Hacking and Paterson Management Services Reviews 259

When my mum had water damage in her flat I spoke to Alastair Buchanan who arranged a roof repair quickly and also sorted out the necessary details to let me sort her insurance claim. Thank you for your kindness and great help, credit where it’s due!

Matt from Hacking and Paterson Management Services was extremely helpful when a large tree fell in the communal garden of the property. Could not have wished for better service dealing with insurance etc.

This communication is for Team Leader Hannah Rowlands.

Hannah, when I wrote to HPMS Data Protection Officer I clearly identified in my email I was making a Subject Access Request (SAR) to obtain my original call recording made from 00357 95957848 to 0141 248 5693 on 14 June 2018. My original call recording is protected from processing to ensure it is available as evidence by my initial restriction of processing verbally placed on 11 December 2018, my dispute with Alexandra O'Donnell as to the content of the phone call of 14 June 2018 on 12 December 2018 automatically restricted processing and of course my written restriction of processing I placed an hour or so after Director Gordon Buchanan provided me with a heavily edited and unfaithful version of the recording on 25 July 2019 to avoid a very expensive loss as a result HPMS incompetence. Three times I placed a restriction of processing to ensure I could obtain my original personal to resolve my dispute. Furthermore I sought to obtain the call recording in its original WAV file format with AES 256bit encryption which would ensure I could obtain the true duration of the call recording from the metadata. This would allow me to demonstrate how much of my call recording had been edited from the unfaithful partial reproduction of my recording which HPMS provided me encapsulated in an MP3 file which not surprisingly has been stripped of the tamperproof encryption protecting the original WAV file recording from unlawful editing.

Hannah, you responded to my SAR to obtain my WAV file recording by telling me a SAR is only an enquiry and declined to provide my original call recording despite the fact I obtained a Court Order to receive it. The fact I did not receive my true original call recording has consequences. SARs are protected by GDPR, DPA 2018, EUCFR and ECHR. Please evidence a lawful ruling which allows a data controller to reclassify SARs as enquiries. As far as I am aware HPMS do not have the authority to change law. You can either respond by replying to this review or you can unblock my email address and write to me directly.

The Court of Justice of the European Union case
C-487/21 ruled a 'copy' of personal data in the context of Article 15(3) of the GDPR means a faithful and intelligible complete reproduction of all the personal data. To be faithful a call recording would need to be provided upon locating it pursuant to DPA 2018 Section 45(3), that is to say as soon as it was located on 12 December 2018. Director Gordon Buchanan emailed me on 18 July 2019 to let me know he would need a further week before being in a position to provide me with a 'copy' of my call recording. Editing obviously taking slightly longer than expected. In the end it only took 225 days for HPMS to provide me with an edited version of my call recording to avoid a loss of their own making.

Looking forward to receiving your prompt response explaining why a SAR is an enquiry and not a lawful obligation.

I’d give zero stars if I could. Trying to charge me £250 for selling my property. Trying to said it’s an administration fee? For doing what? THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING. Absolutely DISGUSTING! The company is a complete disgrace. I will be fighting it all the way and asking for a breakdown of why they are trying to charge me £250 since they think it’s acceptable to send a bill just saying ‘admin fee’ I Will be asking for a full breakdown of what they are doing to justify £250? Anyone else had this problem with them? I’m ready to take it all the way and start a petition/go to the media.

This company is a disgrace. The "service" they provide us is shambolic, and yet they have very graciously awarded themselves a 97% increase in their "management" fees over a 5yr period - more than 3 times the rate of inflation - despite the fact I wouldn't trust them to manage to hold a door open!

Their emails are patronising, condescending and completely unhelpful. On many occassions they have provided blatantly false information like telling us a contractor had been to attend an issue on a specific date/time when they clearly hadn't, and doubling down when you call them out. They take word of their contractor over homeowners.

It has been brought to light that they do no validation with contractors invoices. In our case, 32 front lawns should have been cut, contractor claimed they cut 37 and that was passed to homeowners without ANY checks. This is fraud.

Furthermore, they have admitted that the appointed "gardeners" in our area are actually landscaper and then take ZERO responsibility when these contractors cause damage to areas.

They cannot grasp the difference between responsibility and accountability - mistakes are never, ever their fault despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary.

In communication with myself they have claimed "no other homeowner has raised issues" overlooking the fact I talk to many people in our estate and this is a clear lie. The exact opposite is true!!

They are so utterly shambolic that when I raised the prospect of removing them with our community, within 5 days I had a response from 95% of homeowners - every single one in favour.

So we will shortly be free of them and I am very much looking forward to them making a shambles of that too, and ultimately forcing me to drag them before a first tier tribunal at the Housing and Property Chamber where their blatant and repeated failures and breaches of the Property Factor Code of Conduct will have a compensation number put on it. A large compensation number.

Most unfortunately they are a company that I am convinced NO ONE would opt to deal with by choice, their incompetence forced upon many of us by developers who have likely received financial incentive from H&P to win contracts. But YOU CAN get out.... there will be a way. And despite what they claim, they are legally obliged to tell you exactly how to remove them.

For those that need a property factor, there are many, many, many better options out there than H&P.

Our experience with Hacking & Paterson has been nothing short of shocking. This is a company that seems to operate with complete disregard for its customers, the very people who pay them.

From the outset, we have had to chase them constantly just to get even the most basic work carried out. They do not take initiative, they do not follow through, and they certainly do not provide the service they promise. When communication does come, it is almost always in the form of condescending, dismissive emails, designed to belittle rather than assist.

On top of their appalling communication, we have been charged for work that was never discussed, never consulted on, and never approved. Bills appear out of nowhere with no transparency or accountability. When challenged, they always have an excuse — a new story each time, never an actual resolution.

Customer service is effectively non-existent. They do not answer questions directly, they do not take responsibility, and they do not care about the communities they are supposed to serve. The overall impression is of a company completely out of touch with its obligations, happy to collect money while doing as little as possible in return.

Their service has been so poor, so utterly unacceptable, that our estate is now actively pursuing options to terminate their contract. More than that, due to the repeated failures, the lack of consultation, and the questionable billing practices, we are exploring legal avenues to hold them to account. It should never have come to this, but their conduct leaves us with no choice.

Hacking & Paterson present themselves as a professional factoring company, but our experience tells a very different story: unreliable, unaccountable, unprofessional, and deeply disrespectful to their paying customers.

If you are considering using them, think very carefully. Our estate is in unanimous agreement — they are an absolute shambles of an organisation, who should quite frankly, wrap up and find something they are good at.

H and P charged me £250 when I sold my property."To reflect the additional administration involved in dealing with the sales process, including the apportionment of common charges between the seller and purchaser, we charge an additional administration fee to the selling party." Totally unacceptable in my opinion. I did not have the energy to dispute this.

Wrong bills on the H&P Quarterly Bills.

Anyone else in a "Flatted Block Development" with more than one Block with several flats in each Block receiving bills from H&P that are not for your Block.

We cant be the only Development suffering from this !!.

Its only when H&P introduced the Portal we got to see an actual copy of individual bills showing details that we where able to confirm its not for our Block.

Now we wonder - did it happen before the introduction of the Portal ?
How would we know ?

This lot repeatedly send confusing invoices designed to confuse clients,
I keep getting demands for payments that I dont owe and call them to sort it out,
They then tell me to ignore demands as I owe nothing, Then send red letters
SHOCKING COMPANY. They were MAIN reason for me selling my apartment, just to get rid of them.

Fantastic service from the team and Sarah. Tbh we had an issue with our internal hallway fire detection system. Non operational lift door operation once detection was activated. We received our first quote it seemed exceptionally over priced and not in line with the repair requirements. All x 6 residents questioned it and straight away H&P took our objections seriously and arranged another quote. That’s the service and respect you need. It turned out to be a quarter of the price and fixed in days not weeks. We moved away from our first factor because of a horrendous 8 month wait on repairs. We’ve been delighted so far with H&P so keep up the great work.

I moved house in March 2025. Weeks later I was billed with a £250 apportionment fee which is apparently a fee for moving house for them to transfer details of the properties ownership. I was made aware that this was a new thing that they had introduced, however I was completely unaware of this.I disputed this payment for weeks/months, however after numerous emails and phone calls I got absolutely no where and ended up paying it due to threatening letters stating that if I failed to make the payment debt collectors would attend at my property. I had requested to speak with a senior manager to discuss the matter and I’m still waiting. Yesterday they got in touch again ( 5 months later) and said I still owed 51p. For anyone who pays factors to Hacking and Paterson just be careful because they clearly take you for every penny. I wouldn’t normally post a review on a page but the service was a disgrace and i felt it was only right to say something.

The poorest of service from this factor. Hidden fees, dishonesty, shitty attitude, no explanation. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

Getting random bills getting charged £150 exiting fee when moving off estate so they can keep your deposit adding 2 or 3 months bills together and adding all up together even bills that have been paid and charging vat on bills that don’t even add up.
An absolute disgrace of a company and buyers should be made aware of this it not all rosey.

I alerted Hacking and Paterson that the lift in our building was not functioning and it was repaired the same day.
Excellent service.

HPMS, I suspect you have blocked my emails again so I will communicate through Trustpilot.

It is not disputed that in response to my Court Order for my original call recordings Director Gordon Buchanan provided the same disputed as edited digital copies provided 225 days after locating and editing my call recording sought by my initial SAR but certified he provided my original call recordings. Oak Innovation finally confirmed an original call recording is encapsulated in a WAV file which has tamperproof 256bit AES encryption. Director Gordon Buchanan infringed my personal data rights and created an availability breach which to date remains un reported.

As per my previous instructions, you are to continue to restrict my original call recordings from processing to ensure they are available as evidence as we are going back to Court to allow me to obtain the evidence I require to prove you edited a call recording to avoid a loss, have me pay the cost of your error then attempted to gaslight me.

I hope to be finished with the ICO by 5 August 2025 after which I will seek to enforce my personal data rights.

You know exactly who I am, GLW-B615-21 refers.

Terrible company, poor repairs, poor comms, over charge for everything and not to be trusted

I owned a flat managed by H&P for nearly 25 years. They are not good, friendly but useless. Often repairs aren't done properly or quickly and they have no interest in helping owners to resolve problems if it takes any effort. Avoid.

We have H&P as one of our factors in our estate which was instructed by the house builders for them to appoint a company to carry out factoring duties, sounds great in theory!!

For 5 years we have had problems with them, grass not being cut, not cut on a regular basis and also not fulfilling their contractural responsibilities. Phone calls and emails are met with excuses such as ‘managers are not available’ or everyone seems to be ‘new in post’. We are even directed to the H&P portal which is empty with no up-to-date information but they are quite happy to invoice you and take your money.

I have questioned the hefty management fee, asking how regular site visits occur and I was met with no response, it appears that they expect you to raise any concerns, which in my experience are dismissed. Management fees should be to manage a contract, the work being carried out ensuring that the service is to a good standard.

I am aware of many other homeowners who have also complained and now H&P are trying to say after 5 years the work in question belongs to the local council, the council don’t know anything about this, another shocking mis-communication it appears?

Given that at the time of posting this review 77% of reviews are one star, it really speaks for itself, I had to place a one star to post this review. Hoping that H&P read such reviews.

Very expensive for very little in return! Numerous issues have been raised with the company from our development, inc having an owners meeting with them locally…this could only happen during work hours which meant very few owners could attend and we were charged for the privilege!
No price transparency even though owners have asked for a breakdown of costs