Latest On Handover Activities

By Nige on January 3, 2024 at 3:02 pm
Type: News Category: Handover
Tags: Announcements | Bloor Homes | FirstPort | Vale of White Horse District Council

Quick update to advise residents about the latest on work currently being undertaken in support of handover.

Following the overwhelming support for taking control of the Management Company (MC) as soon as possible, via two votes, the RA is now progressing discussions on a number of fronts:

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1. Preparing a backup plan for Bloor to continue with its intention of handing over to a FirstPort-controlled MC and then for FirstPort (FP) to transition to a new Managing Agent/Estate Manager quickly and at no cost to residents.
2. Organising an EGM to allow for the election of Resident Directors, and subsequently, residents taking control of the MC.
3. Initiating a procurement exercise to identify an alternative Managing Agent/Estate Manager.
4. Raising visibility of activities being undertaken through the media.

Preparing a Backup Plan with Bloor and FirstPort

• We have been pressing Bloor to change direction and support the residents in their overwhelming desire to take control of the MC as soon as possible.
• Although Bloor flatly refused to hand over the Public Open Space (POS) to a residents-controlled MC, it has led to some positive email exchanges with one of the Bloor Directors.
• The latest offer from Bloor comprises:
  • Bloor handing over to FP after the Certificate of Final Completion is issued by Vale White Horse District Council (VWHDC).
  • FP quickly organising an EGM to allow for the election of Resident Directors.
  • If the residents so desire, the newly formed residents-controlled MC, could then serve notice to FP and FP would be prepared to handover to a new Managing Agent/Estate Manager within 30 days at no cost to the residents.
• A meeting has been organised for Wed 10 Jan 2024, at which Bloor, FP and the RA will hammer out the details of how that might work.
• This satisfies at least one of our primary objectives: that is to take control quickly and allow the residents to select a Managing Agent/Estate Manager to take on the day-to-day responsibility for maintaining the POS.
• The problem is that Bloor will be handing over the POS to FP, who will not be as rigorous in ensuring all aspects of the POS will be completed to a satisfactory quality.
• On the that basis, the RA considers this our backup plan.

Organising an EGM

• We have successfully secured the right to hold an EGM. That’s the good news. However, the Company Secretary and/or the existing Directors have failed to organise the EGM within the legal timeframe set out in the Companies Act 2006.
• The Company Secretary has suggested that the existing Directors (effectively that means Bloor Homes) will hold 500 votes at the EGM. If that proves to be the case, the residents wouldn’t be allowed to elect Resident Directors.
• The RA has challenged that assertion. It’s clear from the legal agreements that the POS is now deemed “complete” and that means that the original Subscriber would only have one vote at the EGM. If that proves to be correct, then residents would be allowed to elect Resident Directors.
• We are taking legal advice on this matter, but in the meantime, we will press ahead and organise the EGM ourselves. This is now within the remit of the RA. The EGM is likely to take place late Jan 2024.

Initiating a Procurement Exercise

• We have started fleshing out an Invitation to Tender (ITT), which simply sets out the process for potential Managing Agents to submit an offer to manage the MC on our behalf on a day-to-day basis.
• We have also started fleshing out a Requirements document, which provides more detail about the services we would need from a Managing Agent.
• This new Managing Agent would effectively be doing what FP would do, but we would have far more control over a supplier that we have engaged, than we would have over FP, which would have been forced upon us.
• We have a list of 8 potential Managing Agents that we are talking to. We also want to hear about other, perhaps more local, Managing Agents that we should approach. So if you have someone in mind, please let us know.
• The aim is to select a Managing Agent by end of March (or thereabouts), so that we are ready to act as soon as VWHDC has issued the Certificate of Final Completion in April 2024. That arrangement would be conditional of us reaching a position that residents have secured control of the MC and the MC is in a position to sign a contract with the selected Managing Agent.

Raising Visibility of Activities through the Media

• We have continued raising visibility through media articles. The latest ones appearing in the Drayton Chronicle and the other in the Oxford Mail.