Yes sure, Karen Young was Hamilton King's 'Major Works Co-ordinator' at the time (and AFAIK is still with TogetherProperty today as their 'Operations Manager'). With major works being scheduled for the property I lived in, I sought assurances from Karen that this wasn't going to be another 'botched job' on Hamilton King's part (they had previously tried to charge us a small fortune for an asbestos survey that in all honesty a 5 year old could have handled better such was the lack of detail and extent of the inaccuracies involved). So when Karen received the message about my major works concerns she simply passed it along the line to Ray Ormiston, their very malleable Chartered Surveyor over at Lewis Berkeley and Ray Ormiston in turn sent it back to Karen Young with some reassuring words about the competency of the tenderers involved That's the message she forwarded to me and you saw as #post23

Hi, Well I can prove the (long-standing) business relationship between SLS/HK/TP and Lewis Berkeley. Way back in the summer of 2013 I wrote to Ray Ormiston of LB to express my concern about some of the companies he was inviting to tender for our major works bid. For example one of them was described as a market stall erector based in Slough. Yet another had a net worth that was less than the job itself was going to cost. And they were among the better ones! Value of tender (1993) £24,000+ Net Value of tenderer (Top Finish Ltd)- £697 (yes minus £697!) Mr Ormiston's response to me (via Karen Young of HK) was quite telling. It was very defensive and at times quite ludicrous. I pointed out that one of the tendering bids submitted wasn't even signed (despite a lot of money riding on it) Mr Ormiston tried to fob me off with 'a technical issue' and he had spoken to the tenderer about it etc etc. Utter rubbish! In the end Lewis Berkeley chose to go with the tenderer put forward by Hamilton King (would you believe?) despite admitting that they had never inspected any of their previous work! Message from Ray Ormiston (Lewis Berkeley) to Karen Young (then Hamilton King) Dear Karen In response. Top finish, Firstchoice and WDS are all contractor know to Lewis Berkeley and HK. They have completed numerous projects of this size for Lewis Berkeley acting as the CA, other Managerment Agents including Hamilton King and Southernland Securities. Our experience of them and that of our clients has always been very positive. We had included them as they have the adequate skill and resources to carryout the specified works. They may not be the largest contractors but they are the correctly sized contractor for a project of this small value nature. In terms of Top finish not signing the return, the reason for this was they were having IT issues, as the MD sent this from aboard, he called me to discuss and the tender was accepted. I can assure you WDS are not market stall electors, they are a relatively new ltd company's as previously they were sole traders, but that is not a reasons to exclude them, as far as I am concerned, their workmanship is excellent. First choice, not sure what the problems is with there web site, but these are excellent, and considerate contractors. In terms of Formation Managerment, these contractor were recommended by Hamilton King, we have not personally supervised their works previously, but all reports of them again was positive. I spoke with the MD, he explained the work they had recently completed, I considered them to be suitable, also they have done previous work for the head of surveying at HK, who suggested them and also advised they were very good. All the pricing contractor meets our clients requirements, in terms of CIS registration, insurances and health and safety requirements. As I say the contractor are suitable for this works and there size leads to a more competitive quote, rather than going to larger scale contractor who's overheads lead to higher costs. I trust this assists and re assures the residents. Kind regards Ray

Hi again folks, I am dropping a line to the excellent (personal finance) journalist, Emma Lunn. Emma herself has had the dubious 'honour' of having to deal with Southern Land Securities (SLS) and Hamilton King Management (HKM) on a personal level. You can read her story below and although its now some time ago it just shows you how long these people have been getting away with it for. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/jul/06/unregulated-admin-fees-hit-leaseholders?CMP=gu_com Emma please would you take a look at this thread and give us your opinion on it? On the other hand, if you never want to hear their names again who can blame you?! Thank you.

Hi Everyone, Some of you might like to take a look at the following article, particularly the 'comments' section towards the end? For the record Southern Land Securities were incorporated on 30 Nov1993, the very same date/year that their managing agent (Hamilton King) was also formed. Consequently there never was nor ever has been any interest in Hamilton King acting on anything other than their parent company's interests. So what better than a nice, new name (Together Property) to get 'customers' back on line? Property Hawk