Right to Manage stalled again – just days before Chair election results. CBWRA claim Berkeley Homes to retender the management contract at Chelsea Bridge Wharf – Berkeley Homes say they have not made the decision yet.

• CBWRA announced that Berkeley Homes would retender the management contract but Berkeley Homes are clear they have not made the decision yet and would not do so before Chair elections complete
• Therefore in my view it seems CBWRA may have made this announcement with the intention of influencing Chair elections
• If the process does go ahead:
• Residents will not choose new agent – Berkeley Homes will be in charge of the process
• Rendall and Rittner will be allowed to bid and may be reappointed
• Right to Manage at the very least delayed by many months and may not happen at all (unless you vote for me!)
• No resident consultation on this decision

It seems that once again Right to Manage has been kicked a long way down the road, and without any resident consultation, and the timing of this announcement suggests at the very least a disregard for the Chair election process.

Residents may recall that the key difference between retendering the management contract and Right to Manage is that the former does NOT give us hire and fire rights over the managing agent – in a simple retendering process that right remains with the freeholder. So we will not necessarily be better off after retendering, residents will not choose the new agent and in fact Rendall and Rittner may remain the agent (it has been confirmed that they will be allowed to bid).

If you want Right to Manage, vote Mike O’Driscoll. I will continue to prepare the ground for RTM and continue with it as soon as possible after the retendering process. Those who have made this move have shown a complete lack of respect for the clear wish of residents for Right to Manage as soon as possible.

At the meeting of candidates for CBWRA Chair and residents at Scott House, BPS (25.2.23) the current Chair of CBWRA said that ‘retendering of the management contract’ was ‘imminent’ and claimed that he/CBWRA had negotiated this with Berkeley Homes on the back of the recent incident when a new R & R employee (estate manager) was found to have a criminal record for fraud and was dismissed (or moved on).  In fact when I checked with Berkley Homes they said they had not been effected by any lobbying from CBWRA but were considering retendering the management contract.

But why would CBWRA want to support retendering the management contract now, just before CBWRA Chair election results, where all candidates stated they are committed to Right to Manage?

Retendering the management contract would likely take two months at least. It is not clear if Rendall and Rittner will be allowed to bid for re-appointment or whether they are excluded from the process. CBWRA will only be able to nominate one agent to be included in the retender process. Which ever agent is appointed (which could be Rendall and Rittner) they will still be answering to the freeholder.

If a new managing agent is appointed in say 2 months this would potentially hamper Right to Manage, as the appetite/rationale for a further change of agent at the end of a Right to Manage process would be reduced. It would probably mean that the agent appointed after retendering would have a big advantage when we get to the end of the RTM process as they will already be in place and they would presumably have to be appointed for a minimum of 6 months. 

What will the role of residents, if any, be in the retendering process, if it happens?  

This seems very odd timing, just days from voting results in Chair elections and may potentially influence the result of the election (since it may lead residents to think, incorrectly, that RTM is now less important)  complicate, delay or block a Right to Manage process. 

Residents have not been consulted on whether CBWRA should be pursuing retendering or should instead simply pursue Right to Manage. It is very notable that there was a similar ‘sudden development’ just days before the Chair elections in January 2022 – when CBWRA announced that it was pursuing retendering of the management contract (sound familiar?). The difference here is that BH are allegedly on board for retendering the management contract, but they were not (and were never likely to be) on board with the process started by CBWRA in January 2022. So retendering might now be viable (as it will be led by Berkeley Homes it seems), but is it the best choice? I do hope that residents are not going to be sold another turkey, and have it locked in by the Chair on his way out, just before an election, and possibly tie the hands of whoever is elected as Chair in just over a week’s time.

The meeting of Chair candidates and residents on 25.2.23 was really enjoyable (apart from a slightly sad buzz kill at the end where the Chair (in my view) tried to pursue his personal agenda against Mike O’Driscoll and was rightly told off for doing so by residents) and there was much useful exchange of ideas, and residents supporting each other.

Apparently the recording of the meeting (which was made without explicit consent from residents or announcing the purpose of the recording) was not successful because of ‘poor wifi connection’. Most phones do not need wi-fi to record so don’t quite understand that but anyway…

This was a rare opportunity at CBW given that meetings between CBWRA committee and residents are almost non existent, if you exclude the right (for leaseholders only) to attend committee meetings as mute observers. It is a shame we cannot have more such meetings – if I am elected I will make sure that we do, as greatly increased consultation and engagement with residents is a major part of my manifesto.