Handover Update: The Latest from Bloor Homes Ltd

By Nige on November 25, 2023 at 9:28 am
Type: News Category: Handover
Tags: Announcements | Bloor Homes | FirstPort

Following on from recent exchanges with Bloor Homes Ltd (Bloor), the RA has received a more upbeat email from the Regional Managing Director of Bloor Homes South Midlands, hinting at there being a positive way forward.

The Regional Managing Director and our Bloor Adoptions Manager have suggested organising a meeting with FirstPort where we can talk through a possible timeline for an EGM and to allay our fears over administrative charges being incurred by FP and subsequently passed on to residents in the form of Service Charges.

If we can hold that meeting in the next week or so, we will get a much better feel as to how closely we are aligned to our objective of residents securing control over the Management Company (MC) as soon as possible.

Backup Plan

That positive dialogue could lead us to agreeing an acceptable approach, whereby the residents secure control of the MC quickly and can then decide how we want to manage the Public Open Space (POS) moving forward.

However, we still need a backup plan, just in case that positive dialogue doesn’t deliver an acceptable way forward. Therefore, we wanted to share a note about what work is currently underway:

1. We have written to the MC Company Secretary to request a copy of the Register of Members. Firstly, it’s worth clarifying who the MC’s Company Secretary is! Originally it was Fairfield Company Secretaries Ltd, which was bought out by Mainstay Ltd which has now been bought out by … you guessed it … FirstPort Ltd. The MC has 5 working days to provide a copy of the Register of Members, otherwise the company and its directors are subject to a fine. Securing a copy of the Register of Members is important since it helps to clarify who has voting rights at an AGM or EGM.
2. We have written to FirstPort Ltd to ask for an EGM to be organised. It also raises some questions about why a particular person was appointed as a board director in Dec 2022, when there’s an argument that the residents should have been invited to elect Resident Directors at that stage.
3. In order to secure support for an EGM, we may need to hold another vote! Apologies for that, but on the basis that Bloor has rejected our initial vote for them to directly handover the POS to a residents-controlled MC, if we want to secure support for an EGM, then we need enough support from voters for that EGM. Prep work is underway to host that new vote. More details will be published shortly about this.
4. We have started working with experts in the Managing Agent/Estate Management industry to build a picture of our requirements for managing the POS moving forward, and to build a framework for undertaking a tender process to select a Managing Agent/Estate Manager.

In order to ensure effective governance of the work that is currently underway, we currently have a team of 5 residents who are being kept up to date on a daily basis as to how things are progressing. They have the opportunity of raising questions, making suggestions and even objecting to the approach being taken. If other residents would like to be included on those updates, feel free to get in contact with the RA in the normal way.