Progress on Handover

By Nige on May 8, 2021 at 10:28 am
Type: News Category: Handover
Tags: Announcements | Bloor Homes | Chamonix Estates | Management Company | Public Open Space | Vale of White Horse District Council

Update on Handover: Following on from the update on work on site after a call from our Adoptions Manager yesterday, we thought it was worth letting everyone know we also talked further about the handover process.

Key points:

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• Reminder that the real focus of “handover” is in the Public Open Space (POS), which will be transferred from Bloor to the Management Company (MC). The residents will fund the MC which will be responsible for covering the costs of ongoing maintenance of the POS. So, effectively the residents will be paying for the grass cutting, upkeep of all the planting and any repairs required. Add on fees from estate managers and the like and it comes to around £32,000.
• The Bloor Adoption Manager re-emphaszied Bloor’s intention on adhering to its legal obligations to cover the maintenance costs over the 12 months between practical completion and final completion.
• Reminder that we haven’t yet reached a point of practical completion. That will only occur when an inspection is organised with VWHDC and VWHDC confirm they are happy with the state of the POS.
• We have been banging on to everyone about avoiding any delay between “handover”, (broadly defined as being the point at which the warranty period comes to an end for the POS) and the time it takes for the land to transfer from Bloor to the Management Company and the point at which an EGM can be organised and the residents can take control.
• Land transfer is likely to take up to 3 months to complete and we don’t want Bloor to only start that process at the end of the warranty period. The general consensus is that we can’t have an EGM until the MC has the land in its possession. We’ve tried to challenge that, but no one seems to want to play ball.
• The Bloor Adoption Manager understands our desire to take control as early as possible and has agreed that there is no reason why Bloor wouldn’t be happy to initiate the transfer of land 3 months prior to the expected end of warranty. This would allow for an EGM to be called immediately upon the transfer of land and the end of the warranty period. Thus reducing the risk of any delay before the end of warranty and the residents taking control.

We are going to put that verbal agreement in writing to ensure Bloor do not try to extricate themselves from Bloor Adoption Manager’s commitment. But we think that’s quite a big win for the residents:

• We still get the extra 12 months of free maintenance.
• We reduce the risk of any delays in taking control.

Our next big challenge is in trying to avoid Chamonix continuing to skim fees off the top of the money that the MC has in its reserves, for doing absolutely nothing…