Leasehold/Commonhold reforms unlikely to happen before next general election – LKP exclusive interview with former leasehold and building safety minister Stephen Greenhalgh

The reforms which CBWRA maintained for 2 years were just around the corner are unlikely to materialise

Throughout 2021 while on the CBWRA committee, attempts to discuss Right to Manage in committee meetings were quickly shut down, by the former Chair Stephen Thompson and Charlie Garton-Jones (unelected committee member). The repeated claim was that leasehold reforms were just around the corner and we would be unable to take Right to Manage forward before such reforms. As the meeting transcripts show, I said at the time that this was wrong, that these reforms might well not happen at all in the current parliament and certainly were not imminent. This interview with Greenhalgh suggest that these reforms will not happen in the current parliament, or indeed the next one. So CBWRA wasted 2021 with regard to Right to Manage and most of 2022 was wasted on an attempted contract retendering process which failed and was never likely to succeed (only one of the freeholders, Fairhold Artemis, was obliged to take part and so the others including Berkeley Homes, would have needed to participate voluntary – there is no reason why they would ever have done that).

In May 2022 CBWRA closed my CBW app account and sent residents a newsletters stating in unequivocal terms that Right to Manage was not possible and that I was misleading residents for saying that it was possible! In fact of course it was CBWRA who were misinforming residents as proven in the independent advice I obtained for Canonbury.

This newsletter also stated that, following these legislative reforms which were supposedly imminent, CBWRA were planning to buy the freehold of Chelsea Bridge Wharf. This is completely unrealistic (even if legislation made it easier) as it would cost tens of millions of pounds and most likely take several years. many leaseholders would not be able to afford to contribute their share of the cost or would not wish to. This idea seems to have quietly been dropped – or has it? It’s hard to tell given the confused and contradictory positions of CBWRA, regarding Right to Manage and related matters.

CBWRA say they now accept that Right to Manage is possible and claim to be pursuing it, although there has been no meaningful attempt to engage residents with the process as far as I am aware, so the prospect of getting 50% of leaseholders signed up for Right to Manage seems distant: at the moment CBWRA cannot even demonstrate that they have 50% of leaseholders as CBWRA members and hence Berkeley Homes has said they will derecognise CBWRA.

CBWRA also claimed in December 2022 that they were getting three legal opinions on whether Right to Manage could be taken forward for the whole development or block by block. Where is that advice?

CBWRA Chair/committee have never explained why they told residents (for 2 years) that Right to Manage was not possible, or why they apparently did a 180 degree change of position. No apology has ever been made to me or other residents for the wasted time and money.

In the two years since CBWRA was reactivated by myself and other residents I am sorry to have to say that service charges have soared (the latest increase being 49% for myself , a Warwick leaseholder) and the standard of service has not really changed significantly. No meaningful attempt has been made to consult or engage with residents apart from the residents’ survey which I carried out in summer 2021 and there is no evidence of any of the findings for that survey having been acted on.

The former Chair also strongly resisted a management audit of Rendall and Rittner for the best part of 2 years on the basis that it would damage the ‘collegiate relationship’ with Rendall and Rittner. Some sort of initial audit of service charge accounts/spending was carried out in late 2022 but CBWRA refuses to share this with residents or even to tell them what the findings are (although most of us know already). This is a decision which the current co-chairs have made/continued so it seems that following the recent unfair Chair elections there is no change in the culture of the CBWRA committee – they have also stated that they cannot afford / do not have the time to take the audit forward which is extraordinary given that around £6,000 has already been spent on the initial analysis/ report. I suggest that residents would be happy to pay for taking the audit forward but they are not being consulted or offered a vote on this. CBWRA could also offset the cost of audit by market testing the value of CBW app advertising especially in relation to the estate agent advertising which is being sold exclusively to Garton-Jones estate agent for just £504 a year, which does not seem good value for residents in my opinion. Market testing is needed to establish the value of this and other advertising. At least one other estate agent has expressed an interest many months ago but did not get a reply from CBWRA.

What a shame that so much time has been wasted and continues to be wasted. Certainly there are external factors such as high inflation and massive increase in energy costs, but with another managing agent (or directly managing the development ourselves) I am sure we could have avoided a large chunk of the current increases.

Sadly we still have no timescale for Right to Manage and no evidence of meaningful engagement with residents towards that. The CBWRA culture of not consulting residents and giving sporadic and confusing communications to residents continues, as does the policy of silencing meaningful debate through closure of CBW app account.