Garton-Jones estate agents amazing deal with Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association – FREE advertising on the CBW app

For over two years, Garton-Jones estate agents has enjoyed an amazing deal with the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association for exclusive use of the ‘estate agent’ page on the Chelsea Bridge Wharf app for FREE.

The CBW app, which was commissioned in 2021 at an annual cost of around £8,000, is a private social media community only open to leaseholders and residents of Chelsea Bridge Wharf and currently has around 1200 users (there are 1,150 apartments at Chelsea Bridge Wharf and an estimated population of 2,500). It is understood that the deal with Garton-Jones estate agent gives them exclusive use of the ‘estate agent’ page on the app, advertising properties which Garton-Jones is selling or letting. How much do Garton Jones pay for this privilege? ZERO!

According to notes of a Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association committee meeting the cost to Garton-Jones estate agent WAS just £504 (five hundred and four) pounds a year. But at some point around 2021, and without resident consultation, the £504 charge was scrapped and Garton-Jones were charged no fee whatsoever. This is interesting given that Garton-Jones’ 1.75% commission on a single apartment sale (at say £600,000) would be worth £10,500. Why was this fee scrapped? Who made that decision?

Expressions of interest in buying the CBW app estate agent advertising slot from at least one other major estate agent have apparently been ignored, which to my mind is extremely worrying. The value of the advertising can only be determined by market testing/competition. It is not in residents’ interest to continue to give this advertising to Garton-Jones estate agent at what seems like an extremely cheap rate.

Chris Garston, manager of Garton-Jones Chelsea Bridge Wharf controversially and inappropriately intervened in the recent Chair elections at Chelsea Bridge Wharf (February 2023) and strongly advised its 500 or so ownership list (leaseholders who let their apartments via Garton-Jones) not to vote for the candidate who had promised to review this sweetheart deal between Garton-Jones and CBWRA but to vote for Larissa Villar Hauser and Louis Sebastian Kendall who are apparently support this arrangement on the advertising. Mr Garston also sent his client list a survey link and it is not clear if this was with the permission of CBWRA or not.

At the (failed) CBWRA AGM in May 2023, I proposed a motion that the CBW app advertising slots (especially the estate agent advertising) be put out to tender. This motion was not voted on as the meeting was inquorate (insufficient numbers attending) and was not mentioned in the meeting notes. CBWRA then claimed that they were looking into generating advertising revenue from the app (what a remarkable coincidence) and equally predictably they have now dropped that idea (notes from the committee meeting 11.6.23) claiming that there is a lack of advertiser interest.

A member of the CBWRA committee stated at meeting in May 2023 that if CBWRA allowed another estate agent on the CBW app estate agent slot (such as Knight Frank) then Garton-Jones would not assist the Right to Manage process at CBW, through sharing their database (their leaseholder clients at CBW) with CBWRA. I do not know if that is true, but if so it seems extraordinary.

No data is available on how many sales or lettings are generated for Garton-Jones estate agent via the app but even if it is only one sale a year then this deal does not seem like good value for the residents of Chelsea Bridge Wharf.

Mr Charlie Garton-Jones (a founder and I believe a shareholder in Garton-Jones estate agent) was a member of the CBWRA committee until January 2022 and apparently remains a member of its ‘oversight committee’. He has stated that he was not involved in negotiating the fee for the use of the estate agent page on the CBW app. The CBWRA committee have also highlighted that Garton-Jones estate agents makes (unspecified) donations to CBWRA committee social events but since only a handful of people attend these, the majority of residents get no benefit from such donations.

My CBW app account remains closed, apparently because I drew attention to the incorrect advice which CBWRA was giving residents in saying that Right to Manage was not possible (clearly I was correct as CBWRA are now pursuing Right to Manage, albeit in after 2.5 wasted years and in an extremely undemocratic way.

No improper or illegal conduct is alleged or implied but it would seem that the deal with Garton-Jones estate agent is not great value from a resident’s point of view, to say the least. We need to get market testing/competitive tenders to establish the value of the estate agent page on the CBW app. so that residents can be sure they are getting as much revenue as they should for this and all app advertising. Whether or not Garton-Jones want to share their database with CBWRA for Right to Manage should not be a factor in this process.