Page 5 - Royal Arch at The Mailbox Proposal

2.1.3
Responsibility for some parts of the building is not clear including where “boundary lines” are between the freeholder (Brockton) and the residential leaseholders.
Clarity over responsibility for each part of the building is essential to ensure building maintenance regimes both in the immediate and longer term are e ective for all parties and of course, to ensure costs are appropriately incurred by the relevant party.
We would intend to support Royal Arch Management Limited in resolving these matters and would be happy to lead the discussions with Brockton, if required by the Directors, in this regard.
Our proposed approach will, at this stage, be based on starting from scratch. In the rst instance, it may be necessary to review the original Head Lease, transferred to Royal Arch Management Limited from Crosby, alongside all associated plans, and then overlay the changes made as a result of building changes, speci cally the relocation of the entrance to Royal Arch Apartments. This factual on-plan information can be used to aid discussion on potential resolutions with all parties.
Mainstay would also need to gain a practical understanding of the current building operation, post building changes, and the responsibilities that are thought to exist between each party, from the Directors. A schedule of current areas in dispute would also be required, to ensure each one is resolved in turn.
The information gathered can then be used to enable Mainstay to support the Directors in resolving this with Brockton, through discussion, agreement and negotiation (if required) either by supporting Royal Arch Management Limited in those discussions or by holding those discussions with Brockton directly.
External solicitors and/or consultants may also be required, or indeed may already be involved, in order to progress and nalise any agreement between the parties on this issue. Such additional resource would only be engaged following approval by Royal Arch Management Limited.
2.1.4
The Accounts for the year to 31 March 2017 have still not been presented and it is likely that these will show a de cit on a number of expenditure items for which the reasons are still unclear.
We understand that where accounts are unclear and the year-end poses a de cit, it can present a challenging situation.
In our recent appointment at another development, we have been faced with a similar situation. To address these concerns a section 20(b) notice was served and an external auditor appointed to format the accounts adopting a customer friendly approach. All leaseholders were requested to notify us of any questions and a leaseholder meeting was held to clarify the de cit and help better planning. We were able to provide an ‘FAQ’ that gave an explanation for their concerns.
To resolve the unclear de cit we undertook an internal audit along with the client, on the invoices that were provided by the previous Managing Agent so we could better understand the reasons, such as an apportionment error on expenditure lines.
2.1.5
The Budget for 18/19 has not been commenced and whilst we do not expect signi cant change we do need this to be properly prepared and then approved.
We will commit to work with the Directors on setting next year’s budget as soon as possible after appointment, to ensure the budgets are prepared and produced in good time.
At Mainstay we continually seek new ways to improve our service delivery and we have developed a number of formats to produce transparent and user friendly budgets in partnership with our clients.
5
Mainstay Management Proposal: Royal Arch Management Company Limited