As announced at the residents’ general meeting in October, a further general meeting will be held on 24th April to provide a forum for raising any questions on the service charge accounts to September 2006 and for further discussion of the long term plan.
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At the residents’ general meeting in October last year a draft long term plan for the maintenance and management of Ashworth Mansions was discussed. We now intend to further flesh out the plan to provide a solid foundation for management over the next few years. The Directors are holding a long term planning meeting on 27th February and it would be most helpful to have lessees’ and residents’ feedback, comments, suggestions etc prior to that meeting. We therefore invite you to contact us with any ideas, general or specific, which you would like incorporated into future plans. Please address your comments to the directors via the website email address, by speaking to, emailing or writing to the managing agents or by letter handed to Daron. If you would rather have a one to one meeting with a director to discuss your suggestions, please let us know and we shall do our best to arrange a mutually convenient time. We are also planning to circulate a survey/questionnaire. After the meeting on 27th February the Directors will compile a further written plan for consideration by the lessees/residents and for further discussion at the residents’ general meeting on 24th April.
John Sutcliffe Chairman
Racks and new door fittings have been ordered for the bicycle sheds in the garages in Biddulph Road. These facilities are open to all residents by registration with Daron.
The water mains contracts for pump installation and connection are now going out for tender. Once the tenders have been returned and evaluated there will be a further 30 day statutory consultation period. At that time the Board will be circulating a fact sheet intended to answer lessees’ questions about the system, connections etc. Please contact us at board@ashworthmansions.com , or via the managing agents, with questions you have so that we can make the briefing as comprehensive as possible. The Board will be appointing a project manager to oversee the contract.
It is anticipated that the refurbishment of the common parts will be completed by the end of January/early February. A comments book is maintained by Daron and comments may also be addressed via the website, the managing agents or Andrew Manook, the project manager, who is onsite usually on Friday mornings. The main decorating contractors will be completing snagging as soon as the carpets and electrics are completed. Please make sure that any comments you have are received in the next two weeks as there will be no opportunity to rectify problems after the end of the month.
- The caretaker reported continuing problems with the central heating and hot water supply and the Board considered how these might be dealt with in the long run, as well as noting the Managing Agents’ actions to deal with current difficulties;
- Both the carpet contractors and the electrical contractors working on the interior decorations were taking longer to finish their work than had been expected. The Board discussed the reasons they had given for this and agreed actions to get the project finished as soon as possible;
- The stairwell notice boards were to be replaced by the contractors as soon as possible so that these could be used to communicate with residents who did not have internet access;
- David Abdo confirmed his resignation from the Board now that he had moved from Ashworth Mansions but offered to continue to assist over internal decorations until the project was complete. A vote of thanks was extended to David. It was noted he had been hugely appreciated by residents and owners over many years and had made a tremendous input into the affairs of Ashworth Mansions;
- Long-term arrears remained a serious problem in a small number of cases, which were discussed individually by directors. In each case next steps, involving legal action, were agreed. In each case careful consideration was given to correspondence and telephone conversation between the Lessees, the managing agents and/or the company’s solicitors.
- Final reminders had been sent to lessees who had failed to pay recent demands, with the Board agreed – regretting the associated costs paid for from service charge funds – that if these were not now paid promptly then legal enforcement should follow;
- Quotations were awaited from a number of contractors for the future routine cleaning of common parts. So far only the current contractors had given a quote;
- The garage bike store was discussed. Directors agreed this should be secured with a combination lock to avoid key charges for users and loss of control of access when some of these went missing; that use should be free for residents and on a ‘first come first served’ basis by registration with Daron The Caretaker would be asked to make sure that each bicycle had the flat is was owned by noted on it in some way, to be agreed with users;
- Water supply. The first statutory consultation period was due to end on 23rd December – any observations would be considered after that and the tender process commenced The Board discussed the appointment of a suitable project manager;
- A large number of items relating to individual flats were considered;
- A discussion of noise nuisance concluded that where flats had flooring in contravention of the lease (e.g. hardwood without appropriate covering) and this came to the Board’s attention because of complaints about resulting noise nuisance then there would be a prima facie case for enforcing the terms of the lease and require that the floor be ‘substantially carpeted’.
- Asbestos. A resume concerning asbestos dust emanating from an unknown source into two flats during routine clearance of asbestos from the bike store was presented by the Managing Agents. The occupants and owners of these flats had been fully apprised of the situation. In further discussions it was noted that health & safety regulations had been complied with fully, that the HSE had been properly aware and appraised of the matter throughout and that all the relevant certificates had been obtained and properly issued. A proposal from specialist consultants Air Surveys for the progression of this matter was discussed. Directors agreed that this was sensible and should form the basis of consultation with owners. A draft letter to the owners and tenants in that block was to be produced by the Managing Agents; contract management was to be awarded to Andrew Manook of Millbridge Project Management Ltd.
- It was agreed that the next meeting of the Board would be held on Tuesday 6th February 2006.
Ashworth Mansions Limited intends to to enter into an agreement to carry out works in respect of which we are required to consult leaseholders. This work is the installation of Break Tanks and Pumps to provide Mains Water to individual flats.
The Management Company consider it necessary to carry out the works because the current supply is insufficient and better quality water will be available from the mains. We invite you to make written observations in relation to the proposed works by sending them to us at Kinleigh Folkard and Hayward. Observations must be made within the consultation period of 30 days from the date of this notice.
The consultation period will end on 23rd December 2006 and not as shown in the circular delivered to lessees. We apologise for the error and any confusion caused. We also invite you to propose, within 30 days from the date of this notice, the name of a person from whom we should try to obtain an estimate for the carrying out of these proposed works.
- You can read more about the proposed water mains connection here.
- The full notice including additional notes can be found https://www.ashworthmansions.com/downloads
- Contact details for kfh are at https://www.ashworthmansions.com/contact
AML’s costs in performing its obligations under the lease are recoverable from leaseholders by way of the service charge. An independent firm of accountants audits the service charge accounts, which are made up to the end of September, and leaseholders are provided with a copy of those accounts annually.
I have in the past felt that circulation of service charge accounts which are over a year old is unsatisfactory and we should be prompter in getting the accounts completed. Unfortunately this wasn’t possible in the year to Sept 05, as we had great difficulty in getting all the information necessary from the previous managing agents. Their computer system in fact failed completely at one point and we have our auditor to thank for doing a very thorough job.
The directors have discussed the timely production of service charge accounts with the current managing agents and the auditors, and it is intended that the accounts to Sept 06 will be available to circulate within six months of the year end i.e. by end March 07 at the latest.
John Sutcliffe
Chairman
A further open residents meeting will be held during April 07 at which questions arising from those accounts and any other items of concern to residents can be brought up. It is intended that there will in future be two such residents meetings each year, probably in April and October.
The purpose of these meetings is to give residents a chance to discuss in an open forum any comments and suggestions, concerns, problems and solutions with respect to the condition and management of the estate and any other matters relevant to the quality of life at and ambience of Ashworth Mansions.
Although most residents address their comments throughout the year directly to the Managing Agents or to individual Directors, an open forum of this sort has, in the past, proved useful for each resident to understand and discuss the views of other residents.
John Sutcliffe
Chairman
As described in the annual report, the final stage of the mains water installation is planned to commence early in 2007. As the first stage of the statutory consultation process, the managing agents will shortly be sending out the required notices, which will enable us to go to tender with prospective contractors. When this process is complete there will be a further consultation process, during which a detailed explanation of the installation and of the process for connection to the system by individual leaseholders will be issued. The Board is conscious that there will be a number of leaseholders who have purchased their flats recently and who are not familiar with either the new water installation or of the requirements for connection. The Board is intending to appoint a project manager to assist in the transition from the current system to the new system.
John Sutcliffe
Chairman
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