Latest on Handover: Initial Response from Bloor Homes and the District Council

By Nige on November 19, 2023 at 5:10 pm
Type: News Category: Handover | Residents
Tags: Announcements | Bloor Homes | FirstPort | Vale of White Horse District Council

The RA has issued letters to Bloor Homes Ltd and Vale of White Horse District Council (VWHDC) advising them of the results from the recent vote and asking them to engage in next steps.

At that vote, residents voted overwhelmingly for Bloor to handover directly to a residents-controlled Management Company (MC), without any involvement of FirstPort.

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Response from Bloor Homes Ltd

Carl Slater, Regional Managing Director at Bloor Homes South Midlands, responded with:

Turning to your desire to reduce the level of interaction you have with First Port I am not aware that either Bloor Homes or indeed First Port have sought to hamper the route that you have chosen and whilst we are not able to hand the estate directly to The Dovecote Residents Association ( TDRA ) you do have the opportunity once the freehold has passed to First Port to appoint directors and then carry out a further vote which, if successful, would allow you to appoint an alternative Management Company.

Unfortunately, Carl doesn’t quite use the right terminology. Couple of corrections:

• No one can handover the estate to TDRA – TDRA is not in the equation, and we have never suggested that’s what we want.
• The freehold will never pass to FirstPort – it will pass to the MC. FirstPort is simply the Managing Agent that Bloor has assigned to look after the day to day running of the MC.
• There is no alternative MC. There is only one MC. When the Resident Directors are appointed, they will take control of that one MC.

Putting this poor terminology to one side, what Carl really means is this:

• Bloor has total control over the MC up until handover has completed.
• Bloor doesn’t want to handover to anyone other than a FirstPort-controlled MC because anyone else is likely to ask too many questions and put blockers in the way of Bloor being able to absolve themselves of remaining responsibility for The Dovecote.
• Once Bloor has walked away, it will then be down to FirstPort to offer to set up an EGM at a point that is convenient to them.
• Until that EGM has been held and Resident Directors have been appointed, residents will have ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL over what FirstPort are doing, the expenses they are incurring or the charges they are passing on to residents. Based on evidence from other developments, FirstPort will delay organising this EGM as long as they can.
• Even if at the first EGM, the newly elected Resident Directors immediately kick out FirstPort, FirstPort will be able to charge the residents for their time and expenses for handing over to a different Estate Manager.
• So ultimately, Bloor Homes Ltd is happy to screw the residents of The Dovecote. All Bloor Homes is interested in is getting off site as quickly and painlessly as possible.

TDRA has responded to Bloor Homes Ltd asking for the earliest date that an EGM can be organised (as defined in the Articles of Memorandum).

Response from VWHDC

Mark Hewer, Infrastructure and Development Team Leader responded with exactly what we thought they would, namely:

• VWHDC would be happy for a residents-controlled MC to take over responsibility for the Public Open Space in line with the requirements of the seventh schedule of the Section 106 agreement, but it’s entirely down to Bloor Homes Ltd.
• VWHDC won’t fully engage with residents on final elements of handover, but they will keep us informed about progress. I assume they are suggesting they will keep us better informed than previously.

So effectively, VWHDC has learnt nothing from recent events and has no intention of changing.

Summary

Overall, a very disappointing response from both parties, but not unexpected. However, that shouldn’t stop TDRA seeking the outcome that residents desire.

TDRA is now seeking advice from a number of parties as to the best next step.