Following a meeting with Thompson and Moulton in September in respect of an update to issues concerning the building and suggestions given to Thompson and Moulton in order to improve communication with the residents and owners and offer a service worthy of a management fee I have to report the following.
Thompson and Moulton are no longer employed to manage the building, by either the bank or the recievers, Zolfo Copper (acting for the all parties.
1) As such, an update on the Car Park Lifts and whether they are to be replaced, or if possible, have a long term effective repair in place is not forthcoming
2) Furthermore, an update as to the issue concerning the building safety and the 360 degree / top to bottom inspection of the glass panels also remains outstanding.
On both point above a letter will be sent to Zolfo Cooper and a response will be copied to residents who request a copy.
Just when you think you are getting somewhere after two years!
Granted the outages with the carpark lifts are no where near as bad as this time last year, but as we approach the cold/wet season which was blamed for much of the outages last year, it remains to be seen whether (without a permanent solution) we will get through the Autumn / Winter pain free, or with the same outages that caused outrage last year.
If there are any problems residents wish to highlight and get answers to, we have a running dialogue with the building receivers, (who are calling all the shots along with the bank) so just use the forum or leave your contact details (inc email) with John on reception and he'll pass your enquiry through.
Then as I know more I'll update everyone!
Tuesday 26 October 2010
Wednesday 31 March 2010
.....18 months on and still the same problems (and some more thrown in too)
Well, for some of us that have been here since the building opened some 18 months ago, its been an interesting journey. One that you can't help but feel a sense of déjà vu, or recurring dream about.
18 months ago the car lifts would go out of service and we were told
"its just teething problems", "they'll be sorted next week". Read on but in a nutshell, the building has had problems from day 1 and the only change since then is for the worse.
Well taking "next week" as was intended for when the "teething issues" would be sorted the margin of error is some 7400% on that estimate to date, and in those 73 weeks gone, the building has seen untold residents leave through sheer frustration. 73 weeks of having your car locked in the buildings car park, and not being able to get it out and go to work. 73 weeks of failed promises. 73 weeks of excuses and losing business. 73 weeks of being told the building was full and had waiting lists of people waiting to be moved in (suggesting we should be lucky to be here)?
Its not by the way and judging by the empty apartments, many of us think the building is closer to 60% full at best.
Judge for yourself and drive past at night and see how many lights are NOT on!
For anyone who hasnt been informed by their letting agent (i.e. pretty much everyone) that by moving in you are pretty much guaranteed to be late for work every other week (if thats just in the city) and have to pay out for cabs as insult to injury and put up with all manners of crap think carefully about moving in.
The building is in a great spot and could be so much better but a great many people now think that more than a few corners were cut by the developer, knowing they were going to go into administration and as a result, some of those corners might be poor finishes to the interiors, poor fixtures and fittings, others, unsafe car lifts and glass panels falling from 200ft above your head and exploding all over the street.
Back to the car park issue.
Well imagine leaving your house/flat where you live now in the morning knowing you have a 90min drive only to find your car clamped! And then try and get to that meeting/client/work on time if at all? Thats what its like living here. Some residents have lost thousands of pounds in lost business/earnings, some have left because of disciplinary proceedings at work!
Shouldn't we, for the money people pay, be getting that quality product everyone was expecting? According to the actions of the Building Manager, Thompson and Moulton (part of Sutton Kersch), NO.
Its not all about the carlifts either. The passenger lifts in the building are forever breaking down just a regularly as the car ones and the windows, despite having a working crane for window cleaners, have never been cleaned once since the building opened.
What happens now?
In brief, the management company said today that no dates can be given in respect of the issues currently being faced and the car lift that has been in service for approx 14days since Nov 2009, and remains out of service today (the note is there on the left hand lift for all to see) no date, whether next week, next month or next year has been given so chances are, things are not going to change.
I will update this again in the coming days/weeks when other lines of inquiry have started to take effect with Liverpool Council whom issued a section 77 (dangerous building notice) and the Health and Safety Executive, whom are also investigating.
18 months ago the car lifts would go out of service and we were told
"its just teething problems", "they'll be sorted next week". Read on but in a nutshell, the building has had problems from day 1 and the only change since then is for the worse.
Well taking "next week" as was intended for when the "teething issues" would be sorted the margin of error is some 7400% on that estimate to date, and in those 73 weeks gone, the building has seen untold residents leave through sheer frustration. 73 weeks of having your car locked in the buildings car park, and not being able to get it out and go to work. 73 weeks of failed promises. 73 weeks of excuses and losing business. 73 weeks of being told the building was full and had waiting lists of people waiting to be moved in (suggesting we should be lucky to be here)?
Its not by the way and judging by the empty apartments, many of us think the building is closer to 60% full at best.
Judge for yourself and drive past at night and see how many lights are NOT on!
For anyone who hasnt been informed by their letting agent (i.e. pretty much everyone) that by moving in you are pretty much guaranteed to be late for work every other week (if thats just in the city) and have to pay out for cabs as insult to injury and put up with all manners of crap think carefully about moving in.
The building is in a great spot and could be so much better but a great many people now think that more than a few corners were cut by the developer, knowing they were going to go into administration and as a result, some of those corners might be poor finishes to the interiors, poor fixtures and fittings, others, unsafe car lifts and glass panels falling from 200ft above your head and exploding all over the street.
Back to the car park issue.
Well imagine leaving your house/flat where you live now in the morning knowing you have a 90min drive only to find your car clamped! And then try and get to that meeting/client/work on time if at all? Thats what its like living here. Some residents have lost thousands of pounds in lost business/earnings, some have left because of disciplinary proceedings at work!
Shouldn't we, for the money people pay, be getting that quality product everyone was expecting? According to the actions of the Building Manager, Thompson and Moulton (part of Sutton Kersch), NO.
Its not all about the carlifts either. The passenger lifts in the building are forever breaking down just a regularly as the car ones and the windows, despite having a working crane for window cleaners, have never been cleaned once since the building opened.
What happens now?
In brief, the management company said today that no dates can be given in respect of the issues currently being faced and the car lift that has been in service for approx 14days since Nov 2009, and remains out of service today (the note is there on the left hand lift for all to see) no date, whether next week, next month or next year has been given so chances are, things are not going to change.
I will update this again in the coming days/weeks when other lines of inquiry have started to take effect with Liverpool Council whom issued a section 77 (dangerous building notice) and the Health and Safety Executive, whom are also investigating.
.....Letter to Agents re: Health & Safety investigation at Alexandra Tower Liverpool
OPEN LETTER TO LETTING / ESTATE AGENTS
(copy of letter emailed today to City Residential 31/03/2010)
Re: Car Parking at Alexandra Tower
Dear Sirs,
We would like to bring to your attention the difficulties that have been experienced by residents of Alexandra Tower, 19 Princes Parade, Liverpool, L3 1BF, specifically those relating to the car park attached to the building with access via a lift system.
We believe that there is ‘material information’ enclosed in this letter for which a statutory obligation for letting agents exists, in respect of disclosing said ‘material information’ to prospective tenants, enquiring about residing in Alexandra Tower.
It is noted that City Residential has been the principle agent for this building in both the residential lettings and residential sales capacity. However, other agents whom are acting in respect of this building will receive the same correspondence.
Parking not fit for purpose
It is argued by a number of residents with parking spaces and many of the Otis lift engineers whom have attended the building and effected temporary fixes of the lift, that the lift system installed is not fit for purpose. It has routinely been subject to long term mechanical failures owing to poor design, ineffective materials and components installed at the outset, and an incorrect software configuration.
Whilst, for the majority of the time, one lift does remain working, having a single access point in itself is cause for concern, but when combined with the faulty software the overall outcome is one of considerable delay. Sometimes these delays can be up to 45min at peak times to either enter or leave the car park.
At times, the failures result in a total loss of access to the car park, thereby trapping vehicles in the building, and preventing others accessing the car park to store their vehicles. This causes severe disruption, not limited to, loss of earnings and additional travel costs.
We are sure you can appreciate that over the last 18 months, with such prevalent problems, many tenants have decided not to renew their contract upon expiry. We are personally aware of more than a dozen such residents in the last 3 months alone. You will likely be aware of this, owing to some departing via your agency.
The recently formed Residents Committee has consulted with residents and the management company in a bid to solve the parking issue for the benefit of all concerned parties.
For your information, there is also an ongoing dispute between the buildings management agent (Thomson and Moulton), the developers (Millennium Estates) and their subsequent receiver (Zolphur Cooper), the controlling bank (Barclays), the original installer of the lift (Sheridan Lifts Limited ) and Otis, whom are currently attempting to manage the maintenance and ongoing issues of this known problem.
With so many parties to the dispute, and the magnitude of the problem at hand, the last 15 months have seen absolutely no progress to put in place a suitable resolution. At the time of writing the car parking system has seen a total outage to both lifts no less than 5 times in the last few days (3 of which alone were on the evening of Friday 8th) and a further complete outage from approx 7am yesterday the 11th to the afternoon of that same day
However, despite this abundance of information, we feel that despite yours, and other agent’s obligations, many residents whom have moved in over the last 6 months have not been made aware of the ongoing issues in the building, specifically in respect of parking. This is somewhat troubling when it can be argued that the issues have become widespread, well documented and well publicised by current residents and those leaving.
We can only guess that such omissions are an oversight on your part and that of other agents, likely as a result of office miscommunication and we are sure you wish to address this and prevent further omissions.
Statutory Obligations
Whilst we are sure, as such a prominent entity in the Liverpool residential market you value both residents and landlords and wish to offer a good service, we wanted to reiterate to you and all other agents, of your statutory obligations as we appreciate that sometimes there maybe a communication breakdown in an office environment preventing accurate and timely information getting to front line staff who will be handling queries about the properties you act as agents for.
Quite often, residential letting agents do forget about their obligations in respect of disclosures, or are perhaps not aware of them. We are sure that any such omission of any disclosure from City Residential if such an omission has taken place, has been, as indicated, an oversight.
We are also making sure that residential agents are aware that in recent years it is now also a criminal offence for an estate/letting agent to make certain statements about a property which are false or misleading.
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
The new Act, which some agents may not be aware of, prohibits 'agents' (letting or otherwise) omitting material information from consumers, if that omission might cause the consumer to take a different decision. (See section 6 of the Act)
Material information is defined within the act as 'information which the average consumer needs, according to the context, to take an informed transactional decision'.
We would argue that the mechanical failures and the subsequent disputes between the parties mentioned earlier in failing to resolve the matter are material enough to warrant disclosure. However, with many residents having left (including those through your office) and more planning to leave upon tenancy expiry, citing the parking issues as the principle reason, that this would be further grounds for disclosure under ‘material information’ as prescribed by the act.
The possibility of lost earnings, additional travel expenses, damage to motor vehicles on the public highway and employment issues in respect of lateness and/or absence as a direct consequence of the car lift failure is also grounds for disclosure of ‘material information’ as all of the above have been experienced by numerous residents on numerous occasions.
The intention of this letter is to both remind all agents as to their obligations, and ascertain whether they will be disclosing the ‘material information’ to prospective tenants?
It must also be noted that The Health and Safety Executive are currently investigating residents safety concerns highlighted to them on recent admission by the management company, that a lift had been in service for a period of time with safety issues and subsequently taken out of service, which has remained out of service since Feb 10th this year.
If you are in any doubt as to the veracity of this correspondence we would encourage you to contact the buildings management agent (Thomson and Moulton), and speak to Tudor Roberts (0151 482 2567). He can confirm the authenticity of the issues this letter highlights. Failure to do so would not be considered a suitable defence to a breach of the act as the obligation is on the agent to take all reasonable steps to ensure compliance.
For the avoidance of doubt, we will include all residents, whether they have parking or not, within our residents updates and/or meetings. However, for the purpose of the ‘material information’ as prescribed by Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and the intention of this letter for you to disclose such information, we do not currently deem letting agents liable for non disclosure to potential tenants in respect of properties without allocated parking. Furthermore, as prescribed in the act an omission is considered to have taken place upon your prior knowledge of material information, which you subsequently do not pass on to the consumer, whether or not they specifically ask for it.
Taking this point further, it would not be considered reasonable for the consumer to question an agent as to any conceivable issue that may or may not arise and as such, omissions in the context of the act, are limited to known information on your behalf.
We are sure you will be aware of this, however, it maybe prudent to make this point clear to your frontline staff.
As such, we deem this sufficient notice given to you, and other letting agents, of the current issues effecting Alexandra Tower which are deemed ‘material’, to enable you to comply with your statutory duties. Whilst we do not expect any agent to defy their statutory obligations, the Residents Committee will ensure that all new residents to the building will be given access to our findings/correspondence/meetings and in doing so, confirmation sought as to whether the car parking issue was informed to them prior to signing a tenancy agreement.
We would be grateful if you could confirm by return, your receipt of this correspondence and your intentions in respect of disclosing the information to potential tenants of this building.
(copy of letter emailed today to City Residential 31/03/2010)
Re: Car Parking at Alexandra Tower
Dear Sirs,
We would like to bring to your attention the difficulties that have been experienced by residents of Alexandra Tower, 19 Princes Parade, Liverpool, L3 1BF, specifically those relating to the car park attached to the building with access via a lift system.
We believe that there is ‘material information’ enclosed in this letter for which a statutory obligation for letting agents exists, in respect of disclosing said ‘material information’ to prospective tenants, enquiring about residing in Alexandra Tower.
It is noted that City Residential has been the principle agent for this building in both the residential lettings and residential sales capacity. However, other agents whom are acting in respect of this building will receive the same correspondence.
Parking not fit for purpose
It is argued by a number of residents with parking spaces and many of the Otis lift engineers whom have attended the building and effected temporary fixes of the lift, that the lift system installed is not fit for purpose. It has routinely been subject to long term mechanical failures owing to poor design, ineffective materials and components installed at the outset, and an incorrect software configuration.
Whilst, for the majority of the time, one lift does remain working, having a single access point in itself is cause for concern, but when combined with the faulty software the overall outcome is one of considerable delay. Sometimes these delays can be up to 45min at peak times to either enter or leave the car park.
At times, the failures result in a total loss of access to the car park, thereby trapping vehicles in the building, and preventing others accessing the car park to store their vehicles. This causes severe disruption, not limited to, loss of earnings and additional travel costs.
We are sure you can appreciate that over the last 18 months, with such prevalent problems, many tenants have decided not to renew their contract upon expiry. We are personally aware of more than a dozen such residents in the last 3 months alone. You will likely be aware of this, owing to some departing via your agency.
The recently formed Residents Committee has consulted with residents and the management company in a bid to solve the parking issue for the benefit of all concerned parties.
For your information, there is also an ongoing dispute between the buildings management agent (Thomson and Moulton), the developers (Millennium Estates) and their subsequent receiver (Zolphur Cooper), the controlling bank (Barclays), the original installer of the lift (Sheridan Lifts Limited ) and Otis, whom are currently attempting to manage the maintenance and ongoing issues of this known problem.
With so many parties to the dispute, and the magnitude of the problem at hand, the last 15 months have seen absolutely no progress to put in place a suitable resolution. At the time of writing the car parking system has seen a total outage to both lifts no less than 5 times in the last few days (3 of which alone were on the evening of Friday 8th) and a further complete outage from approx 7am yesterday the 11th to the afternoon of that same day
However, despite this abundance of information, we feel that despite yours, and other agent’s obligations, many residents whom have moved in over the last 6 months have not been made aware of the ongoing issues in the building, specifically in respect of parking. This is somewhat troubling when it can be argued that the issues have become widespread, well documented and well publicised by current residents and those leaving.
We can only guess that such omissions are an oversight on your part and that of other agents, likely as a result of office miscommunication and we are sure you wish to address this and prevent further omissions.
Statutory Obligations
Whilst we are sure, as such a prominent entity in the Liverpool residential market you value both residents and landlords and wish to offer a good service, we wanted to reiterate to you and all other agents, of your statutory obligations as we appreciate that sometimes there maybe a communication breakdown in an office environment preventing accurate and timely information getting to front line staff who will be handling queries about the properties you act as agents for.
Quite often, residential letting agents do forget about their obligations in respect of disclosures, or are perhaps not aware of them. We are sure that any such omission of any disclosure from City Residential if such an omission has taken place, has been, as indicated, an oversight.
We are also making sure that residential agents are aware that in recent years it is now also a criminal offence for an estate/letting agent to make certain statements about a property which are false or misleading.
Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008
The new Act, which some agents may not be aware of, prohibits 'agents' (letting or otherwise) omitting material information from consumers, if that omission might cause the consumer to take a different decision. (See section 6 of the Act)
Material information is defined within the act as 'information which the average consumer needs, according to the context, to take an informed transactional decision'.
We would argue that the mechanical failures and the subsequent disputes between the parties mentioned earlier in failing to resolve the matter are material enough to warrant disclosure. However, with many residents having left (including those through your office) and more planning to leave upon tenancy expiry, citing the parking issues as the principle reason, that this would be further grounds for disclosure under ‘material information’ as prescribed by the act.
The possibility of lost earnings, additional travel expenses, damage to motor vehicles on the public highway and employment issues in respect of lateness and/or absence as a direct consequence of the car lift failure is also grounds for disclosure of ‘material information’ as all of the above have been experienced by numerous residents on numerous occasions.
The intention of this letter is to both remind all agents as to their obligations, and ascertain whether they will be disclosing the ‘material information’ to prospective tenants?
It must also be noted that The Health and Safety Executive are currently investigating residents safety concerns highlighted to them on recent admission by the management company, that a lift had been in service for a period of time with safety issues and subsequently taken out of service, which has remained out of service since Feb 10th this year.
If you are in any doubt as to the veracity of this correspondence we would encourage you to contact the buildings management agent (Thomson and Moulton), and speak to Tudor Roberts (0151 482 2567). He can confirm the authenticity of the issues this letter highlights. Failure to do so would not be considered a suitable defence to a breach of the act as the obligation is on the agent to take all reasonable steps to ensure compliance.
For the avoidance of doubt, we will include all residents, whether they have parking or not, within our residents updates and/or meetings. However, for the purpose of the ‘material information’ as prescribed by Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and the intention of this letter for you to disclose such information, we do not currently deem letting agents liable for non disclosure to potential tenants in respect of properties without allocated parking. Furthermore, as prescribed in the act an omission is considered to have taken place upon your prior knowledge of material information, which you subsequently do not pass on to the consumer, whether or not they specifically ask for it.
Taking this point further, it would not be considered reasonable for the consumer to question an agent as to any conceivable issue that may or may not arise and as such, omissions in the context of the act, are limited to known information on your behalf.
We are sure you will be aware of this, however, it maybe prudent to make this point clear to your frontline staff.
As such, we deem this sufficient notice given to you, and other letting agents, of the current issues effecting Alexandra Tower which are deemed ‘material’, to enable you to comply with your statutory duties. Whilst we do not expect any agent to defy their statutory obligations, the Residents Committee will ensure that all new residents to the building will be given access to our findings/correspondence/meetings and in doing so, confirmation sought as to whether the car parking issue was informed to them prior to signing a tenancy agreement.
We would be grateful if you could confirm by return, your receipt of this correspondence and your intentions in respect of disclosing the information to potential tenants of this building.
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