BATH CHAMBERS RESIDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
Residents’ Association Meeting Minutes
24th of October : 19:30 @ The Roebuck pub
Minutes of Agenda items:
Read through previous MoM and actionS
- It was agreed as this had already been sent out to most attendees, new attendees could be sent the minutes individually after the meeting and this item was skipped. Action complete
Collate AOB discussion topics:
- Some points regarding noise of students and some tenants not having carpet (as per stipulations of the leases) brought up were added to the scope of the “Review team” which will start work once the RA has been approved by the 1 st-tier Property Tribunal.
- Whilst waiting for the “Review team” to start their work could all leaseholders ensure their tenants are as considerate as possible, particularly students, and that they are compliant with the lease and have noise-reducing floor coverings Action All
Major Works:
- The residents’ association officially requested UP for a penalty-free instalment option for the “major works” – challenging the “Administration fees” on the 3-month & 6-month instalment plans, as per the letter sent to leaseholders on the 24th of Sept. An email was sent to UP from the bathchambers.ra@gmail.com email account on the 16th of Oct. No reply has been received.
- Comments made in the meeting identified that some leaseholders have already negotiated penalty-free instalment plans for the major works.
- Incorrect calculations: Discussion also covered discrepancies in the bill for the major works, where the mistake on some bills was only a typo (with the total being correct) and with others, UP have incorrectly calculated the total. With regards inaccurate calculations that some are experiencing, discussion identified that some recalculations of apartment sizes happened between 15 and 20 years ago. This effort identified (based on the actual square footage of each apartment) what the correct share of costs should be for each apartment. It was speculated that some leases may not have been updated at this time to reflect the recalculated amount. If anyone is experiencing discrepancies like this – they should be flagged to the Residents’ Association so we can understand the full picture and work with UP on that.
Urbanpoint email to leaseholders
- A request was sent to Urbanpoint on the 16th of Oct requesting assistance in contacting all the leaseholders. So far there has been no response.
- It was suggested that representatives per house might be able to assist here and so the following groups were identified to contact leaseholders directly within the houses:
- Bath House; Rom & Tota
- Devonshire House; Joe, Jon & Roanna
- Trinity House; Danielle & Rebecca
Residents Association registration Requirements & Costs
- The following were discussed in the meeting as being required to set up a legally recognised Residents’ Association
- The RA must have a Constitution which members sign up to 60% (51% absolute minimum) annually signed residents’ list
- On contacting the 1st-tier Property Tribunal a judge confirmed that an electronic method of gathering signatures from tenants is acceptable and so this method will be used as the primary way of gathering signatures along with the subscription in the website we are working on.
- Request of recognition from Urbanpoint must be made – even if it is not responded to
- Legal recognition of a residents’ association by a Rent Assessment Committee costing c.£200
- No two officers of the RA to live in the same household o A secured website for RA members is recommended which will have an ongoing cost – paid for out of the membership fee o Liability of RA – A note was made that mention in the constitution of indemnity should be modified to state that cover will be provided by insurance paid for out of the fee. Action Complete o Discussion identified that £5 annual charge is probably not enough and so £30 P/A charge recommended. Action to change the amount in the constitution complete
Residents’ review group update
- No updates to report apart from additional scope items already mentioned previously in these minutes.
AOB
- N/A
Select a Chair, a Treasurer and any other roles for residents’ association
- This point was deferred to the next meeting as a quorum of people, as defined by the constitution, was not present. Action deferred and quorum modified to 20%
Next meeting set for 21st of November – Venue and Date to be confirmed via posters in the hallways as upstairs at The Roebuck is already booked for another event