Page 18 - ref C_PBC to BEGG Prejudice PLUS

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6_Mrs Hillgarth maintains that no mention was made of Surveyor Fees at any time (this despite her recommend- ing her own preferred Surveyor, Mr Courtney Manton) and MHML had not indicated on the 22 June 2014 s.20 Notice that the final costs included Surveyor Fees - this despite the s.20 making quite clear all costs included vat and fees. We did point out this inclusive of vat and fees and indeed made clear it would have been to our advan- tage not disadvantage to have stated all costs were ex vat and fees. We preferred one total transparent outlay.
7_Mrs Hillgarth has made various requests for identifying “missing” funds which has been replied to, as indicated in emails since mid 2014 and subsequently in correspondence, that any funds not required for the 2014 works remained in Reserves.
8_Mrs Hillgarth maintains that the £2000 contribution per lessee (initially agreed with her at a board meeting on 23 May 2014) to fund the Works’ budget of £105,019 as only £98,262 was available in Reserves, was indicated to be also used for the subsequent 100% required voluntary agreement and individual payment contributions from each lessee for a communal TV/Sky and new Water Tank installation. This was not true as made clear in all correspondence and made all the more impossible as Mrs Hillgarth refused to pay her £2000 agreed contribution and canvassed some other lessees to also withhold their contributions. Eventually all were paid by mid October, some six weeks into the works’ schedule.
9_Mrs Hillgarth makes great play over her request for spare keys. Keys were requested, ordered, advised as such to Mrs Hillgarth, and as correspondence at the time evidences, Mrs Hillgarth was in arrears on all agreed additional funds, the £2000 and indeed the TV/Sky and Water Tank contributions. As well documented in corre- spondence at the time following a final breakdown in relationship due to what I considered to be her devious and untrustworthy attitude following a previous visit, I made it clear that it was not appropriate for us to meet without a third party present so as to substantiate or witness events. This was to protect me, not Mrs Hillgarth.
10_Mrs Hillgarth attended my flat unannounced to collect her keys, with a Police officer in attendance. I showed her a Royal Mail red card stating not delivered as a fee to pay (the keys). I also made clear that until she paid her arrears of the agreed £2000 I would not supply her keys as she could not simply cherry-pick what she was insist- ing upon (keys) and ignoring her financial agreed obligations so jeopardising the works’ financing.
11_This could be the reference to blackmail as indeed it was not only Mrs Hillgarth withholding her agreed contri- butions but those few lessees she had canvassed and misinformed. As such, as evidenced in correspondence at the time, MHML made clear that in the absence of the agreed £2000 from certain lessees, it would result in some cancellations of works within the Schedule of Works and any lessee who had paid their contribution would receive a refund. We adopted the same offer to those having paid their share of the TV/Sky and Water Tank and would revert to an s.20 for the Water Tank (which we did and issued one) as that was an urgent situation, but would cancel the communal TV/Sky install. Thankfully, despite some further correspondence, all lessees eventu- ally paid all their contributions, in some part because Mrs Hillgarth agreed to, due to her tenant illegally installing a satellite dish on the roof. Hence the reference to me wandering around in my underwear no doubt.
12_I think coercion, as opposed to Blackmail and Intimidation, by making clear the parlous situation of (a) fund- ing the works, (b) the urgency of the Water Tank for the safety of all concerned including Mrs Hillgarth’s sub-let tenant (and other sub-let tenants) and (c) the economics of utilising our scaffolding to adequately install both the Water Tank and TV/Sky whilst in situ (a 100% necessity for both Tank and TV/Sy install) but only in situ for per- haps only two more weeks.
13_the various other comments made by Mrs Hillgarth in her Witness Statement are addressed in the attached Addendum which when perused alongside my previous comments on her Witness Statement forwarded last week on 27 October do somewhat decimate it for accuracy as usual.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Brown-Constable
Segar Karupiah/Dima Intl.
encl. Misc references including Basement Bureau!
Mitre House Management Limited