News

By Nige on August 30, 2024 at 6:45 am
Type: News

This is the news page. This is where we share shorter posts, which aim at highlighting important events.

Posts are normally shown in reverse chronological order, in groups of 10, but you can adapt the results using the controls below.

FirstPort Debt Recovery Process

By Nige on August 2, 2021 at 9:21 am
Type: News Category: Service Charges
Tags: FirstPort

Just had a response from FirstPort on their debt recovery process. Thought it was worth sharing: The recovery fees quoted are the charges applied by the FirstPort internal recovery team. So, if the outstanding amount is less than £42, FirstPort wouldn’t consider it to be worth initiating any aggressive recovery actions. Although FirstPort didn’t explicitly […]

Summary of Latest Call with Soha

By Nige on July 27, 2021 at 9:19 am
Type: News Category: Service Charges
Tags: FirstPort | Soha

Just had a really good call with the Soha Finance Manager, following on from an initial call last week. They were in a less informed position than we were, in that they hadn’t even been sent the covering letter and accounts dated 30 June. So they didn’t know what the FirstPort charges related to. We […]

Update on FirstPort Charges

By Nige on July 27, 2021 at 9:17 am
Type: News Category: Service Charges
Tags: FirstPort

Thought it was worthwhile noting some details about what FirstPort has charged us to date. For each of the 140 properties, each has been charged: So that makes (across all 140 properties): It may be that FirstPort hasn’t taken into account all 140 properties since some of the properties are yet to be registered with […]

Options for Handover

By Nige on July 24, 2021 at 9:14 am
Type: News Category: Handover
Tags: Bloor Homes | FirstPort | Management Company | Vale of White Horse District Council

This post covers the options for handover. Before looking through the options, consider the contrasting objectives of the various parties. This is our take on the drivers: We laid out the following options: Option 1 – Stick with the timetable as set out in the legal agreement Option 2 – Handover to the MC could […]

Handover Planning with Bloor and VWHDC

By Nige on July 24, 2021 at 9:09 am
Type: News Category: Handover
Tags: Bloor Homes | Vale of White Horse District Council

We had a really positive and constructive meeting with Bloor and VWHDC on Fri afternoon. The primary focus was on the high-level approach to handover, rather than any specific detail. However, we did catch up on the opening of the play areas(s). Key points: We agreed the principle of opening up the play area(s) in […]

Update on FirstPort Properties in Debt Position

By Nige on July 23, 2021 at 9:07 am
Type: News Category: Service Charges
Tags: FirstPort

Latest figures from FirstPort on the number of properties that have a debt position (i.e. those that owe money to FirstPort). Total properties that owe money is now 12 (excluding Soha properties). Max amount owed by those property-owners is £46. Let me know if anyone believes they owe more than this. Due to the low […]

Recent Correspondence with FirstPort

By Nige on July 22, 2021 at 9:04 am
Type: News Category: Service Charges
Tags: FirstPort

As residents, this is what we have sent to FirstPort, bearing in mind that we are in credit so we don’t need to pay anything at this point: As a heads up and to ensure we are clear, open and honest about next steps: 1. We will be challenging the admin fee and any costs […]

FirstPort Account Statements

By Nige on July 21, 2021 at 8:50 am
Type: News Category: Estate Management
Tags: FirstPort

We don’t know whether anyone is actually interested in seeing their FirstPort statement – there’s nothing exciting in here to be honest. We have circulated one for info. The FirstPort team have only just worked out how to create these “post-dated” statements. You can now request your statement from the standard email address: ceoxfordandberkshire@firstport.co.uk.

FirstPort Complaints Process

By Nige on July 19, 2021 at 8:48 am
Type: News Category: Estate Management
Tags: FirstPort

A link to details of the FirstPort complaints process: https://www.firstport.co.uk/…/CustomerComplaint-A5-PS…. Interestingly, they are a member of The Property Ombudsman service (TPO). Details of the TPO fees can be found here: https://www.tpos.co.uk/…/forms/TPOE39-20-SectionA.pdf. Not only does FirstPort pay a membership fee each year, but they have a fair usage limit of 3 complaints that can be referred […]

Update on FirstPort Payment Extension Request

By Nige on July 19, 2021 at 8:46 am
Type: News Category: Service Charges
Tags: FirstPort

Sorry we are posting so much this morning, but we keep getting emails/calls which are very relevant to other residents! Latest update – response from FirstPort to our request for an extension of the payment terms. We had asked for an extension to end Sep. In fact it seems things are less complex than that. […]