• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Before Header

  • Home
  • What is LKP
  • Find everything …
  • Contact
Donate

Leasehold Knowledge Management Logo

Secretariat of the All Party Parliamentary Group on leasehold reform

Mobile Menu

  • Home
  • What is LKP
  • Find everything …
  • Contact
  • Advice
  • News
    • Find everything …
    • About Peverel group
    • APPG
    • ARMA
    • Bellway
    • Benjamin Mire
    • Brixton Hill Court
    • Canary Riverside
    • Charter Quay
    • Chelsea Bridge Wharf
    • Cladding scandal
    • Competition and Markets Authority / OFT
    • Commonhold
    • Communities Select Committee
    • Conveyancing Association
    • Countrywide
    • MHCLG
    • E&J Capital Partners
    • Exit fees
    • FirstPort
    • Fleecehold
    • Forfeiture
    • FPRA
    • Gleeson Homes
    • Ground rent scandal
    • Hanover
    • House managers flat
    • House of Lords
    • Housing associations
    • Informal lease extension
    • Insurance
    • IRPM
    • Jim Fitzpatrick MP
    • John Christodoulou
    • Justin Bates
    • Justin Madders MP
    • Law Commission
    • LEASE
    • Liam Spender
    • Local authority leasehold
    • London Assembly
    • Louie Burns
    • Martin Paine
    • McCarthy and Stone
    • Michael Epstein
    • Moskovitz / Gurvits
    • Mulberry Mews
    • National Leasehold Campaign
    • Oakland Court
    • Park Homes
    • Parliament
    • Persimmon
    • Peverel
    • Philip Rainey QC
    • Plantation Wharf
    • Press
    • Property tribunal
    • Prostitutes
    • Quadrangle House
    • Redrow
    • Retirement
    • Richard Davidoff
    • RICS
    • Right To Manage Federation
    • Roger Southam
    • Rooftop development
    • RTM
    • Sean Powell
    • SFO
    • Shared ownership
    • Sinclair Gardens Investments
    • Sir Ed Davey
    • Sir Peter Bottomley
    • St George’s Wharf
    • Subletting
    • Taylor Wimpey
    • Tchenguiz
    • Warwick Estates
    • West India Quay
    • William Waldorf Astor
    • Windrush Court
  • Parliament
  • Accreditation
  • [Custom]
Menu
  • Advice
  • News
      • Find everything …
      • About Peverel group
      • APPG
      • ARMA
      • Bellway
      • Benjamin Mire
      • Brixton Hill Court
      • Canary Riverside
      • Charter Quay
      • Chelsea Bridge Wharf
      • Cladding scandal
      • Competition and Markets Authority / OFT
      • Commonhold
      • Communities Select Committee
      • Conveyancing Association
      • Countrywide
      • MHCLG
      • E&J Capital Partners
      • Exit fees
      • FirstPort
      • Fleecehold
      • Forfeiture
      • FPRA
      • Gleeson Homes
      • Ground rent scandal
      • Hanover
      • House managers flat
      • House of Lords
      • Housing associations
      • Informal lease extension
      • Insurance
      • IRPM
      • Jim Fitzpatrick MP
      • John Christodoulou
      • Justin Bates
      • Justin Madders MP
      • Law Commission
      • LEASE
      • Liam Spender
      • Local authority leasehold
      • London Assembly
      • Louie Burns
      • Martin Paine
      • McCarthy and Stone
      • Michael Epstein
      • Moskovitz / Gurvits
      • Mulberry Mews
      • National Leasehold Campaign
      • Oakland Court
      • Park Homes
      • Parliament
      • Persimmon
      • Peverel
      • Philip Rainey QC
      • Plantation Wharf
      • Press
      • Property tribunal
      • Prostitutes
      • Quadrangle House
      • Redrow
      • Retirement
      • Richard Davidoff
      • RICS
      • Right To Manage Federation
      • Roger Southam
      • Rooftop development
      • RTM
      • Sean Powell
      • SFO
      • Shared ownership
      • Sinclair Gardens Investments
      • Sir Ed Davey
      • Sir Peter Bottomley
      • St George’s Wharf
      • Subletting
      • Taylor Wimpey
      • Tchenguiz
      • Warwick Estates
      • West India Quay
      • William Waldorf Astor
      • Windrush Court
  • Parliament
  • Accreditation
You are here: Home / News / FirstPort / Peverel-Cirrus tee-hee email: Cheating oldies is ‘not an official part of the process (tee hee)’

Peverel-Cirrus tee-hee email: Cheating oldies is ‘not an official part of the process (tee hee)’

March 5, 2014 //  by Sebastian O'Kelly

CirrusTeeHeeAny of the 65 retirement sites on the OFT list should contact Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation to ensure

proper compensation is paid for this cheating

The secret contempt with which Peverel and its subsidiary Cirrus treated their elderly, vulnerable customers is revealed by the Office of Fair Trading.

It has published emails from Cirrus employees in its full 268-report into the price-fixing scandal. This can be read here

These include one Cirrus employee referring to the scam in these terms:

‘Hello I have updated the process but think its best if we keep this one ‘in house’ as the bits in red are what we do behind the scenes and not an official part of the process (tee hee).‘

On p.62 para 5.36:  An email from Cirrus to the stooge company Owens on 30 November 2007 explicitly sets out the framework for collusion with CCSL:

‘Hi [an individual acting on behalf of Owens] as per our telephone conversation today, I will be supplying your name to PMSL [Peverel] to supply an alternative tender as they require two quotes to put to the residents for all upgrades. You will then receive a tender pack from [a PMSL Senior Administrator]. I will email you our prices the day the tender lands with me, so that you can get out your price, if you can put in a higher cost than ours, i.e. 5%, 10%, 20% etc but vary it each time so it doesn’t look suspicious.’

On p.67 para 5.54: ‘ Moreover, it appears that over time CCSL developed a mechanism, to avoid residents getting suspicious, of delivering the work through a contractor who had not submitted the competing bid.

On this point, the OFT’s file contains a meeting note from March 2007, which records a meeting on 28 February 2007 between Cirrus, representatives of stooge companies Jackson and O’Rourke and others.

The meeting note records: ‘A brief discussion took place regarding Peverel and a senior Cirrus employee reiterated the importance of ensuring that tenders are returned on a timely basis.

Also, “Cirrus need to ensure that whenever possible, the sub-contractor carrying out the work on site is not the same sub-contractor who provides the alternative tender”.

In para 5.55: In her witness interview with OFT officials a Cirrus administrator explained that this system was implemented by the competing bidder for contracts being located in a distinct geographic area from the property which was the subject matter of the bid, with northern based contractors being asked to submit a bid for southern based tenders and southern based contractors would be nominated to bid for contracts in the north.

A Cirrus employee explained how Cirrus decided which contractor to nominate to Peverel to avoid ‘the residents getting suspicious’.

 

Related posts:

Guardian examines the Peverel / Cirrus price-fixing scandal tomorrow No change over Cirrus retirement scam, says Entwistle, although Peverel leaves an open goal for compo claims OFT will report on the Peverel / Cirrus price-fixing scandal on Friday Peverel given clean bill of health by ARMA – just as it admitted Cirrus was cheating pensioners with bogus tenders Cut out the nonsense and pay up for Peverel cheating! Cabinet minister tells Entwistle

Category: FirstPort, News, Peverel Cirrus story so far

Latest Tweets

Tweets by @LKPleasehold

Mentions

Anthony Essien (34) APPG (36) ARMA (86) Bellway (30) Benjamin Mire (32) Cladding scandal (70) Clive Betts MP (31) CMA (42) Commonhold (50) Competition and Markets Authority (37) Countryside Properties plc (32) FirstPort (37) Forfeiture (29) Grenfell cladding (55) Ground rents (51) James Brokenshire MP (31) Jim Fitzpatrick (35) Jim Fitzpatrick MP (30) Justin Bates (38) Justin Madders MP (62) Katie Kendrick (35) Law Commission (59) LEASE (66) Leasehold Advisory Service (62) Leasehold houses (32) Long Harbour (44) Martin Boyd (78) McCarthy and Stone (39) National Leasehold Campaign (38) Persimmon (49) Peverel (61) Property tribunal (49) Redrow (29) Retirement (37) Robert Jenrick (33) Roger Southam (47) Sajid Javid (38) Sebastian O’Kelly (55) Sir Peter Bottomley (196) Taylor Wimpey (104) Tchenguiz (33) The Guardian (32) The Times (31) Vincent Tchenguiz (40) Waking watch contracts (40)
Previous Post: « OFT leasehold management inquiry includes housing associations and council properties – and will report in September
Next Post: Bottomley questions Tchenguiz leasehold interests in the Commons »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lesley Newnham

    March 5, 2014 at 11:23 am

    Very impressive video where Cirrus suggests it has an ‘open book policy’ towards pricing, provides a service ‘we would want in our own homes’ and having their own workshop are able to repair long after the manufacturers have withdrawn from sale!!

    Pity they don’t DO what it says on the tin!

  2. AM

    March 6, 2014 at 9:50 am

    This is as I described it weeks ago, before the report was issued, a classic exampl;e of a ring.

  3. LV

    March 6, 2014 at 4:00 pm

    I don’t understand why the OFT has taken so long to reach this point. This doesn’t just apply to retirement homes; it’s just business-as-usual by immoral freeholders operating through owned or ‘stooge’ agents, and it’s common knowledge. It’s amazing that repair quotes become so much more competitive, and the quality so much better, when leaseholders band together to achieve RTM and RTE.

Primary Sidebar

Above Footer

Advising leaseholders. Avoiding disasters.
Stopping forfeiture. Exposing abuses. Urging reform.

We depend on individuals for the majority of our funding.

Support Us and Donate

LKP Managing Agents

Become an LKP Managing Agent

Common Ground
Adam Church
Blocnet property management2

Stay in Touch

To achieve victory in the leasehold game where you are playing against professionals and with rules that they know all too well - stay informed with the LKP newsletter.
Sign Up for Newsletter

Professional Directory

The following advertisements are from firms that seek business from leaseholders.
Click on the logos for company profiles.

Footer

About LKP

  • What is LKP
  • Privacy and data

Categories

  • News
  • Cladding scandal
  • Commonhold
  • Law Commission
  • Fleecehold
  • Parliament
  • Press
  • APPG

Contact

Leasehold Knowledge Partnership
Open Data Institute
5th Floor
Kings Place
London N1 9AG

sok@leaseholdknowledge.com

Copyright © 2022 Leasehold Knowledge Partnership | All rights reserved
Leasehold Knowledge Partnership Limited (company number: 08999652) is a company limited by guarantee that is a registered charity (number: 1162584) with the Charities Commission.
LKP website is hosted at no charge by www.34sp.com
Website by Callia Web