Monday, February 20, 2006
An Englishman's Home
My own castle has felt decidedly under siege the last year or so. Someone called me tetchy last week - this is the culmination of just one of the reasons why. Here is an e-mail I received from one of my neighbours on Sunday - the names have been changed to protect ... well, no-one in particular.
"Dear All,
This is just to let you know that I bumped into Chris from number XXX in the car park last evening. I asked him if he was still withholding his service charge payments and, because we had heard nothing from him for some time and he has not replied to any correspondence, whether or not he still considered himself a part of the Residents' Association.
In summary, he is up to date with paying his service charge, thinks the Residents' Association is " a waste of time" and is "not getting us anywhere". He also said he "hasn't got time" to attend any of "these meetings" (I think we've had one in the last 6 or 9 months), and wasn't interested in receiving any further correspondence in connection with the Residents' Association.
He was unaware that has admitted some culpability for the condition of the windows and that the company has also admitted their service has been inadequate - and he didn't know {management company} has offered a contribution to the sinking fund. Presumably this is because he hasn't bothered to read any of the correspondence he's been copied in on.
Of course, any member of the Association is perfectly entitled to do as they please over paying the Service Charge (or not) - but in view of the circumstances ,I do think it might have been courteous for Chris to let us know that he had decided to opt out of the "protest" and was no longer interested in the Residents' Association. Presumably he'll also be happy to "opt out" of his share of any financial settlement agreed with {management company}!!!???
We're all very busy people and none of us are doing this for fun, or the good of our health - this is taking up far too much of my time, but I'm simply not prepared to be ripped off by {management company} any longer. And I think recent developments have shown that our persistence is finally paying dividends, and we must keep up the pressure on {management company} to further increase their contribution to the replacement windows scheme/pay compensation for neglect of our property. Four of the six leaseholders in our block are firmly behind the protest, and there is every intention to enlist the support of the new owner of number XXX once that sale is completed.
Regards"
A few of the points in here are valid, I'll admit - I haven't bothered to read any of the e-mails since the author of the above wrote one to complain to the rest of us about the "undesirable characters" hanging round next door, and that someone should tell the mother of the girl about it - but most of them are open to argument. E.g. the correspondence I've been "copied in on" makes no mention of anything about the windows compensation, I've checked, and I've received no e-mails from them between 28th November and last Friday - and they're keyed to get through the spam filter too, so it's not that.
Since, at this point, I'm clearly off the writer's Christmas card list, I wouldn't normally feel particularly inclined to hold back on a reply, but as I said to the author on Saturday, I have other things that come higher up my priority list than this to worry about - plus, getting no reply from me is probably the most annoying thing for her, she'll be aching for a fight!
"Dear All,
This is just to let you know that I bumped into Chris from number XXX in the car park last evening. I asked him if he was still withholding his service charge payments and, because we had heard nothing from him for some time and he has not replied to any correspondence, whether or not he still considered himself a part of the Residents' Association.
In summary, he is up to date with paying his service charge, thinks the Residents' Association is " a waste of time" and is "not getting us anywhere". He also said he "hasn't got time" to attend any of "these meetings" (I think we've had one in the last 6 or 9 months), and wasn't interested in receiving any further correspondence in connection with the Residents' Association.
He was unaware that
Of course, any member of the Association is perfectly entitled to do as they please over paying the Service Charge (or not) - but in view of the circumstances ,I do think it might have been courteous for Chris to let us know that he had decided to opt out of the "protest" and was no longer interested in the Residents' Association. Presumably he'll also be happy to "opt out" of his share of any financial settlement agreed with {management company}!!!???
We're all very busy people and none of us are doing this for fun, or the good of our health - this is taking up far too much of my time, but I'm simply not prepared to be ripped off by {management company} any longer. And I think recent developments have shown that our persistence is finally paying dividends, and we must keep up the pressure on {management company} to further increase their contribution to the replacement windows scheme/pay compensation for neglect of our property. Four of the six leaseholders in our block are firmly behind the protest, and there is every intention to enlist the support of the new owner of number XXX once that sale is completed.
Regards"
A few of the points in here are valid, I'll admit - I haven't bothered to read any of the e-mails since the author of the above wrote one to complain to the rest of us about the "undesirable characters" hanging round next door, and that someone should tell the mother of the girl about it - but most of them are open to argument. E.g. the correspondence I've been "copied in on" makes no mention of anything about the windows compensation, I've checked, and I've received no e-mails from them between 28th November and last Friday - and they're keyed to get through the spam filter too, so it's not that.
Since, at this point, I'm clearly off the writer's Christmas card list, I wouldn't normally feel particularly inclined to hold back on a reply, but as I said to the author on Saturday, I have other things that come higher up my priority list than this to worry about - plus, getting no reply from me is probably the most annoying thing for her, she'll be aching for a fight!
posted by Chip : 23:19
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