The UK Government’s July 2025 Leasehold Reform Consultation claims to outline major changes to empower leaseholders and end outdated, unfair leasehold practices in England and Wales. Built on the foundation of the Leasehold… Continue reading
At the end of January 2023 I reported here that Rendall and Rittner planned to hit Chelsea Bridge Wharf with a budgeted cost of £400,000 for work supposedly related to the Building Safety… Continue reading
Also in this post: An update on electricity refunds and a note on the challenges for Chelsea Bridge Wharf residents in 2024. In October 2023, this blog reported the letter from Rendall and… Continue reading
In February 2023, CBWRA was given 6 months’ notice by the main CBW freeholder (Berkeley Homes) that they would be derecognised. Despite that notice period, CBWA have not been able to satisfy Berkeley… Continue reading
Many thanks to those who supported the motions I put forward for this meeting which focussed on freedom of speech on the CBW app, trying to ensure fair elections for the future and also trying to ensure that Right to Manage actually delivers increased power to residents not just to a handful of people on an unelected/unfairly elected committee. The meeting also included a vote on ‘ratification’ (i.e. not an election) of the committee and a new constitution. Two of the five motions I proposed were passed.
These motions (in plain language) were that:
That no residents CBW app account can be closed in an arbitrary manner without any due process (as was the case with the closure of my account in May 2022). The closure or threat of closure of CBW app accounts has carted a ‘chilling effect’ on the CBW app which means that residents are afraid to say what they think or to be critical of the CBWRA committee in any way.
That there will be quarterly meetings with the new managing agent (Urang) assuming that RTM foes ahead and they are appointed – the meetings will e hybrid (face to face with the option to attend online) and ALL residents will be welcome not just leaseholders.
CBWRA announced the results of the ‘fountains consultation’ on 5th September, They state
”A total of 253 leaseholders completed the survey. Of these:
130 voted in favour of submersible pumps
18 voted to turn the fountains back on without changing the pumps
105 voted to leave the fountains out of operation until such a time as they could be replaced.”
very bizarrely CBWRA decided not to give percentages for the results so I am happy to help them out
130 (51.4%) voted in favour of submersible pumps
18 (7.1%) voted to turn the fountains back on without changing the pumps
105 (41.5%) voted to leave the fountains out of operation until such a time as they could be replaced.”
*CBWRA plans to spend huge sums on new fountains *no meaningful response on massive service charge increases * CCTV installed in block foyers with no consultation *no action on management audit
In summary, dear CBWRA, thank you for the work that (some) of the committee are doing, but could I respectfully suggest that you please stop trying to blow smoke up the residents’ rear ends and start behaving like a normal democratic residents’ association, then we might actually get somewhere as a community of engaged residents. Even the CBWRA home page is not being straight with us – ‘a board of elected residents’?. No one on the committee is elected apart from the co-Chairs and there are many aspects of that which are questionable to say the least.
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… Continue reading
What CBWRA’s letter should have said in my view is ”we are being derecognised because we outsourced our membership management/ fee taking to Rendall and Rittner , rather than run our own membership databases, and Rendall and Rittner then withdrew that service (according to CBWRA) when they heard that Right to manage might start and we now have no way to prove we have 50% leaseholder membership”.
