News

SERVICE CHARGE

May 2019

Hello,

This letter explains the work we plan to do during the coming year. If you are a leaseholder a service charge invoice for April 2019-March 2020 will be attached.

We are also sending a copy of the letter to all residents because it will tell you about the proposed work on the estate, but please note that if you are a tenant your landlord will be the one responsible for paying the service charge.

Service Charge

As our previous letters have explained, Members of the Williams Close company, the ten leaseholders on the estate that bought the freehold, agreed that we should develop a programme of planned maintenance to ensure that the buildings and grounds of the estate are properly looked after. In the long term this will not only save us money but will lead to better services at cheaper cost; but in the short term, we will need to undertake work to develop and implement this programme.

Planning the work in advance also allows us to set a more accurate service charge at the beginning of the year, rather than finding that later on we face high additional costs. Our estimates are therefore based upon the actual costs over the last few years.

We have made savings on the cleaning, gardening and insurance costs. However, given our desire to make sure that the estate is well maintained, the Directors agreed that Service Charges should, for the next year at least, reflect the need to implement the works described below. They have therefore set the service charge, agreed by Members of Williams Close Ltd, at £200 per month. This represents about a 15% increase on the average actual service charge over the last few years, adjusted for inflation. What we will do with the money is explained in the paragraphs below.

The work described will not all be done at the same time, but as weather, opportunity and money becomes available we will be programming this work over the coming year.

Building Survey

We have now completed a building survey of the whole estate. Basically, the buildings grounds and fences are in a reasonable state of repair, but there is some work that needs to be done fairly quickly to the roofs and drainage. The survey has identified a range of other work that will need doing, which we will be addressing in coming years.

The Roofs

They are, on the whole, sound; but there have been leaks into three of the top storey flats over the last year or so and we need to ensure that these are prevented in future. That means that we will have to do some work, currently planned to the four corners of each block, to make sure that the guttering is sound. We also want to improve the maintenance of the guttering and make sure that the leaves and silt that can block the guttering and the hoppers are removed each year. Finally, we want to improve the ventilation in each of the roof spaces to ensure that any dampness has the opportunity to dry reasonably quickly.

The roofs covering the porch entrance for each block also need some attention, particularly for the central Block; and we will also take the opportunity to update the signage to the estate. Meanwhile the roofing covering the sheds in-between the front of the blocks also needs repair work.

And while all this work is going on, we will also take the opportunity to do some repair work to the down pipes where that is necessary.

Drainage

The drains on the estate are old, but again essentially sound. We will plan a survey of all the drainage, but in the meantime, we will look at problems of which we are currently aware. Some of the drains are blocked, for example the small drain outside the rear sheds of the third block in Coolhurst Road. There is, again, a small water leakage from the underground pipes in-between the first and second blocks facing Crescent Road, even after Thames Water said they had repaired it 18 months ago. We have also noted a rat hole at the base of the first block (Flat Numbers 1-6), which probably means some problems with the drainage in that area too. And finally, we want to make sure that the water drainage is OK by the pathway at the rear of the building, near the Crescent Road entrance, where water may have been collecting.

Entry Phone

The systems need to be reviewed. Although it was installed not so long ago, it is a high-end system where the entry phone was linked to the offices of the last freeholder. That link has now been disconnected but we need to adjust the system to allow us to programme the fobs so that they we can replace them if any resident loses one.

There was a break-in to the first block, opposite Crescent Road and we were advised that the system might be safer with a fob entry rather than a key; the door buttons on both the two end blocks have been sticking and the front panel of each unit by the door needs to be replaced, and finally an alarm system required for one resident is not compatible with the present system and we want to resolve that if we can.

We also want to make each block safer and Members of Williams Close Ltd have agreed that we should investigate a CCTV system that covers the doors to each block, and we have been looking at how this may be done.

The Grounds

We also want to do some work to the grounds over the course of the year. The trees are a major asset to the estate and being in a conservation area we also have a duty to look after them. Three trees in particular will be pruned during the early part of the year. The top of one overlooking Highgate Spinney needed the upper dead stems removed down to lower healthy growth; a horse chestnut along Coolhurst Road needs to be pollarded at fifteen feet; and most importantly a large part of the oak tree, also next to Coolhurst Road, completely overhangs the road and the recent gales indicated that we need to reduce end load over the road by 30% and thin the remaining crown, also by about a third.

Parts of the fencing next to Highgate Spinney needs to be repaired, although the rest of the fencing seems sound enough for the time being. We do, however, want to mark out the boundary more clearly at the front of the estate and will be putting some fencing along Crescent Road; and along Coolhurst Road we will also put in some further planting where there are gaps in the current trees and shrubs.

There are a few other items on the estate: replacing small trees or shrubs that have died; re-turfing the ground over part of the old path at the rear of the buildings, and also at the rear of the dustbins; and clearing the rubbish in the same area. Several residents have also noted that the washing line area needs updating, and we will look at look at that too if time and resources permit this year.

Finally, the external windows were cleaned for the first time in late March and early April and that will be done again this year, before the winter.

Consulting Residents

Some of the above work may cost more that £250 per flat and where that is so, we will be writing to each leaseholder more formally (under the same process as the Section 20 letters we used to get from the previous freeholder.)

The Directors are also looking at ways of giving all residents on the estate more opportunity to say how they want the estate to be run. One idea is that we should hold a residents’ meeting at least annually. In the meantime, please let us have any comments on any of the work described above. The Directors are very keen that the views of all residents are heard. You can speak to any one of us, or you can contact us on the email or ‘phone number below.

Best regards

Alon, Paul & David, Directors Williams Close Ltd

Email: info@williamsclose.com

Tel: 078 8581 8007