Post by Mark on Feb 10, 2014 13:11:18 GMT
Dear resident
I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Senior Property Manager for Dalston Square to give you an update on the financial issues surrounding your development. As you may be aware, your current Development Manager Sean Stone is leaving Dalston Square on the 11th Feb 2014 and I am pleased to advise that we have appointed a new Development Manager Gerald Bernard who will be joining the Team on Monday 3rd February. Gerald can be reached by email on gerald.bernard@consortpm.co.uk or in the office on 020 7249 0896. I’m sure you will all welcome Gerald in his new role.
March 2013 year end accounts
The service charge year runs from 1st April to 31st March. As Managing Agents we are required to prepare and audit the accounts within 6 months of the year end i.e. by 30th September each year. If for any reason we are not able to circulate the accounts within this time frame, Section 20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 states that we have to provide you with our best estimate of the accounts at that point in time which you will have received in September 2013.
The reason we weren’t able to provide you with fully audited accounts within the timeframe was in the main due to the fact that there are electricity meters on site that power various different areas and without check meters being installed we were not satisfied that we could reasonably and accurately apportion the electricity charges to the different schedules within the accounts. We were concerned that not having check meters in place potentially means that the Landlord meters for a block of flats could be powering external areas or car park lighting so those areas have to be separated from the internal block electricity charges.
The installation of check meters has been completed and therefore we are now in a position to finalise the March 2013 year end accounts. You can expect to receive your copy within the next 8 -10 weeks and I can confirm that as advised in the Section 20B notice issued in September 2013, there will be a deficit against the budget in some cost heads. This means that you may receive a year end adjustment invoice from us in order to recover the deficit (this depends on which block you live in and when you moved in).
This invoice (if applicable to you) is likely to coincide with your invoice for the new budget year starting on the 1st April 2014 with both payments falling due at approximately the same time. We appreciate that this will impact greatly on cash flow for many people and therefore we would like to emphasise that monthly direct debit payments can be arranged. If you would like to take advantage of this payment option, please contact our customer services team to arrange a payment plan.
Please note that service charge invoices are only payable from your legal completion date. Therefore many Phase 3 residents will not receive March 2013 year end adjustment invoices as the majority of units were not occupied during this period.
2014-2015 Budget
At the beginning of each financial year, the lease requires us to set a budget. The budget is set based on the anticipated expenditure for the year and the known expenditure for the previous year. The money then has to be collected in advance to enable us to provide the services set out in your lease.
We are currently working on the budget for the new financial year however I wanted to make you aware at the earliest opportunity that there is going to be an increase in the forthcoming year for the following reasons:
Salaries
Salary costs will be increasing in the new budget. There are currently 8 fulltime Concierge staff employed on site, all of which have had salary reviews to reflect the minimum London weighting on hourly rates. The budget has to take into account their annual salaries and associated costs with a provision for temporary staff to cover their annual leave (each Concierge is entitled to 20 days per year) and sick leave as we need to have 2 Concierge on duty at all times.
In addition, as the scheme is now complete we need to recruit a fulltime Assistant to be based in the Management Office supporting the Development Manager. We will be actively recruiting for this role to coincide with the new service charge year.
Cleaning
The cleaning strategy has also been reviewed in order to address concerns with the standards which haven’t been as high as we would have liked. This is as a direct result of lack of funding which in turn led to understaffing. We have therefore awarded a contract to a new contract cleaning company with effect from the 1st April. This has had an impact on costs and although it will take the contractor a short time to bring the site up to standard, we are confident that you will benefit from this change. Please note that we have also made a provision within the new budget for a 6 monthly carpet clean.
Window cleaning
The window cleaning contract has also been awarded to the same cleaning contractor and this has actually decreased the budget from last year.
Insurance
A review of the policy has taken place. The review looks at location, claims history and market conditions. As a result there has been an increase in the premium for the forthcoming year.
Electricity
The size of our Company means that we are able to use our extensive buying power to pass on considerable savings to our customers. This means that the meters supplying Dalston Square benefit from the reduced rates that we obtain from the bulk purchasing of electricity. In order to meet the current levels of consumption by the lights, lifts, plant and machinery and fire equipment is has been necessary to increase the provision for electricity significantly in the forthcoming year. The savings we make through our bulk purchasing do however mean that the increase is significantly lower than it would have been with the current market rate.
General Repairs
As I’m sure you will appreciate, it is impossible to accurately predict at the beginning of a financial year what repairs may become necessary throughout the course of the year. However it is reasonable to assume that costs will increase as a block gets older. General repairs can be anything from electrical work, lighting, door repairs to the touching up of paint work. I am sure you will all agree that maintaining the common parts, especially the lighting and emergency light fittings is fundamental to the safe enjoyment of your building. Fittings don’t have a particularly long life expectancy due to the amount of use that they have on a daily basis so the budget for general repairs has to reflect this. As a result we have increased this heading in the forthcoming year.
Plant and Machinery (water boosters, lightning protection etc), Lifts and Fire Equipment (Dry risers, AOVs, fire alarms)
Regardless of the age of your block and any warranty’s that may be in place, your equipment has to be maintained and serviced. There are annual maintenance contracts in place across the development but there will always be repairs required outside of these contracts. Please note that lift budgets also have to include the lift phone line and engineering insurance.
Door Entry system and TV aerial system maintenance
In order to ensure you suffer minimal disruption to your ability to access your property and receive television channels it is essential that the budget is sufficient to allow for a quick turn around when breakdowns occur.
In summary, we have made every effort to keep costs down and make savings where possible however we have to balance that with providing you with a high level of service in order to maintain the standards of your home and protect your investment. This has meant that the budget for the forthcoming year is showing an increase on the previous year. We will be sending you your copy of the new budget together with your payment request around the beginning of March.
The budget will be in a completely new format which will enable you to easily identify where there have been increases and decreases from previous years. It will also provide you with explanations for the variances and much more detail on what costs make up each budget heading. The detail within the budget will help us to ensure that our budgets are as accurate as reasonable possible going forwards. .
March 2014 year end accounts
Those residents who have lived at Dalston Square for more than a couple of years will be aware that the service charge invoices for the current year 2013/2014 were kept at the same level as the 2012/2013 service charges. Actual costs however have not remained at the same level. This will therefore mean that there is going to be a deficit for the current year but we aren’t going to be in a position to confirm the level of the deficit until the financial year has ended. I do however want to take this opportunity to reassure you that the deficit in costs against budget has been addressed by raising the budget for the forthcoming year and putting in place much tighter financial controls. Therefore whilst it isn’t possible to accurately predict the financial position in 12 months time, we are happy that the new budget is a far better reflection of the likely costs of managing Dalston Square to a high standard going forwards.
If you have any queries or would like to take up the offer of arranging future payments by direct debit please contact our customer services team on 08451 947044 or email customerservices@consortpm.co.uk.
Yours sincerely
Helen Goldstone BSc(Hons) Land Man
Senior Property Manager
Consort PM
I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as the new Senior Property Manager for Dalston Square to give you an update on the financial issues surrounding your development. As you may be aware, your current Development Manager Sean Stone is leaving Dalston Square on the 11th Feb 2014 and I am pleased to advise that we have appointed a new Development Manager Gerald Bernard who will be joining the Team on Monday 3rd February. Gerald can be reached by email on gerald.bernard@consortpm.co.uk or in the office on 020 7249 0896. I’m sure you will all welcome Gerald in his new role.
March 2013 year end accounts
The service charge year runs from 1st April to 31st March. As Managing Agents we are required to prepare and audit the accounts within 6 months of the year end i.e. by 30th September each year. If for any reason we are not able to circulate the accounts within this time frame, Section 20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 states that we have to provide you with our best estimate of the accounts at that point in time which you will have received in September 2013.
The reason we weren’t able to provide you with fully audited accounts within the timeframe was in the main due to the fact that there are electricity meters on site that power various different areas and without check meters being installed we were not satisfied that we could reasonably and accurately apportion the electricity charges to the different schedules within the accounts. We were concerned that not having check meters in place potentially means that the Landlord meters for a block of flats could be powering external areas or car park lighting so those areas have to be separated from the internal block electricity charges.
The installation of check meters has been completed and therefore we are now in a position to finalise the March 2013 year end accounts. You can expect to receive your copy within the next 8 -10 weeks and I can confirm that as advised in the Section 20B notice issued in September 2013, there will be a deficit against the budget in some cost heads. This means that you may receive a year end adjustment invoice from us in order to recover the deficit (this depends on which block you live in and when you moved in).
This invoice (if applicable to you) is likely to coincide with your invoice for the new budget year starting on the 1st April 2014 with both payments falling due at approximately the same time. We appreciate that this will impact greatly on cash flow for many people and therefore we would like to emphasise that monthly direct debit payments can be arranged. If you would like to take advantage of this payment option, please contact our customer services team to arrange a payment plan.
Please note that service charge invoices are only payable from your legal completion date. Therefore many Phase 3 residents will not receive March 2013 year end adjustment invoices as the majority of units were not occupied during this period.
2014-2015 Budget
At the beginning of each financial year, the lease requires us to set a budget. The budget is set based on the anticipated expenditure for the year and the known expenditure for the previous year. The money then has to be collected in advance to enable us to provide the services set out in your lease.
We are currently working on the budget for the new financial year however I wanted to make you aware at the earliest opportunity that there is going to be an increase in the forthcoming year for the following reasons:
Salaries
Salary costs will be increasing in the new budget. There are currently 8 fulltime Concierge staff employed on site, all of which have had salary reviews to reflect the minimum London weighting on hourly rates. The budget has to take into account their annual salaries and associated costs with a provision for temporary staff to cover their annual leave (each Concierge is entitled to 20 days per year) and sick leave as we need to have 2 Concierge on duty at all times.
In addition, as the scheme is now complete we need to recruit a fulltime Assistant to be based in the Management Office supporting the Development Manager. We will be actively recruiting for this role to coincide with the new service charge year.
Cleaning
The cleaning strategy has also been reviewed in order to address concerns with the standards which haven’t been as high as we would have liked. This is as a direct result of lack of funding which in turn led to understaffing. We have therefore awarded a contract to a new contract cleaning company with effect from the 1st April. This has had an impact on costs and although it will take the contractor a short time to bring the site up to standard, we are confident that you will benefit from this change. Please note that we have also made a provision within the new budget for a 6 monthly carpet clean.
Window cleaning
The window cleaning contract has also been awarded to the same cleaning contractor and this has actually decreased the budget from last year.
Insurance
A review of the policy has taken place. The review looks at location, claims history and market conditions. As a result there has been an increase in the premium for the forthcoming year.
Electricity
The size of our Company means that we are able to use our extensive buying power to pass on considerable savings to our customers. This means that the meters supplying Dalston Square benefit from the reduced rates that we obtain from the bulk purchasing of electricity. In order to meet the current levels of consumption by the lights, lifts, plant and machinery and fire equipment is has been necessary to increase the provision for electricity significantly in the forthcoming year. The savings we make through our bulk purchasing do however mean that the increase is significantly lower than it would have been with the current market rate.
General Repairs
As I’m sure you will appreciate, it is impossible to accurately predict at the beginning of a financial year what repairs may become necessary throughout the course of the year. However it is reasonable to assume that costs will increase as a block gets older. General repairs can be anything from electrical work, lighting, door repairs to the touching up of paint work. I am sure you will all agree that maintaining the common parts, especially the lighting and emergency light fittings is fundamental to the safe enjoyment of your building. Fittings don’t have a particularly long life expectancy due to the amount of use that they have on a daily basis so the budget for general repairs has to reflect this. As a result we have increased this heading in the forthcoming year.
Plant and Machinery (water boosters, lightning protection etc), Lifts and Fire Equipment (Dry risers, AOVs, fire alarms)
Regardless of the age of your block and any warranty’s that may be in place, your equipment has to be maintained and serviced. There are annual maintenance contracts in place across the development but there will always be repairs required outside of these contracts. Please note that lift budgets also have to include the lift phone line and engineering insurance.
Door Entry system and TV aerial system maintenance
In order to ensure you suffer minimal disruption to your ability to access your property and receive television channels it is essential that the budget is sufficient to allow for a quick turn around when breakdowns occur.
In summary, we have made every effort to keep costs down and make savings where possible however we have to balance that with providing you with a high level of service in order to maintain the standards of your home and protect your investment. This has meant that the budget for the forthcoming year is showing an increase on the previous year. We will be sending you your copy of the new budget together with your payment request around the beginning of March.
The budget will be in a completely new format which will enable you to easily identify where there have been increases and decreases from previous years. It will also provide you with explanations for the variances and much more detail on what costs make up each budget heading. The detail within the budget will help us to ensure that our budgets are as accurate as reasonable possible going forwards. .
March 2014 year end accounts
Those residents who have lived at Dalston Square for more than a couple of years will be aware that the service charge invoices for the current year 2013/2014 were kept at the same level as the 2012/2013 service charges. Actual costs however have not remained at the same level. This will therefore mean that there is going to be a deficit for the current year but we aren’t going to be in a position to confirm the level of the deficit until the financial year has ended. I do however want to take this opportunity to reassure you that the deficit in costs against budget has been addressed by raising the budget for the forthcoming year and putting in place much tighter financial controls. Therefore whilst it isn’t possible to accurately predict the financial position in 12 months time, we are happy that the new budget is a far better reflection of the likely costs of managing Dalston Square to a high standard going forwards.
If you have any queries or would like to take up the offer of arranging future payments by direct debit please contact our customer services team on 08451 947044 or email customerservices@consortpm.co.uk.
Yours sincerely
Helen Goldstone BSc(Hons) Land Man
Senior Property Manager
Consort PM