The Element Newhaven Owners Association (TENOA)

Committee meeting

Date of Meeting Tuesday 16th December 2014

Attendees:

Alan Henderson
Alastair Byres
Graeme Ferguson
Mike Sullivan
Graeme Robertson

Apologies:

Marc Myburgh
Alex McDivitt

Introduction

MS welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced the Agenda. He explained the presence of Graeme Robertson, Insurance Broker, and why Alex McDivitt was not present.

Insurance

Graeme Robertson of Hamilton Robertson confirmed that the previous insurers, Giant, had declined to offer renewal terms on the Buildings Insurance policy for the 7 reasons stated in an email in May 2014 and, in his opinion, the major reason was the intervention of Maurice Gibson with Roger Topping, the Loss Adjuster. One of these reasons being that he advised him that City Factoring had no mandate to deal with insurance claims as their appointment was not valid. This resulted in our insurance premium being increased from £70k to £105k and this will only be reviewed at renewal in May 2015. GR was confident that the 7 points raised by Giant have been addressed and he was confident the premium would reduce to circa. £65-70k.

He confirmed that the Certificate of Insurance has been granted and he has requested this from AMcD on 12th December 2014. He also confirmed that the tests required to obtain the Electrical Safety Certificate have now been completed.

ACTION & TIMESCALE - AMcD to provide copies of these certificates asap

GR went on to provide 4 documents which back up the foregoing, along with other information confirming the duplication of insurance with Ocean Apartments, which has subsequently been cancelled. Additionally, he confirmed the background as to with Keegan & Pennykidd allegedly withdrew there quotation originally given to AH and GF.

Bank Account

MS confirmed the new bank account for the maintenance money had now been approved with details to follow idc. AB also confirmed that he now has access to the existing bank account.

Finances

A summary of the current financial situation took place and it was agreed that there have been no significant improvements over the past few months. The quarterly report provided by AMcD to 30th November 2104 still does not include the creditor analysis which has been requested previously. The figures provided show that in the period from May 2014 the total income was £213,857 and the expenditure was £226,362, resulting in a loss of £12,505 over this 7 month period.

Creditors are estimated by AMcD to be £50k maximum, however, this does not include £40k which is still due to the roofing contractors and in excess of £57 owed to the maintenance fund. Additionally, there are all the routine creditors, ie electricity contracts, lift maintenance contracts etc., the amounts outstanding of which are currently unknown. The current balance on the current account is £25,685 as at 16th December 2014.

The current annual cost of City Factoring to the development is as follows: £45k - management fee, £20K - on site manager, £23.8k - VAT, £8.4k - office rent, and £20k - administration cost. This totals £117.2k.

Due to poor, or non existent maintenance, the development runs the risk of serious disruption to essential services, including water supply, to one or more blocks. GF reported that most of the contractors for essential services will now not undertake work on any Ocean Apartments properties unless payment is made in advance due to the poor payment record of City Factoring.

It was agreed that the current situation is not sustainable and that, as a Committee, we need to take action to protect the interests of owners. A summary of action points is as follows:

a) AH to contact Pamela Bowman to co-opt on to the Committee

b) MS to contact Matt Hansen to discuss Ocean Apartments situation

c) AH to contact James Gibb

d) GR to requote for indemnity insurance which is to be put in place for the Committee

AOB

There was no other business discussed.

Date of next meeting

The date of the next meeting will be advised idc.

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