I have nominated myself for Chair of CBWRA in the 2023 elections because I wanted to improve the governance of the CBWRA and to ensure that all that was possible was being done to achieve Right to Manage, following what have been (in my view) two wasted years as far as RTM goes
Thanks to all who attended these meetings and to Canonbury Estate Management for providing expert advice. The standout points are
i) The advice given by Stephen Thompson/Roger Southam/Charlie Garton-Jones/CBWRA that Right to Manage for the whole development is not possible because of the supreme court judgement of First Port v Settlers Court is categorically WRONG. David Breare of Canonbury added that in his view, any competent advisor/consultant would come to the same conclusion (i.e. it’s not a grey area),
This confirms Canonbury’s written advice of June 2022 https://chelseabridgewharf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/canonbury-summary-advice-1.6.22-correspondence-1522672.pdf
Residents should recall that this judgement of First Port v Settler’s Court was (according to Mr Thompson) the reasons why Right to Manage was not pursued at the start of 2022 and why the management contract retendering was chosen (this failed in Sep. 2022, in my view wasting up to £15,000 of residents’ money).
ii) The current position of CBWRA (after 2 years of saying that Right to Manage is not possible) is that they will investigate RTM on a block by block basis. Canonbury were equally clear that this will not work because all blocks are linked by an underground car park, and therefore cannot be considered as separate for the purposes of RTM (they are not vertically separated).
Dear CBW residents
Are you tired of paying huge service charge increases?
Do you want a better level of estate upkeep and service?
Please join one of our online meetings — find out how we can get Right to Manage, choose our own managing agent and take back control of our development. The meetings feature a short presentation by Canonbury Estate Management
followed by a Question and Answer session
All residents welcome! Contact residents@chelseabridgewharf.org.uk if any questions
November 30th 7-8pm
Zoom link https://qrco.de/bdWj64
You should not need a passcode but if asked please enter TrK6yG
December 1st 1-2pm
Zoom link https://qrco.de/bdWjbi
Retendering the management contract: How it started – and how it’s going. Failure of retendering the management contractYou may be aware that in January of this year the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association… Continue reading
I thought I would give an update regarding the retendering of the management contract and related issues as no clear information has been provided by CBWRA and apparently no scrutiny discussion or criticism… Continue reading
Since 2021, Garton-Jones estate agents has enjoyed an amazing deal with the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association for exclusive use of the ‘estate agent’ page on the Chelsea Bridge Wharf for just £504 a year. This is interesting given that Garton-Jones’ 1.75% commission on a single apartment sale (at say £600,000) would be worth £10,500.)
Expressions of interest in buying the CBW app estate agent advertising slot from at least one other major estate agent have apparently been ignored, which to my mind is extremely worrying. The value of the advertising can only be determined by market testing/competition. It is not in residents’ interest to continue to give this advertising to Garton-Jones estate agent at what seems like an extremely cheap rate.
Mr Charlie Garton-Jones was a member of the CBWRA committee until Jan.22 and retains links with the CBWRA committee (he is apparently on the so called (and unelected) ‘oversight committee’ and is responsible for organising the elections for Chair /committee).
Rendall and Rittner have been dragged to their first meeting with residents in 9 months (previous meetings December 2021 and October 2020). In June 2021, the CBWRA promised there would be QUARTERLY meetings with Rendall and Rittner but in fact, since the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association was ‘reactivated’ in January 2021, there has only been one meeting between Rendall and Rittner and residents (December 2021) thus allowing Rendall and Rittner to escape direct resident scrutiny.
The Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association (CBWRA) have claimed RTM is not achievable at CBW – experts say otherwise! Independent expert advice obtained by residents in June 2022 shows that CBW can achieve Right to Manage (https://tinyurl.com/28dht6ya) and therefore it appears CBWRA has misinformed residents in stating that Right to Manage is not possible at CBW.
Despite several requests from residents over a period of many months, the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association still refuses to give an account of its income and expenditure. To the best of my… Continue reading
The notes from the Rendall and Rittner meeting on December 12th 2021 showed that large service charge increases were on the way. Although as ever the information provided was muddled and incomplete (no… Continue reading
