Omnishambles: The current CBWRA committee are not fit to lead, in my view and we need genuine elections now
The serving of the RTM notice on the freeholders is very welcome, albeit 2 years late and coming from people (Larisa Villar Hauser and Louis Sebastian Kendall) who were until recently telling residents that Right to Manage was not possible and calling those who supported RTM liars and closing their CBW app accounts without any process. However, residents should be aware that the Right to Manage process has only just started and there is a long way to go. Most importantly, if we do not have a democratically elected and accountable residents’ association and Right to Manage company, which follows the rules, then residents are unlikely to see any benefit from Right to Manage. CBWRA is currently run in a profoundly undemocratic and unaccountable way in my view and is in effect a small cabal of 4 or 5 people who have little regard for the constitution, consultation, accountability or democracy. The latest example of this autocratic banana republic behaviour is the unilateral decision to suspend the elections for Chair of the CBWRA which are due NOW. CBWRA have also stated that the Directors of the Right to Manage company, which will have total control over a £5 million service charge budget (i,e, leaseholders money) if Right to Manage is successful, will not be elected. Even when Chair elections are held they have been conducted in the most disgraceful way, which is worthy of any sham democracy/rogue state. Furthermore, the current CBWRA committee (which in reality is about 5 people) have made some very bad decisions about how they manage and spend the CBWRA subscriptions fees leading to a decline in the CBWRA bank balance from around 27K to 5k in two years. There is also a lack of transparency with no meaningful account of income and expenditure being published. Then there is a refusal to apply the rules when committee members engage in conduct which is clearly unacceptable by any standard. One committee member has been the subject of 4 police complaints to the best of my knowledge yet remains on the committee and as a Director of the Right to Manage company. This person and other committee members have engaged in what I and most people would consider to be serious online bullying (which is well documented in a library of screenshots) and which prevents any meaningful questions or discussion on the CBW app, where there is a culture of fear which has led to the complete disengagement of many residents.
On the 15th January I wrote a letter of complaint to the CBWRA chairs and Secretary (Katherine Greenaway) about the misconduct of the 2023 Chair elections and the matters referred to above. You can read that letter here. Despite numerous chases, by recorded delivery letter and email, up to the current time (21st February) I have not received even an acknowledgment of this letter from the Chairs or the Secretary, Katherine Greenaway which underlines, in my view, how out of control the CBWRA committee are and how they think themselves above the rules. Complaints about even the most serious matters are simply ignored. No doubt this is how they will continue to conduct themselves after Right to Manage if they are allowed to – remote, unaccountable, making decisions without resident involvement and refusing to explain or apologise when things go wrong. I think people who refuse to obey the CBWRA constitution have proved themselves unfit to serve on the committee and should not be directors of the Right to Manage company. I urge residents not to accept this situation – the whole point of Right to Manage is to get back control of our money and our development – we should not let that goal be stolen by a group of people with a proven track record of making the wrong calls on Right to Manage and so much else, and who have very little interest in what residents think or want.
The CBWRA committee must answer these questions
Why are there no elections for Directors of the Right to Manage Company?
Why were the CBWRA committee not allowed to see and vote on approval of the contract with Urang?
Why are residents not able to see the contract with Urang?
Why have the ‘co-chairs’ decided to stay in office at 4 months beyond their elected term?
Why has no date or procedure been announced for the 2024 Chair Elections and what will CBWRA do to ensure that the elections are conducted appropriately?
Why has it taken a year to get to 50% of leaseholders signed up when in fact a large chunk of leaseholders were already signed up (those who signed up for RTM in 2012 are included in the current application, provided they are still leaseholders.
Why do we still not have a clear timelines or targets for completion of the RTM process
Why have CBWRA finances declined from £27,000 to around £5,000 in two years? What does this say about the committee’s ability to oversee a £5 million service charge budget after RTM?
Why have CBWRA not published full accounts?
Why has CBWRA changed the constitution to remove the requirement for resident auditors?
Why has CBWRA changed the constitution to remove leaseholders’ right to inspect correspondence between CBWRA and the freeholders and managing agents?
Why have CBWRA refused to acknowledge or deal with a formal complaint about the misconduct of the 2023 Chair elections?
Why is someone who has been the subject of multiple complaints to the Police still a member of the CBWRA committee and a director of the Right to Manage company?
Why is pro-committee online bullying and arbitrary account closure still the norm on the CBW app?
Why has the motion passed by residents at the SGM in September 2023, calling for a formal written process to govern the closure of CBW app accounts still not been enacted?
Why were no notes from the ‘leaseholder forum’ meeting in October 2023 or February 2024 (Hint: the committee were heavily criticised for lack of progress on RTM and poor communication and online bullying was also raised)
Why is CBWRA requesting me to remove from my blog the reporting of their extremely biased consultation on the fountains?