TIMELINE

£1 levy to gain 100% membership by leaseholders

Compiled by Mel Henson 17 May 2020

22 Dec 2017 Dan Cross, Nicky FinnSokari, Mel

Sokari owns property at NPW and mentioned that the NPW RA AGM had passed a motion for £1 membership recouped through service charge

8 Jan 2018 Committee Meeting Sokari mentioned that the NPW AGM had passed a motion for £1 membership recouped through service charge. It was voted to do the same at our AGM and it was put into the agenda

17 Jan 2018 Juliet Self, Nicky Finn, Dan Cross, Sokari, Mel

Nicky said she had discussed it. Paul Maton needs to approve it. Juliet said it was likely to be fine. Nicky to advise when it’s approved.

27th Feb 2018

AGM AGM voted to charge £1 membership through service charge.

26th March 2018

Committee Meeting Akansh said it hadn’t been possible to open the bank account yet.

12 April 2018 Dan Cross, Sokari, Mel Sokari mentioned he’s seen the £1 charge on his service charge statement from New Prov. We mentioned we were opening the bank account to enable this.

16 October 2019

Committee Meeting Akansh said he couldn’t open the bank account and resigned as Treasurer

20 Dec 2018 EGM Houman voted in to committee as Globe Rep14 Jan 2019 Committee Meeting Houman offered to take on the Treasurer role 27 Feb 2019 AGM Houman explained that it was voted to collect a £1

levy to gain legal status . At this point the bank account was still not open.

22 Jan 2020 Committee Meeting Advised the committee we now have a bank account so stumbling block was removed Houman to ask Dan Cross to put it in the next service charge demand.

27 Jan 2020 Email Houman to Dan Cross

Requested to discuss next steps

6 Feb Dan Cross to Houman Said it had been reviewed and BAML were not prepared to do it.

- No set mechanism- Deemed not to align within RICS best

practiceOffered to contact all leaseholders on our behalf

6 Feb Houman to Dan Cross Sent email expressing disatisfaction20 Feb Houman to various Neil suggested that Mel/Sokari ask to meet with

someone more senior at BAML to discuss.

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Houman <houmie@gmail.com> Feb 6, 2020, 7:09

PMto Dan, Sokari, me

Dear Dan,

Page 2 of 24

Thank you for your email. I'm also coping in the Chair Sokari Higgwe to comment on this.

I'm really surprised about your assessment. In the last three AGM meetings our message - with Ballymore's approval - has been that we will collect this levy with Ballymore's assistance.  Ballymore was aware of this and never objected to this. We had prepared the residents to expect the levy on their next service charge bill and now we hear the complete opposite from you. This is very disappointing .

The proposal of sending out a communication stating the request won't be very useful, as the majority of the owners won't be even reading it.  We had an agreement to levy the £1 via the service charge to get the membership to 100%.

Kind Regards,Houman

On Thu, 6 Feb 2020 at 14:33, Dan Cross <DCross@ballymoregroup.com> wrote:Dear Houman, Sorry for the delayed response on this. I have been waiting to hear back from our central office in relation to the request. After carefully review of the undertaking of this on another Ballymore resort it has been agreed that such a collection should not be undertaken by BAML as the managing agent. There is no set mechanism within the lease agreement that allow for us to specifically collect for this fund and is deemed not to align within RICS best practice. As such we can issue a communication on behalf of the LCIRA stating the request, required reference and the account in which you wish for the money to be deposited.  Kind regards  Dan CrossResort Director +44 (0)20 7536 1900 

 Management OfficeGrantham House50 Botanic SquareLondon, E14 0LW      

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From: Houman <houmie@gmail.com>Sent: 27 January 2020 21:01To: Dan Cross <DCross@ballymoregroup.com>Cc: Mel Henson <londoncityislandlra@gmail.com>Subject: £1 Levy for the Membership Dear Dan, My name is Houman. I'm the appointed treasurer of residence association at LCI. I'm cc'ing the secretary Mel Henson to this email as well. I believe you have been notified prior to our previous RA meeting that the bank account has been opened and we are now ready to collect the £1 levy charge on top of the next service charge demand. This will ensure to achieve a 100% membership of all owners into the residence association.  What would be the best way of taking this forward?  Many Thanks,Houman  

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Re: Thur 19th MarchInbox x

Start timer

Houman <houmie@gmail.com> Tue, Feb 25, 10:20 PM

to Diane, me, Neil, Nick, Sokari

Haha   that was good.

On Tue, 25 Feb 2020 at 19:47, Diane Young <diane.young@thedrum.com> wrote:

Maybe it’s because Ballymore don’t like to ask owners for money.

Brah ha ha ha ha ha.

Diane Young

Co-founder and CEO

Chip Shop Awards, deadline Thursday 12 March 2020. Click here to apply

 

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From: Houman [mailto:houmie@gmail.com]Sent: 25 February 2020 17:56To: Neil Blanchard <blanchard.ns@gmail.com>Cc: Diane Young <diane.young@thedrum.com>; Mel Henson <londoncityislandlra@gmail.com>; Nick Thompson <nick.r.thompson@hsbc.com>; Sokari Higgwe <sokari@hotmail.com>Subject: Re: Thur 19th March

 

He didn’t say right away that this wasn’t possible. He took in the request and verified it with the managers above his “pay grade”.  He came back after one week of evaluation and said that Ballymore has rejected it.

 

I responded that this was previously acknowledged as a way forward by Ballymore but he didn’t reply back to me.

 

It is clear at this point that the response came from BAML and not from him. I would like to know from Sokari with whom he had this director level discussion. Surely someone from BAML must have given him the green light before announcing it like that in the AGMs? I could then try to get in touch with that person to see if this could be turned around. Otherwise I don’t see any reason to continue saying this on the AGM if this isn’t true. We need to work on a new strategy.

 

 

On Tue, 25 Feb 2020 at 17:23, Neil Blanchard <blanchard.ns@gmail.com> wrote:

Just an observation. Possibly just above Dans pay grade. Feels more like BAML managing director and his legal right hand person to give the green light to implement it. Will leave to Sokari/Mel but we should exhaust that before announcing to residents, or at the AGM we can say discussions are ongoing if that were the case.

 

Neil

Sent from my iPhone

On 25 Feb 2020, at 14:48, Houman <houmie@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey everyone,

 

Sorry I won't be available end of March and have entered my availability in the doodle app. Just a bit of a heads-up regarding the £1 levy.

 

Page 16 of 24

As you know one of the major challenges of our legal standing is the lack of members. We - the residence association - need to opt-in 60% of the owners as members in order to be legally recognised by Ballymore.

 

There was the proposed plan of levying a one-time fee of one Sterling Pound as membership fees on top of the next service charge.  This one time-off fee ensures that all owners are automatically opted-in as members.  

 

As you know I was able to open the bank account six months ago. I discussed the matter with Dan (Ballymore) and copied in Mel.  Ballymore has to my surprise refused to do this and offered instead to send every owner an email to transfer the £1 directly to our account.  This is the same - or even worse - than just sending them a reminder to sign up on our website.  The whole idea of levying that £1 automatically was to make it seamless.

 

This idea existed before I joined as the treasurer and as I understand, it was something that Sokari as the chair had discussed with Ballymore previously. This was indeed communicated in the previous three AGMs (!) with Ballymore present.

 

I don't understand why Ballymore has now suddenly refused to do this. I'm trying to get hold of Sokari to understand the details of his conversations with Ballymore to understand where the communication has broken down. I haven't been able to get hold of him.  Mel if you know of any previous notes with whom he had discussed this idea, I could try to investigate.

 

Otherwise, this is something that I have to announce on the next AGM that Ballymore has refused to do this. I need to set the previous record straight of what we communicated previously. If you have any ideas on how to proceed, I would love to brainstorm further.

 

 

Thanks,

Houman

 

 

 

 

 

On Wed, 19 Feb 2020 at 16:48, Mel Henson <londoncityislandlra@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello

 

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As you know we've had to delay the date of the AGM and I'm trying to fix a new one. 

 

Would you be able to make Thursday 19th March?  Sokari and I are both free, and Ian Felton says we can have the gallery. 

 

Fingers crossed. 

 

Best

 

Mel

 

--

Mel Henson

Secretary - London City Island Leaseholders & Residents Association

https://londoncityislandresidents.wordpress.com

Our aim is to help make London City Island the best place to live it can be. 

 

The Association is run by residents for residents. We are all unpaid volunteers giving our time for free. We work closely with Ballymore in a spirit of co-operation to achieve our goals. 

The Facebook Group is completely separate from the Residents Association. 

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Re: Thur 19th MarchInbox x

Start timer

Neil Blanchard <blanchard.ns@gmail.com> Tue, Feb 25, 5:23 PM

to Houman, me, Sokari, Nick, Diane

Just an observation. Possibly just above Dans pay grade. Feels more like BAML managing director and his legal right hand person to give the green light to implement it. Will leave to Sokari/Mel but we should exhaust that before announcing to residents, or at the AGM we can say discussions are ongoing if that were the case.

Neil

Sent from my iPhone

On 25 Feb 2020, at 14:48, Houman <houmie@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey everyone,

Sorry I won't be available end of March and have entered my availability in the doodle app. Just a bit of a heads-up regarding the £1 levy.

As you know one of the major challenges of our legal standing is the lack of members. We - the residence association - need to opt-in 60% of the owners as members in order to be legally recognised by Ballymore.

There was the proposed plan of levying a one-time fee of one Sterling Pound as membership fees on top of the next service charge.  This one time-off fee ensures that all owners are automatically opted-in as members.  

As you know I was able to open the bank account six months ago. I discussed the matter with Dan (Ballymore) and copied in Mel.  Ballymore has to my surprise refused to do this and offered instead to send every owner an email to transfer the £1 directly to our account.  This is the same - or even worse - than just sending them a reminder to sign up on our website.  The whole idea of levying that £1 automatically was to make it seamless.

Page 19 of 24

This idea existed before I joined as the treasurer and as I understand, it was something that Sokari as the chair had discussed with Ballymore previously. This was indeed communicated in the previous three AGMs (!) with Ballymore present.

I don't understand why Ballymore has now suddenly refused to do this. I'm trying to get hold of Sokari to understand the details of his conversations with Ballymore to understand where the communication has broken down. I haven't been able to get hold of him.  Mel if you know of any previous notes with whom he had discussed this idea, I could try to investigate.

Otherwise, this is something that I have to announce on the next AGM that Ballymore has refused to do this. I need to set the previous record straight of what we communicated previously. If you have any ideas on how to proceed, I would love to brainstorm further.

Thanks,

Houman

On Wed, 19 Feb 2020 at 16:48, Mel Henson <londoncityislandlra@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello

As you know we've had to delay the date of the AGM and I'm trying to fix a new one. 

Would you be able to make Thursday 19th March?  Sokari and I are both free, and Ian Felton says we can have the gallery. 

Fingers crossed. 

Best

Page 20 of 24

Mel

--

Mel Henson

Secretary - London City Island Leaseholders & Residents Association

https://londoncityislandresidents.wordpress.com

Our aim is to help make London City Island the best place to live it can be. 

The Association is run by residents for residents. We are all unpaid volunteers giving our time for free. We work closely with Ballymore in a spirit of co-operation to achieve our goals. 

The Facebook Group is completely separate from the Residents Association. 

Sounds good to me.

Agree.

Good point.

ReplyReply allForward

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£1 LevyInbox x

Start timer

Houman <houmie@gmail.com> Thu, Feb 20, 6:30 PM

to Sokari, me

Hi Sokari,

What is your opinion on the £1 levy that Ballymore is no longer actioning? You didn't reply to Dan's email. 

You said previously that you were having meetings with Ballymore at Director level, and there was an agreement that as soon as the account is opened this could be actioned by Ballymore.  

How comes Ballymore had suddenly a change of heart? And what will we be saying in the next AGM about this?

Kind Regards,

Houman

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RE: £1 Levy for the MembershipInbox x

Start timer

Dan Cross <DCross@ballymoregroup.com> Thu, Jan 30, 3:13 PM

to Houman, me

Good afternoon Houman,

 

I have raised this with our Area Property Manager, James Watson, who will in turn discuss with our accounts team.

 

Happy to provide you with a response once received.

 

Kind regards

 

 

Dan Cross

Resort Director

 

+44 (0)20 7536 1900

 

 

Management Office

Grantham House

50 Botanic Square

London, E14 0LW

 

 

 

 

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From: Houman <houmie@gmail.com>Sent: 27 January 2020 21:01To: Dan Cross <DCross@ballymoregroup.com>Cc: Mel Henson <londoncityislandlra@gmail.com>Subject: £1 Levy for the Membership

 

Dear Dan,

 

My name is Houman. I'm the appointed treasurer of residence association at LCI. I'm cc'ing the secretary Mel Henson to this email as well.

 

I believe you have been notified prior to our previous RA meeting that the bank account has been opened and we are now ready to collect the £1 levy charge on top of the next service charge demand. This will ensure to achieve a 100% membership of all owners into the residence association. 

 

What would be the best way of taking this forward? 

 

Many Thanks,

Houman

 

 

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