A “Customer Research Meeting” organised by Peverel is to take place next Monday (June 11) in Westminster, with one earlier in the day in Solihul.
The move is the initiative of chief executive Janet Entwistle, who joined the company three months ago after it was bought for £60 million by venture capitalists.
Entwistle is eager to be seen engaging with customers and critics in order to improve the image of the controversial property manager, which was named in Parliament two months ago and has been buffeted by a string of Leasehold Valuation Tribunal rulings.
It has also been dumped by the Berkeley Group, Barratt and even McCarthy & Stone, the pioneers of retirement living who turned Peverel from a Bournemouth estate agency into a multimillion pound business.
Entwistle has also invited Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation and even the pugnacious, nameless chorus on TTAS (http://www.thetruthaboutsolitaire.co.uk/) to meet with her, although it is unclear whether either would be welcome to turn up to these meetings.
In an effort to brush up its act, the meetings mark a change from the old wheeze of hiding behind ARHM and ARMA (it is the biggest single contributor), signing feeble codes of conduct and making flatulent proclamations about “transparency”.
In the past, Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation has declined meeting Peverel executives, simply to be told that black is white, or a circle is a square.
The most important improvement since the company was bought by obscure venture capitalists is that it is no longer owned by one of the country’s largest landlords (Tchenguiz), whose interests Peverel so assiduously served, as LVT rulings make clear.
But this is by no means a guaranteed permanent state of affairs and the old Peverel politburo is still in place, which is why Campaign against retirement leasehold exploitation is so wary of having dealings with the company.
The meeting is at 7.30pm at the Thistle Hotel Westminster, 49 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 0QT.
More details: http://www.peverel.co.uk/news/customer-research
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