Annual General Meeting 2024 & Open Meeting

Date & Time: 18 July 2024, 6:30pm
Venue: Woolwich Works, SE18 6HD

AGENDA

>> Annual General Meeting – Click Here

  1. Welcome and introductions
  2. Agreement to changes to constitution
  3. Election of Committee members
  4. Election of Officers

>> Open Meeting – Click Here

  1. Welcome new committee members
  2. WARA progress since the last AGM:
    • WARA Platforms
    • Service Charge
    • Maintenance
    • Security
  3. Questions and Answers

>> Action Taken Subsequent to AGM – Click Here

  1. Service Charge
  2. Maintenance
    .

Note: Thank you for your contributions on the day of the meeting towards the cost of the room.

Annual General Meeting

Welcome and introductions

Agreement to changes to constitution

Proposed changes to the constitution
“[The Committee] will comprise four lease-holder members from each Phase.  Lease-holders from each Phase will be invited to meet, in person or online, before the AGM.  Nominations may be received before or at this Phase meeting.  If the person nominated is not in attendance they must have indicated their willingness to stand.  If at the meeting there are four nominations, these will be considered elected.   If there are more than four persons nominated, members of the Phase attending the AGM will decide which of these four is elected.  If there are less than four persons nominated, members of the Phase attending the AGM may elect additional persons.” 

Vote Results

Attendees in the room submitted their vote for each proposed change using a mobile online application. All changes agreed with majority. Screenshots of the result are at the this page.
  • Change from 3 members per phase to 4. Agreed.
  • Change to allow the committee to co-opt people mid year and confirm at next AGM. Agreed
  • Change for 3 officers (Chair, co-chair and treasurer) to be elected at the AGM and secretary to be selected by the committee. Agreed.
  • Change for the committee meetings to be held in-person or online. Agreed.

The new (current) constitution amended by the AGM 18th July 2024.

Election of Committee members

  • Nominations were requested before the AGM.
  • There were four phase meetings for nominations on 25th and 26th of June.
  • Residents had the opportunity to nominate themselves at phase meetings or via contacting WARA.
  • Waterfront and Cannon Square phases received 4 nominations each, to be confirmed at the AGM.
  • WARMC and Warren need one more nomination each.
  • Confirmed committee members had the opportunity at the AGM to stand for one of the officer roles.

VOTING – 10 minutes

Attendees for each phase divided into groups and voted for their nominated members.
All nominations confirmed.

Election of officers (Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer)

End of AGM

.

OPEN MEETING

Welcome new committee members

WARA progress since the last AGM

WARA Platforms

Since the last AGM, we have developed two online platforms to communicate with leaseholders and tenants more effectively. They are a website and a mailing list:

WARA Website
  • www.wara.london
  • Content: Events, News and Updates for action areas (Service Charge, Maintenance, Security, Communication), Useful Information
  • ‘Contact us‘ page: Please use this page to send your messages to WARA, your association.
Mailing List
  • 315 subscribers at the time of the AGM. (414 subscribers, 5 weeks after the AGM).
  • To send information to subscribers.
  • Please refer other residents to the website to subscribe.
  • For more effective communication, please keep your mailing list profile up-to-date.

Service Charge

Achieved So far:
  • 2 Courses on how to perform a Section 22 review
    • 45 attendees
    • Multiple S.22 done/in progress
  • Over £200,000 returned to leaseholders across the estate – RBG’s decision not to invoice RA (and Kidbrooke) for bins
  • Cross building investigation into STRATA billing for internal works
    • Highlighted a few errors, mostly okay
  • Corrected overcharged electricity error in West Carriage House Accounts
  • Monies refunded for B20 – following S.22 reviews (Done personally)
    • £6,000 due to accounting error (not picked up by auditors)
    • £350 strata billing error, £500 invoices not relating to B20
    • £1,086 for gross overcharging on door closer
    • £500 for not following S.20 major works procedures
    • £1,200 for scaffolding charged without any viable reason
      • Total C. £10K – £1,000 per leaseholder
      • Outstanding – Illegal invoices, S.20 breaches, conflict of interest – £4,000
    • Contributed towards reduction in Major works costs from circa +£180,000 to £90,000
  • You can do the above for your building
  • Collected accounts for:
    • All 4 estates
    • 18 out of the 38 buildings
  • Compiled picture of additional R&R fees across the development. (Need accounts for other 18 buildings to complete.)
  • Continued collating of Issues arising
  • Compiled Details of additional fees paid to R&R across RA
Some Recent Issues Noted
  • Building 22. Under collection by R&R March 23 year
    • Budgeted amount to collect: £367,309 Actual Amount collected: £284,045
    • Variance: 22.7% out- £83.3K
  • Waterfront GYM: Under collection in March 23 year.
    • Budgeted amount to collect: £461,244 Actual Amount collected: £311,071
    • Variance: 32.6% – £150K
    • Under collection isn’t leaseholders not paying it is R&R Billing incorrectly.
  • Canon Square – Estate A-F: Under Collection in March 23 years
    • Budgeted amount to collect: £131,136 Actual Amount collected: £120,731
    • Variance: 10% – £13,4K
  • Canon Square Commercial – Estate A-F: Under Collection in March 23 years
    • Budgeted amount to collect: £11,977 Actual Amount collected: £1,045
    • Variance: 91.3% – £10,932
    • Result leaseholders owning property the following year fill the gap
  • B46- Potential missing money in the accounts.
    • Reserve expenditure: £15,250 Details of Expenditure: £8,198
    • No information on the missing expenditure
  • Some worryingly low levels in the reserves.
    • WHC reserves- expected reduction in reserves 50-60% in 23-24. (no significant maintenance work done)
    • B22 reserves (circa 400 flats) – down to £96K
    • B47 – £29,500 (circa 50 flats)
    • As a comparison B20 full external maintenance work- just under £100,000 –(originally quoted at £180,000+ )– 10 flats.
  • B20 illegal invoices – outside the 18 months time limit
  • A £31,000 Creditor sitting on WARMC accounts since 2019
    • R&R don’t know what this is. (Money owed to other phases)
  • Inaccurate quotes WHC – 3rd. cheapest contractor chosen
  • Unjustifiable costs to replace lighting in WHC- £40K+ spent to save £2,719 a year (cost at height of energy crisis)
  • WARMC- potential painting of R&R office at our expense, unusual data in the quotes
Currently working on:
  • BH constant breaches of the Law (due to R&R work) for S.22s
  • Potential over charging of £110-£130,000 within WARMC accounts- been charged for Bin Hire.
  • FTT
  • Uniforms – high level of expenditure
  • £54,000 spent on gates WARMC
  • No quotes, ever (outside of S.20s)
Going forward:
  • More S. 22 courses for residents
  • A Service Charge Q&A evening
  • Writing to auditors- quality of work
  • Trying to achieve a culture of Quotes within R&R (none done at present),
  • Supporting Building Committees
  • Recruitment and other staff costs
  • Transparency, transparency, transparency
  • Writing to Berkeley Homes with list of Issues
Accounts Needed for further investigation:

Buildings 23, 36A, 48, 49, Amphion, Biring, Clement, Devereaux, Drummond, East Carriage House, Forbes, Gun Carriage Mews, GABES, Goldsmith, Hampton, Imperial, Judde, Major Draper Street, Norton.

If you are a leaseholder of any of the above buildings, please Contact Us to provide a copy of audited accounts year end 2023 (The audited account is not your service charge demand and doesn’t include your personal information).

If you want real change- You need to Act
  • Attend the next S.22 course
  • Consider a committee for your building

Maintenance

Maintenance Workstreams:
  • We the committee are invested in the general upkeep and maintenance of our buildings and the estate.
  • By gathering information on recurring issues and pushing for improvements in processes, the committee wants to work towards a high standard of facilities management for all our community.
Our Objectives:
  • Working with R&R to improve on their service delivery in a cost-effective way and in a timely manner conforming to RICs Codes of Practice.
How we can achieve our objectives:
  • By collecting information from the various developments which reflect common problems and to share and follow up with R&R to monitor their response.
  • It is therefore imperative that issues are reported back to the WARA website to follow up.
  • Improved means of communication i.e. a Maintenance Portal.
  • MyPlace Portal is to be launched by R&R later this year. What would this offer:
  • A self-service platform that can be accessed wherever you are.
  • Headline information about your development, your premises, your changes and a library of important documents.
  • You’ll be able to raise and track requests directly to the Property Management Team.
Section 20 Notices:
  • Section 20 notices are a requirement that the freeholder owner of leasehold flats consult with the residents of those flats if they are planning to pursue significant physical work on the properties for which the leaseholder will be asked to spend more than £250.
Committee’s involvement:
  • Raise observations on the proposed works.
  • Have the opportunity to recommend a contractor to be invited to tender.
  • Scrutinize tender returns.
  • Inspect completed works.
Current Projects:
  • Retro fitting of LED lighting and controls.
  • Fire Safety Regulations.
  • Ropeyards Development.

Security

  • Any criminal activity must be reported to the POLICE.
  • See WARA website Security Page for the following:
  • How to report Crime
  • Greenwich Neighbourhood Watch contact information

Questions and Answers

Q: Is there a list somewhere of each building from each phase?
A: Available on WARA website: A list of Royal Arsenal Buildings and Phase

Q: Can Berkeley Homes provide a free room for meetings?
A: We are always looking for places we can meet for free. Regular committee meetings are usually ok as we only need a small room, but the open meetings like the AGM need a much bigger space, which can be tricky to get for free.

Q: How will minutes from this meeting be shared after this meeting?
A: We are sharing the slides from the event (with the voting results) and this Q&A sheet on WARA website. These will be sent out via the WARA email list.

Q: Is the Residents Association and Mailing List only for leaseholders or is it also for renters?
A: The residents committee is primarily for leaseholders, but we do have a place for a non-leaseholder/tenant. The mailing list is available for all residents and leaseholders.

Q: Can we change R&R?
A: As above, we are not seeking to change R&R. On an estate as large and complicated as the RA, this would be an extremely difficult task and there is no guarantee that any replacement would be better.

Q: Where R&R overcharge us and need to return money, do they need to pay interest?
A: We don’t think they are required to do this.

Q: Theft in buildings is becoming a big issue – what steps can we take to request CCTV at every building entrance to try to make buildings more secure?
A: Leaseholders are able to make suggestions and complaints to R&R regarding CCTV coverage and the Committee may decide to support this. However, installing more cameras may be costly (it would be added to the service charge).

We are encouraging all residents to report every incident of theft, antisocial behaviour etc. to the police through the appropriate channels (e.g. 101/online) to ensure there is an accurate picture of the volume of crime on the estate and to encourage the police and R&R to take action.

Q: is there a cashless way to donate?
A: We do not currently have a way to take cashless donations, but we are working on this at the moment and will distribute details as soon as we have any progress. We are very conscious of wanting to be absolutely transparent as far as any finances are concerned.

Q: The EV chargers in the area are not maintained. One in Cannon Square parking was a fire hazard. Whom from the committee I can speak to help with this?
A: We recommend making direct complaints to Podpoint (who run the chargers) and R&R. The committee can’t take on individual complaints and issues (due to potential scale), but we do want to collate them and identify common themes.

End of Open Meeting
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Action Taken Subsequent to the AGM

(This is done by individual committee members).

  1. Service Charges: Notified Berkeley Homes that they had broken the law on at least 11 occasions in the past 18 months because their Managing Agent had not responded to Section 22 requests (Landlord and Tenant Act 1985) correctly.
  2. Service Charges: Wrote to the directors of R&R on the behalf of 90 leaseholders from WARMC phase regarding over £100,000 of potential discrepancies in Bin Hire charges; a £31K creditor;  a £30K decorating cost – Investigation Ongoing*
  3. Maintenance: Helped several leaseholders in Building 50 write formal observations on some upcoming roof works (S.20 procedures for major works) & proposed 2 contractors that R&R must use to get quotes for this work – Next steps= R&R produce scope of works and get quotes*

*Emails were sent to the relevant leaseholders (WARMC and B50) asking them to be in touch if they wanted to be involved in 2 and 3.  The dates for 3 have passed but if you are within WARMC (Buildings numbered from 20-50) & want to be part of  the WARMC investigation (no work required)  then please let us know. 

A meeting has been arranged by a leaseholder on a different development regarding dealing with Rendall and Rittner. This is NOT hosted by WARA or anyone at the Royal Arsenal. If you are interested in going this meeting, click this link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-rendall-rittner-free-online-conference-tickets-1000009253597?aff=oddtdtcreator

Membership
We are now 400 members, but if we want real change and to become recognised we need more of the development to be involved. If your neighbour, friend, RA gym buddy, whatever,   hasn’t yet joined-please ask them to. Strength in Numbers.

Screenshots of the votes during the AGM for proposed changes to the constitution.

Background of the meeting

  • All residents and leaseholders of the Royal Arsenal were invited to attend.
  • Invitations were sent via email, social media and printed copies.
  • Invitations for joining the committee were sent out:
    • Join Our Committee: This year, we are looking to expand the committee. We need fresh perspectives and enthusiastic voices from each phase of our estate.
    • Four short online meetings were organised and delivered for leaseholders (one meeting for each phase) to identify four representatives/volunteers from each phase to join the committee (WARMC 25th June, Cannon Square 25th June, The Warren: 26th June, Waterfront: 26th June).
    • Nominations were also available by direct contact:
    • Interested in joining the committee but you were not able to make the above times? Please send us a message before 5pm of the specific phase meeting date of your building using our ‘Contact Us’ page with your name and building/phase and let us know you are interested joining the committee.
  • Information about new changes to the constitution was published on website.