Just a reminder to all leaseholders that there is a meeting with Urang and the unelected RTM company directors tomorrow, Mon. 15th Sep 6.30 pm – at Pestana or Online Despite RTM, you… Continue reading
Tony Hymers of Urang is unable or unwilling to give meaningful answers to any of these questions. The idea that Urang will create a new era of transparency is beyond ridiculous. Urang are… Continue reading
Great communication skills from CBWRA ‘co-chairs’ as ever. Two lines of meaningless non update was sent round to RTM company members on 23rd December (i.e. those who have signed up for Right to… Continue reading
Summary: It would seem that CBWRA may be trying to take credit for work around electricity retendering and controlling Building Safety Act costs which was actually done by London and Quadrant Housing Association.… Continue reading
At the so called ‘Leaseholder forum’ on 24th Jan, El Presidentes (Chairs Louis Sebastian Kendall & Larissa Villar Hauser) stated that the Chair elections (due in February) will be postponed for reasons of… 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 today that they are ‘recommending” Urang as the managing agent to handle the Right to Manage application for Chelsea Bridge Wharf. Except that it is not really recommending – the decision has been made. Residents are offered the opportunity to meet with Urang online on 30th May – but none of the other companies have been invited! Residents have been provided with some incredibly weak and superficial ‘analysis’ document, supposedly the basis on which Urang are recommended but detailed examination is only provided for Urang and not the other bidders. So this is not a consultation, it is in true CBWRA style, a decision made without resident consultation and then they insult our intelligence by asking for feedback after the decision. If such a consultation were carried out in any private or public organization it would be dismissed as heavily biased, or in plain language, a token consultation on a done deal. This is pretty pathetic given that millions of pounds of service charge are involved here (I believe Rendall and Rittners’ overall revenue, i.e. the total service charge collected, is in the region of £3 million a year at Chelsea Bridge Wharf) and that 2.5 years have been wasted by CBWRA telling us that Right to manage is not possible. So this is the biggest decision that a residents’ association can make and rather than doing it in an open and inclusive way, the decision has pretty much made already by a small cabal of mostly unelected people. ‘Consultation’ is happening AFTER their decision has been made.
Grossly unfair elections – again! The 2023 CBWRA Chair elections were unfair for a number of reasons Two candidates stood jointly, thus pooling their votes, in a massive and clear violation of the… Continue reading
There are many areas of CBWRA governance which need reform, including the constitution, election processes, transparency on finances and resident consultation but above all we need to detoxify the CBW app. I have spoken to many residents who are genuinely afraid to ask even the most basic questions for fear of being attacked or having their app account closed: this must stop. Please see my manifesto for detailed proposals. The unfair running of the 2023 Chair elections show how much we need to change to become a normal democratic residents’ association. A 140% membership fee increase without explanation says everything about the culture of current CBWRA regime – remote, hierarchical, apparently not too interested in residents’ views.
Residents will not choose new agent – Berkeley Homes will be in charge of the process
Rendall and Rittner will be allowed to bid and may be reappointed
Right to Manage at the very least delayed by many months and may not happen at all (unless you vote for me!)
No resident consultation on this decision
It is clear that once again CBWRA/BH have at the very least kicked Right to Manage a long way down the road, and without any resident consultation, and the timing of this announcement suggests at the very least a disregard for the Chair election process.
