Planning for The Big Vote!

By Nige on October 9, 2023 at 4:00 pm
Type: Post Category: Handover
Tags: Announcements | Bloor Homes | FirstPort | Vale of White Horse District Council

This is the critical one, which effectively asks whether residents (1) want to take control themselves, or (2) are happy to stick with FirstPort.

Option 1 would naturally lead to residents being able to decide (after handover has completed) whether to appoint an Estate Manager and which Estate Manager to appoint.

Unfortunately, the only stakeholders that matter in the context of making this decision are homeowners.  So, on this occasion, tenants will not have the opportunity to vote.  That also means that Soha will have a block vote for the 30+ homes that they own.

We have summarised the Key Points for those who just want the headlines and for those that would like to read a little more, head to our In-Depth Analysis.

Key Points

• We need to be squeaky clean with this vote due to potential challenges from Bloor Homes, FirstPort and/or VWHDC.
• We will handle voting via email. An email template has been prepared and we will be in contact to confirm exactly how to compose that email shortly.
• The question has been firmed up and we will have to ask you to provide some personal data to verify who the homeowner is. This personal data will only be held for a limited time specifically in support of this particular vote.
• The vote will take place from Mon 23 Oct @ 06:00, closing on Fri 27 Oct @ 22:00

In-Depth Analysis

Important Considerations

This is where it may get a bit tricky!  We have to be squeaky clean on this vote, since there is a chance that Bloor Homes, FirstPort and/or VWHDC may want to challenge its validity.

That means we need to be completely transparent about the voting process and the question we ask needs to be unbiased. We will also need to collate voters’ details so that they can be independently verified as a fair representation of voting intentions.

How to Conduct the Vote

• No one wants to have to use a paper voting system!  If we did, members of the RA would have to visit every property to get homeowners to sign.
• We can’t use our Facebook group either, since it’s a private group (therefore it’s impossible to independently verify the votes) and there’s no easy way of collating personal details.  On top of that, not everyone uses Facebook.
• We therefore conclude that the best approach is for us to use email. If we draw up a simple voting email template, we can ask homeowners to complete this and send it in to the RA’s email address.
• Email can easily work for Soha as well.
• Email won’t reach all homeowners, although it should reach 80% of our target voters.  Anyone left, we can approach in person and ask them to either respond to the email or complete a paper version of the email voting template.  This should be easy to handle.

The Question

• It needs to be unbiased and it needs to result in a simple Yes/No answer.
• This is what we have come up with:
  • Do you want the residents to gain control of the Management Company as soon as handover is complete?
• Underneath we will clarify what Yes and No means:
  • YES means that residents will be able to select an Estate Manager of their choice after handover is complete.
  • NO means that FirstPort will automatically take over as Estate Manager as soon as handover is complete.

In Addition

As part of their vote, homeowners will need to:

• Provide their name and address.
• Provide their email address.
• Confirm they are a homeowner on The Dovecote.
• Confirm they understand the RA will retain personal details up until handover has completed.

To be clear: the RA can assure every homeowner that the only reason we would ever disclose their personal data is if we were obliged to, in order to justify the validity of the vote.

The RA will also commit to disposing of homeowners’ personal details when handover has completed.

When to Conduct the Vote

• The vote needs to be held soon, otherwise we may miss the boat!
• The vote needs to be held over a finite period of time (e.g. 1 week).
• Therefore we have proposed to hold the vote from Mon 23 Oct @ 06:00, closing on Fri 27 Oct @ 22:00.
• We can add a few days on to pick off those that have failed to respond. Aim to complete this by Tue 31 Oct @ 18:00.
• Circulate result by Fri 03 Nov @ 18:00.
• We recognise there is a small risk that some homeowners may be on holiday during this period of time. We will work out some way of dealing with this eventuality.

Voting Email Template

This is the proposed voting email template to be used for homeowners to submit their vote.

If residents do not fully complete all necessary information, the RA can reply requesting for corrections to be made.  The final email can then be filed away as evidence, until handover has completed.

For those that choose not to vote by email, or simply haven’t responded in time, the RA can print out the email template and knock on doors to ask homeowners to either complete by paper or respond by email.

You don’t need to try and copy this! We will advise exactly how we can help you prepare your email shortly…