Right to Manage Contract with Urang was not approved by CBWRA Committee
The contract with Urang to prepare the Right to Manage application for Chelsea Bridge Wharf , and to take over as managing agent if the application is successful, was not approved by the CBWRA committee (according to CBWRA committee meeting notes 24.9.23) and has not been seen by residents. Continuing the secretive and undemocratic culture of the last 2.5 years, the contract was apparently only seen by the ‘co chairs’ and a ‘solicitor’?. Is this the same legal genius who told residents for over 2 years that Right to Manage was not possible and accused those who said otherwise, of misleading residents? We should be told. The contract is not between CBWRA and Urang in fact but between Urang and the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Right to Manage Company, which was founded in 2012 in an earlier and abandoned attempt at Right to Manage and whose registered address is The Garton-Jones estate agents (3 Oswald Building). This company holds all CBWRA funds in bank accounts under the name of the RTM company. The directors of this company, which in effect runs the CBWRA, are not elected. It is clear that going forward, the CBWRA committee (which is not noted for its powers of independent thought or scrutiny in any case) can be bypassed on important decisions through the use of the RTM company.
It is worth noting that the CBWRA committee member who raised the issue of the contract with Urang not coming through the CBWRA committee was shortly afterwards appointed as a director of the RTM company.
Residents and committee members have often complained that they could not see the contract between the freeholder and the current agent (Rendall and Rittner) but now apparently we cannot see the contract between the CBW RTM company and Urang. Why not? Why would the CBWRA committee not be allowed to see and approve the contract? If there is nothing to hide why not simply allow residents and committee to see it, i.e. normal, democratic transparent governance.
The notes from the CBWRA committee meeting of 24 Sep, show that just 8 committee members attended (?out of 16?) and only one of those not attending sent apologies. Only 3 committee members attended the ‘Leaseholder forum’ in October. The notes from the September Committee meeting are around 750 words in total, barely more than one side of A4. for an hour long meeting. Residents are not allowed to attend committee meetings.
I call on the CBWRA RTM company/CBWRA committee to make the contract with Urang available to residents who wish to see it. I call on them to stop this culture of secrecy, to break with the highly dysfunctional culture of the last 2.5 years and to behave in a more transparent way. Right to Manage is important but if residents do not have control of the process then we have only won half the battle. It is essential that residents can see for themselves terms on which Urang have been engaged. This should have happened BEFORE the contract was signed.