Category Archive: Service charges

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Petition passes the 3,500 mark! Thankyou for your support. Rendall and Rittner and Ovedo must listen!

More than 3,500 residents at developments ‘managed’ by Rendall and Rittner have now signed this petition to tell Rendall and Rittner that enough is enough – they need to stop the unjustified service charge hikes, lack of transparency, poor service and much more.

No meaningful response has been received from Rendall and Rittner or their parent company Ovedo. That is quite amazing when you think about it – just ignoring 3,500 of the people who have to pay their hiked service charges and endure their service which is often poor. However given Rendall and Rittner’s atrocious record on communications it is not surprising.

Rather than addressing the issues raised and responding to them, Rendall and Rittner and some of their allies have tried and failed to have this petition stopped. That is shameful. Rendall and Rittner have also made it clear that they may choose not to work with residents’ associations who support this petitions – even if they are elected representatives of residents – that is sinister and anti-democratic.

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Notes from the Right to Manage meetings at CBW (30 Nov and 1 Dec)

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).

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CBWRA ask Rendall and Rittner to provide two security guards for ten weeks at a cost of £29,544 – no resident consultation as ever

Many residents were astonished to learn that the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association (CBWRA) had asked Rendall and Rittner to commission 2 security guards for a 10 week period at an estimated cost… Continue reading →

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Please join online meetings on how to get Right to Manage at Chelsea Bridge Wharf – November 30th 7-8pm and December 1st 1-2pm

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

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Retendering the management contract – How it started – and how it’s going (spoiler alert – it has, predictably, failed)

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 →

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Garton-Jones estate agents amazing deal with Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Association – FREE advertising on the CBW app

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).

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Rendall and Rittner dragged to first meeting with residents in 9 months-and then postpone for another month due to the death of the Queen!

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.

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Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Newsletter – Summer 2022

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.

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Chelsea Bridge Wharf Residents’ Survey 2021

The initial report from the above survey is now available here OVERVIEW FINDINGS CBW as a place to live A large majority of respondents (80.1%) agree /strongly agree that ‘CBW is a good… Continue reading →

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Rendall and Rittner Action Network

The Rendall and Rittner Action Network (RRAN) is a collaboration of residents in Rendall and Rittner managed developments, working together to share information and strategies in order to combat unreasonable service charges and… Continue reading →