The Orwellian World of the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association

In my view, The Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association (CBWRA) misinformed residents about the law regarding Right to Manage, stating that the supreme Court judgement of First Port v Settlers Court prevents Right to Manage at Chelsea Bridge Wharf. However, independent advice clearly shows that this judgement has NO RELEVANCE to Right to Manage at Chelsea Bridge Wharf. NB I do not claim there was any intent to misinform, nonetheless the advice given would appear to be incorrect.

Right to Manage for the whole development IS therefore possible, indeed it is the only way that residents can gain the right to choose the managing agent for the development.

CBWRA concede that here has been little or no improvement from Rendall and Rittner (committee meeting notes)

CBWRA continue to censor opposing views and discussion on Right to Manage on the CBW app and apparently do not plan to consult residents

My CBW app account was closed for supposed ‘misleading’ information. No evidence was provided – no investigation or appeal occurred. The email closing my account had a letter attached from Roger Southam, stating that ‘Right to Manage (RTM) is now not a feasible option for Chelsea Bridge Wharf’. i..e CBWRA were saying that RTM was not possible at CBW and this letter from Roger Southam was the supposed proof. For me to insist that Right to Manage WAS possible was termed ‘misinformation’ and this supposedly justified the permanent closure my CBW app account. No information or evidence was supplied regarding the supposed ‘repeated breaches of the community guidelines’

It appears that stating the simple fact that retendering the management contract would fail (which it has) and that Right to Manage was the only way forward is ‘misinformation’ and that such judgements can be made without any due process or discussion, no right of appeal.

In 2022, The CBWRA committee are banned from making complaints or petitions against Rendall and Rittner (CBWRA committee meeting notes, September 2021)

Since January 2021 there has been ONE meeting between CBWRA and residents (May 2022) and two meetings between Rendall and Rittner and residents (Dec 2021 and October 2022).

Residents were promised recordings of the meeting with Rendall and Rittner in December 2021 and the failed AGM in May 2022 but these have not been produced for either meeting.

Only leaseholders (not residents more generally) may attend CBWRA monthly committee meetings but only as mute observers – they cannot ask questions or comment. Attendance is only in person (no online access) which makes it much harder for leaseholders to join the meetings (especially those with a disability, those who have caring responsibilities, those who are not able to work from home or those who do not live at Chelsea Bridge Wharf or even in the UK (a significant proportion of leaseholders at CBW are landlords who live outside London or live abroad),

I understand The meeting room used for committee meeting only allows for 3 to 4 residents to attend (although given that they are not allowed to speak, there is not high demand to attend).

No recordings of the CBWRA committee meetings are available to residents, and sometimes no notes are produced. Residents are not allowed to join the meeting remotely/by zoom etc. The location of the meeting is not announced until the day of the meeting. A ‘transcript’ is provided usually a 3-4 weeks after the meeting. This is odd given that a transcript takes only a few days to produce.

No quorate AGM has ever been held

No statement of the number of members has ever been given

CBWRA states that it does not have list of its members

Service charges continue to increase massively and way beyond inflation – neither CBWRA or Rendall and Rittner have given any credible explanation for these shocking increases

The ”management audit” of service charge accounts promised by CBWRA in January 2022 did not materialise until Jan 2023 and the CBWRA committee refused many requests for the initial report to be shared. This is not in any case be a management audit but apparently a superficial audit of ‘big ticket’ items in the service charge accounts, led by someone who is not an accountant and who is being paid £250 an hour

The vote on options for the fountains (e.g. filling some of them in) which was promised for September 2022 appears to have been quietly forgotten.

CBWRA are continuing to ignore their own constitution by making changes to it at the request of Berkeley Homes, and not having these approved at an AGM

No one on the CBWRA committee has been elected (apart from the Chair)

Residents who are not leaseholders (i.e. tenants or family members of leaseholders) are not allowed to join the committee, not allowed to attend committee meetings and as there are no elections they cannot vote for a representative either and thus are totally disenfranchised

Does this sound like a well governed democratic organisation? Or more like the opposite of that? i.e. Orwellian. Residents may judge for themselves. All thoughts and feedback welcome.