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works by 12 months due to her failed RTM application (her Solicitors demanded the withdrawal of our Section Notices) and in fact it was Mrs Hillgarth who was insisting that the Internals and the Externals be progressed over a two year period as opposed to MHML recommending they run concurrently for sake of economy and disturbance and most importantly before our Freeholders set their Solicitors onto us for breach of our lease covenants...
Unbelievable - exactly the opposite of Mrs Hillgarth’s statement in the above para (16) - as all cor- respondence supplied to date makes abundantly clear.
17Work on this project was eventually started in September 2014, but had been preceded by some two years of detailed, intensive and frequently acrimonious correspondence. There was a wide divergence of opinion within the block about the appropriate extent, cost, style and timing of the work to be done. How- ever it was clear that 6 out of 9 leaseholders (ie all except the three current MHML directors) had a broadly similar view about the appropriate decor. Of these three directors it was in reality only Mr Brown- Constable who appeared to have a view and to decide anything. So far as I could see, the other two di- rectors could not care less.
(comment/reply) I think it already well established and proved in correspondence that there never was a 6 out of nine, nor any recognised majority.
Vote-rigging
18 On 7 June 2012 Mr Brown-Constable wrote in an e-mail to one of the leaseholders Susanna Fortunati (who was then Susanna Gnecco, from Flat 9): "If I've said it once, I've said it a dozen times. It doesn't matter what you or I want - its what the majority want". However he was himself unwilling, in practice, to respect the wishes of the majority. When alternative scenarios were put to them, 6 out of 9 flats voted for a "classic" look (as opposed to the "Belle Epoque" look favoured by Mr Brown-Constable). However Mr Brown-Constable engineered the vote by claiming that Samya Riad (Flat 4) had voted for "Belle Epoque" (she hadn't) and by consulting the tenant of Christopher Leigh-Pemberton (Flat 8) rather than Mr Leigh- Pemberton himself.
19 Mr Brown-Constable actually admitted this in writing on 11 June 2012 when he wrote to Susanna Gnecco and other leaseholders: "I admit to everything, including unsuccessfully trying to fiddle the vote Guilty as charged." And then he simply proceeded to ride roughshod over the wishes of the majority by arrang- ing for the premises to be decorated in the style and colour scheme which he had favoured from the out- set. According to Tony White, the owner of the contracting firm A&R lawrence & Sons Limited, who carried out much of the work involved, this was also strongly against his advice.
(comment/reply) this can be added to the previous fantasies of “old girlfriends”, “basement office” etc Correspondence supplied to date fully evidences the circumstances which this “ask a silly ques- tion and get a silly answer” situation arose.... I could add Mrs Hillgarth’s email to me stating (re decor) “ You choose!” - which she later downgraded to “I said that because that’s what you wanted to hear!!!” And yes, a hard copy of those emails was supplied in previous correspondence.
20 The Section 20 process
Regulations produced under Section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 establish procedures for landlords, management companies and their managing agents in the private sector to consult their lessees and tenants before entering into certain kinds of expenditure paid for from service charges. Because a substantial sum of money was to be incurred on the Mitre House refurbishment and recov- ered from us through the service charge it was necessary for MH ML to inform and consult us through a Section 20 process. The objective of the Section 20 process is to ensure that the scope and specification of the works, and the contractors to carry it out, are duly approved by a majority of the leaseholders. However despite repeated requests we were never able to see a properly drawn scope of works or spec- ification.
(comment/reply) this is typical Hillgarthesque rubbish - correspondence to date comprehensively makes the situation clear. All required s.20 Notices were published including those Mrs Hillgarth vetoed or her Solicitors did.
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