OCRA Limited
Ocean Court, Richmond Walk, Plymouth. PL1 4QA
Telephone 01752 509825 e mail : or
______
May15th 2016
Dear Members
Twenty SecondAnnual General Meeting
We are sending the Accounts for the year from 1 January 2015 to 31stDecember 2015. Please ensure that you retain these accounts – they are required for any future flat sale when solicitors will require you to produce 3 years of accounting records. As usual we also invite you to attend the formal presentation of the accounts at the company’s AGM on Thursday 9th June at 6.30pm at Plymouth Albion’s function room, The Seddon Suite. Lisa Lowe, our Accountant will present the accounts to any leaseholders wishing to attend.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
A ) If you are able to attend the AGM please let us know on the slip attached so that seating can be organised.
B ) If you are unable to attend we would also ask you to return the proxy overleaf so that a proxy vote and apologies can be recorded.
The agenda will be: -
- Ratification of the Minutes of the last Annual General Meeting held on 11 June 2015
- Statutory Accounts and Financial Report for the year ended 31st December 2015 presented by the Company's Accountant, Mrs Lisa Lowe
- Chairman’s report
4. Questions
As usual, your Board will be happy to answer any questions relating to the Accounts but we would ask that any questions be submitted by 1 June2016 to allow the Board the opportunity to type up the questions and answers for circulation to all leaseholders prior to the meeting. Names will be included against individual questions.
Yours sincerely,
The Board of OCRA Limited
NOTIFICATION OF ATTENDANCE
I/we ______of ______Ocean Court will be attending the Annual General Meeting on Thursday 9th June 2016
Or
NOTIFICATION OF NON ATTENDANCE AND PROXY FORM
This form, appoints a proxy, (usually the Chairman) although this can be anyone present at the meeting, to vote on your behalf. In appointing a proxy your name will automatically be recorded in the official Minutes of the meeting. Please complete and sign the official proxy form below and return it as soon as possible but not later than 1 June 2016 to the office.
......
Annual General Meeting – Thursday 9June 2016
Voting by proxy
I / we ______of ______OCRA Limited being member(s) of the above named company, hereby appoint the Chairman/______as my / our proxy to vote in my / our name on my / our behalf at the Annual General Meeting.
Signed ...... Date ......
------
If you wish to register a question please also complete the form below.
OCRA Limited
Ocean Court, Richmond Walk, Plymouth. PL1 4QA
Telephone 01752 509825 e mail :
I/We wish to table the question detailed below
OCRA Limited
A Company Limited By Guarantee
Annual General Meeting – Company Matters - A Report from the Board
------
1.The Board of Directors
Mr Ken Johns - Chairman Mr Mike Dally Mr Alan Knight
Mrs Chrissie Wooldridge Mr Chris May Mrs Ann Griggs
Mr Lewis Bowman
Mrs Karen Powell is the Company Secretary.
2. Professional Services
Directors recommend the re-appointment of Wolferstans as Company Solicitor and the appointment of Mrs Lisa Lowe of Lowe Henwood as the Company Accountant.
3. Other matters – annual report from the Chairman – Mr Ken Johns
Although we have had a good year, it has been marred with the passing of 4 our members, David Hardwick, Ian Hamilton-Jones, George Millar, and Russell Soper. David was one of the first residents of the new apartments, whilst Russell was one of the first owners at Ocean Court. George and Ian as you know were both Directors of OCRA; Ian had been a Director for 17 years, Chairman for 9 of those. George so loved the job of being a Director he even served on the board twice!! They are all sadly missed.
We are pleased to report that Ann Griggs has joined us on the board and I know she will have a lot to contribute. As you know, Ann has lived at Ocean Court for over 20 years, so there is little she does not know about the complex.
As you will see from the accounts, we made a surplus last year, and the additional £100 being paid by each shareholder has certainly helped the reserves which are now growing nicely. The account detail will, as usual, be fully explained at the AGM by Lisa Lowe, our accountant.
From a maintenance angle, we have started to see some of the balcony tanking starting to fail which is only to be expected having been laid almost 50 years ago. I raise this as members should be aware that whilst it is OCRA’s responsibility to make good the repairs to the balcony, it is not their responsibility to remove or replace any decking or tiling that has been laid by the owners.
During the year, it was brought to the board’s attention that a couple of the flats were being used as bed and breakfast and holiday accommodation, which is contrary to our lease and insurance. This is actually a far more serious breach than first appears as in talking with our Insurers, if an incident were to occur involving guests then we would not be covered by our Insurance. This applies not just to personal injury, but also to any claims that might be made, for example in the case of a fire in a holiday rental property. We did seek legal guidance, and were advised that we should act very robustly should we identify any such breach, even seeking forfeiture of lease. The two breaches identified, which I am certain were done in complete innocence, have been rectified, and in both cases the owners were extremely helpful in resolving the issue. Should our Insurance be void, then liability would lie with the Directors and shareholders of OCRA, something your board are not willing to accept. You may be interested to know that even minor injury claims can incur significant costs. As an example, this past year our Insurers agreed an out of court settlement to a claim made by one of our members even though OCRA were not held liable, and subsequently our premiums have not been increased; it is just cheaper to pay £20K than dispute the matter in court.
As some of you will know, there have been many changes to letting legislation since we introduced the lettings policy adopted at the 1998 AGM. One key change is that tenants can no longer be given notice after just 2 months, this having been increased to 4 months which means that any tenant will now have a minimum period of 6 months. Whilst the majority of tenants in the past have been exceptionally good, we have had some bad examples that have caused disruption to the quiet life at Ocean Court. The board have considered these changes and are proposing making some changes to the lettings policy with effect from 1st January 2017. At present, financial and personal references are sought from potential tenants and these have been assessed before approval is given. From January 1st 2017 we are increasing our scrutiny of references and if considered necessary, further references will be sought. Whilst we are not saying this will stop bad tenants, it should help the process of identifying them earlier.
Fees payable on letting have not been increased since their inception in 1999, so the board are proposing that the letting fee be increased from £100 to £125 and that the non-compliance fee be increased from £200 to £350. In addition, where additional work has been caused by the inadequacies of the letting agents (or owners), for example in dealing with noise, leaks and dispute issues, each letter written to a tenant, letting company or landlord has been invoiced to the landlord at a charge of £25 per letter. It is proposed that this is now increased to £35 per communication (including e-mails).
The security cameras are reaching the end of their useful life and will be replaced shortly with the latest system, which will provide much clearer definition. When the new equipment is installed, the board are recommending enhancing the system by providing a number plate recognition facility. (cost would be circa £1000) Whilst this would not change the current operation of the gates, it would remove the need for OCRA members to have tags, as the gates would be pre-programmed with your vehicles registration number(s) and would open automatically as you approached.
So although I am pleased to have been able to report another good year, no AGM would be complete without a mention of balconies or car parking!! So can we remind you all again please to get your balcony fronts cleaned, and if this proves difficult for anyone, we can arrange this to be undertaken for a small fee. With regards parking, again we would ask that car ports are used where possible and if you are not going to use yours for a while, please consider allowing your space to be used by one of your neighbours or even Kevin himself when on site; Kevin will quite happily coordinate any arrangements.
Whilst I may be the Chairman of the organisation, I could not possibly do it alone, and my thanks genuinely go out to my fellow Directors for all the work they do behind the scenes throughout the year, and of course to Karen Powell, our Company Secretary and Kevin Kennedy our site manager.