Status of Handover

By Nige on October 3, 2022 at 11:06 am
Type: News Category: Handover
Tags: Announcements | Bloor Homes | Vale of White Horse District Council

Sorry for the long delay since the last update! Not a great deal happening recently from a Bloor Homes perspective, but there has been some movement in the last few days.

So what’s the status of the handover between Bloor Homes and the Management Company we hear you ask? Latest update is below:

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• We have held two pre-inspection meetings between Bloor Homes, the council (VWHDC) and the RA, with the last being on 1st March 2022. The council agreed to document a list of all of the items that were outstanding, with a view to these being the actions that Bloor Homes needed to complete before receiving a Certificate of Practical Completion.
• Getting a Certificate of Practical Completion effectively says that Bloor has done everything they need to do on site. You don’t need to shout that there are lots of things they still need to do! We know!
• After receiving a Certificate of Practical Completion, they are still responsible for maintenance and warranties etc for at least one year, before a final inspection, then formal handover takes place to the Management Company.
• Unfortunately, the council has done nothing in over 6 months. No notes or actions have been issued after that last pre-inspection meeting, even though Bloor Homes and we have been chasing them. We suspect they are simply short-staffed and very disorganised. The last guy we were liaising with (who was very good) reported that he was no longer responsible for handovers but he wasn’t clear who our new contact was!
• As we have all noticed, Bloor Homes hasn’t really been doing that much on site recently. They were waiting for the council to issue the final list of work items they needed to complete.
• Due to the council dragging their heels, Bloor Homes have decided to start some of the work that they know is outstanding. That includes: removing the fencing that has been behind the sub-station for months, finishing off the pump station with a new fence around it, sorting out the ragwort and finishing off the lighted bollards.
• They have decided to wait for instruction from the council on clearing out the growth in the balancing ponds and also in respect to the footpath. The footpath is with the council’s Planning Inspector to look into the quality of the path. There’s been no progress on that in the last 6 months either.
• Whilst all of this is delayed, at least the residents are not paying a service charge as such. So we will save another £35,000 or so this year as a result of Bloor Homes continuing in their responsibility for the public open space.

Feel free to raise any questions or concerns here.