any loss of deposit; after all, the tenancy is between a tenant and landlord.
Then the landlords go after their professional agent.
I guess it depends on the contractual arrangements. There is the law of agency to consider, but has the agent passed on responsibility to the outsourced company contractually with the landlord.
If indeed there is an issue with ARPM, I can see this getting messy, as Robert as eluded to. The ones that will potentially suffer most will be the agent, who now has no system in place to deal with management issues, and the landlord, who might not had realised the full extent of the outsourcing arrangement, or, if the agent had no such contractual provision or it was well hidden in the terms, for the agent to pass the buck, then those agents would be well advised to assess their exposure. Lets also not forget the tenant who simply wants any management issues attended to.
One has to ask:- by using a provider, such as ARPM, what is the agent actually doing to earn their dosh?
Was this the company sending VERY clickbait emails out a year or two back?
With advertising like that not surprised they are struggling.
Hopefully everybody gets the money they are owed.
‘Hopefully everybody gets the money they are owed’
Why ?
Hopefully the innocent victims receive their money obviously, but I don’t think the same sentiment applies to any agents and landlords who knowingly signed up to this service to cut corners.
That’s flawed. You outsource in order to make sure that you’re compliant and offering a full service.
You’re much more likely to cut corners if you do the management yourself, especially if property management isn’t your primary concern.
Absolutely agree
If correct, I sincerely feel for all those affected; lettings agents, staff, landlords, contractors, insurers etc.
I think a review of how deposits are held is well overdue. Is there still a place for insurance backed schemes?
Personally I haven’t held a deposit since my very first contested deposit return. The value of deposits compared to the cost of contesting minor damage makes even a simple dispute unviable.
IMO I’d scrap deposits and insist on an dilapidations and arrears insurance bought by the tenant to cover the damage and destruction they’re capable of. Having a professional claims handler to pay out or defend a claim, paid for by the tenant seems a much more practical solution than the current, tenant biased, free to tenants protection they currently enjoy
Not me Robert, I believe it to be a benefit that tenants pay an actual deposit, so would not want them to take out some form of insurance. Claims handler’s will be protecting the interest of the insurance company. No, using a scheme like the DPS provides impartial dispute resolution.
I also like the idea that the tenant will want their deposit back, as oppose to abdicating their responsibilities to an insurance policy to cover damages/cleaning etc.
Two observations – such an insurance premium is not permitted under the Tenant Fees Act. We always pushed Tenants Liability Insurance to protect the tenant and their deposit. Secondly, there is a huge shift of emphasis between dispute resolution and what would be effectively a loss adjuster.
some of the zero deposit schemes provide a viable alternative as does the lifetime deposit proposal. Best EW
this wouldn’t be sold by the agent Eric, it needs to be independent. A discussion for another day
Herein lies the rub, all this outsourcing of services to third parties losing control and potentially the client
I can never understand why estate agents outsource their front of house inside normal busisness hours to remote third party operaters .Any question greeted with the banal
“Can we offer you a free valuation. ”
The first point of contact with the company being a gatekeeper not only knowing zilch about the individual property but even the town ,.county in which it is situated or the person handling
I had the misfortune of dealing with ARPM andSimon.
when we left them, it took us 4 months to reveal all the invoices they didn’t pay, providers they billed us twice for, and rents not sent to our landlords (100% of errors in their favour). the damage was so severe that we lost more than half our managed properties within 6 months.
I hope that the poor guys who used them will take legal action to get back everything that is owed
CMP nightmare? By the looks of things this is going to become a CMP storm if rents and deposits are missing or locked down in ARPM’s bank accounts.
Question is, whose CMP will shoulder the bill? I assume it will be ARPMs and they are with the Hamilton Fraser CMP scheme. So, agents who outsource to ARPM do not have their own CMP? This is where it’s going to get sticky ……
The agent who is contracted by the landlord is responsible for their client’s rent.
If the paperwork is between ARPM and an Agent’s landlord it will be ARPM. If it is LL-Agent with ARPM doing the work the liability is the same as having an in house bookkeeper.
It hasn’t happened yet! there are forensic CCA specialists who can sort out things like that.
Thank you Robert – helpful as always.
Do you know if insurance policies would cover such CCA?
Also, do you htink that there’s a cause for perosnal legal action against the management team? Looking at Companies House, the MD has listed under him on companies house including several that have been forcibly stricken off. What would prevent him from dointg it again?
that was the whole point of CMP; providing remedy for rogue agencies where monies go missing. The agents in this case won’t be rogue but have potentially been let down by a service supplier with the same result.
Oliver Wharmby is better placed to comment on whether this will be in or outside of cover
I was having the same problem with O’Neil Patient Solicitors last week; no one answering the phone — not even the new business team.
Hopefully this isn’t the next ‘Breaking News’, we’ve been waiting over 2 weeks for a commission payment. They don’t answer their phones or respond to emails.
Have you got a clause in your contact that explains interest will be payable if the vendor does not pay your full commission within a reasonable time after completion? If you do, maybe it’s worth asking the vendor to chase too — not that there’s anyone they could actually speak with…
I hear that they have been struggling to pay back deposits, staff have left because of non payment of salaries, and I understand that administration looms. Tough times for staff, landlords & tenants
The industry as a whole could well be rocked by something like that. If it were to happen it that would have serious implications for agents who have outsourced their client cash accounting to ARPM but whose principals remain responsible for unpaid rents and un-returned deposits.
Such a collapse would be our Deepwater Horizon.
In all cases where there are issues affecting CCA client cash accounts it is important to find out quickly what software is being used; that can be an overlooked cause of failure and sometimes the simple fix that prevents disaster
Cool heads and compassion first, get the problem sorted.
It might though reinforce to landlords the true value of professional letting agents – rather than lowest cost, cheapjack ones, outsourced ones, online only ones, etc., etc.
The saying ‘Pay peanuts, get monkeys’ is visible enough in estate agency (where online agents are usually just listers not full service agents) but the same applies even more so with lettings and property management.
Perhaps ‘buy cheap, pay twice’ is a better description where it comes to property management?
the average 200 property portfolio agency will be exposed 200 lots of average rent per month (£950) and 200 lots of deposits (about £1300). That’s a £450,000 exposure trusted to someome to run the main part of a business.
There are firms I would trust to do that work, but not many.
Often it is not the staff or principals but a glitch or ongoing issue with software that causes an uncontrolable runaway of events
So you are saying that online agents are not professionals? Shame on you. How many of your “professional” agents go broke every year taking tenants’ deposits and landlords’ rents with them?
What on earth are you reading into what I’ve wriiten? This is a discussion about outsourced property management not the done to death discussion about business models.
To answer your question about how many of my agents stuffed up their client cash accounting, 2 in 27 years- on both ocassions I was the one who identified the wrongdoing and put a stop to it
@ Robert May
My comment was not to you, it was to gloslet. Not everything is about you LOL.
My apologies, the formatting of Eye made yours look like a reply to me
@ Robert may Sadly PIE IT near the responsibility for that. I shall try to remember to put @xyz in future for clarity.