Chiswick Village
Residents Group Circular
To all Chiswick Village Leaseholders and
Residents: 10 October 2002 No. 2
Update
Following our last circular of the 8 May 2002, in which we canvassed
residents’ views on both the proposed service charge increase and their
support to set up a recognised Residents Association, we are
pleased to announce that the board of CVRL (Chiswick Village Residents
Ltd) have agreed to support the formation of a legally recognised
Residents Association.
Next stage
We write to you now following the success of the proposal of
works that was put forward to the board of CVRL in September. We want to
ascertain your views on our works proposal and hope that like us, you feel this
is a useful starting point for a planned future for the betterment of Chiswick
Village.
Works Proposal
We felt
that the works generally carried out in Chiswick Village are of a reactive
nature rather than a proactive and preventative nature and we aimed to address
this point in the proposal.
As a
result of consultations with Alex Dickson, the company secretary of CVRL
and managing agent of the estate, we provisionally estimated the costs
required to complete the works needed in the Village on top of those
listed in the original ‘Section 20’ notice, dated 19 April 2002,
received by all residents & leaseholders. Examples of these extra items
would be replacing the lifts or re-roofing the blocks.
Our solution to the realities of the large costs
involved is a planned ten-year cycle of works with a clear prioritisation of
works to be done. This means the costs are spread to a more acceptable level.
In addition to this, we found during the investigation that a large percentage
of the annual general maintenance budget of £50,000 is made up of
numerous smaller invoices relating to water damage and roofing problems. These
problems will diminish once a preventative works cycle is established thus
reducing the burden on the general maintenance budget and freeing up funds to
be allocated to other projects over the ten-year cycle.
Our view is that a long-term works programme
containing a maintenance component that is substantially utilised for
preventative maintenance, can be implemented with a smaller sustained service
charge increase as opposed to a one-off increase as demanded in the
‘Section 20’ notice. We feel that our proposal is equitable, as we do
not believe that the present residents should have to take the full burden of
paying immediately for facilities that all future residents of Chiswick Village
would benefit from. With our proposal we will be able to see tangible benefits
come to fruition in gradual steps.
Through discussions, the board agreed with our proposals and an
increase of 2 % of the service charge for this financial year was negotiated.
This increase allows the completion of the urgent external pointing funding as
requested under the ‘Section 20’ notice.
We have published our proposals on the Chiswick
Village website: www.chiswickvillage-w4.co.uk. The website
was re-launched at the end of August and has a separate section for the
Chiswick Village Residents Group which will hopefully soon
become the Chiswick Village Residents Association. We
would ask all residents who have an email address to sign up to the forum on
the website so as to express their views and to kept abreast of all
developments.
Transformation into Chiswick Village Residents Association
We are delighted to say that
the board of CVRL have volunteered to send out a letter from our group
to all leaseholders outlining our reasons for forming a Residents
Association. The board have also said that they will send a
covering note outlining their support for the formation of a Residents
Association and to ask in turn for the support of the leaseholders.
The leaseholders votes matter hugely, as only they can vote on the
transformation motion.
Planning Application for flats
We plan to address this issue shortly, gathering all
views, in the meantime please look on the website for a history of the last
planning application. We shall be in touch on this in the very near future.
Communication
We also hope to publish on
the website a copy of our letter being sent to all leaseholders, all minutes of
our meetings as well as details of the group email. We also actively encourage
people to use the discussion forum set up on the website to air your views on
our proposals. We hope to distribute our next circular within a few weeks.
Should anyone wish to contact
the group, you can do so via the website.
Our thanks for your support,
Wayne, Shane, Paul, John, Lorna, Alan, Will, Sue and Sarah
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