At the CBWRA SGM in September 2023, I proposed the following motion, which was passed: ”No resident’s CBW app account should be closed without a formal and transparent process, which is in writing,… Continue reading
Residents were sent the following email (below) re the AGM by CBWRA ‘co-chairs’ Larisa Villar Hauser and Louis Sebastian Kendall, who changed the constitution in September 2023 resulting in only 9% of leaseholders… Continue reading
Dear residents,This is an update regarding the 2024 CBWRA Chair elections.We had a useful meeting of Chair candidates and residents on Sat 6th April at BPS. You can access the full notes here. As a… Continue reading
The CBWRA ‘co-chairs’ (Larisa Villa Hauser and Louis Sebastian Kendall) and so called ‘electoral oversight committee’ (which according to CBWRA march 24 committee meeting notes are Catherine Thome, Toby Spoerer and the former… Continue reading
CBWRA made a unilateral decision to close the CBW app a few weeks ago, supposedly because it was ‘unsustainable’ at a cost of £5k per annum (which is roughly what they have left… Continue reading
Sadly it seems that the CBWRA committee are continuing with the process of arbitrary closure of CBW app accounts of anyone who dares to question the wisdom of the committee. A resident has informed me that earlier today (29.11.23) they posted a link to my blog regarding electricity prices at CBW and inviting residents join me in calling for refunds from Rendall and Rittner. There was an almost immediate response from Louis-Sebastian Kendall’ (quasi-elected co-chair) stating that this blog was ‘misleading’ but when asked to specify what specifically was misleading he was unable to do so
The CBW app account of the person who posted this link from my blog today was closed without any information, explanation or procedure despite the SGM motion passed 10 weeks ago which says that CBW app accounts cannot be closed without the use of a written process which allows the person ”accused” to see the supposed evidence for account closure and respond to it. No such procedure has been produced and it is clear that the CBWRA committee continue to close the account of anyone who should dare to criticise them in any way or to reports anything that is critical of the committee in any way. I genuinely feel sorry for people who are so insecure and intellectually immature that they cannot cope with any scrutiny or criticism.
Those who were supposed to be ensuring a fair electoral process actively undermined it by initiating Garton-Jones’ biased email to 400 + leaseholders, while voting was live.
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.
vote AGAINST ratification of committee (because they are not consulting residents, the consultations they do carry out are biased/ leading and the proposed quarterly ‘forums’ are too infrequent and exclude non-leaseholders. Also there is not freedom of speech on the app, and the CBWRA committee misinformed residents about RTM and have not explained or apologised for that). Also that there should be ELECTIONS not ‘ratification’
· VOTE AGAINST the ratification of the constitution because we are only being given 10 days to see it before the meeting (it will only come around on 30 AUG)
· VOTE AGAINST CBWRA fees rise CBWRA have never given any meaningful justification for the 140% increase in fees which they carried out in Feb this year. They claimed it was partly for legal fees to do with RTM but they have also said Urang (the proposed new managing agent) are covering all fees or will recover them through the service charge.
I also encourage residents to consider withholding all payment to CBWRA until they adopt normal standards of governance in respect of fair elections, free speech and resident consultation. #NOSAYNOPAY
