Letter to Greenbelt – Maintenance Charges

Please find below a copy of the letter I sent to Greenbelt this morning on behalf of BAG. I have also received today confirmation from Persimmon that they have been advised that Coventry City Council will be holding a Cabinet meeting in early December to ratify the proposal for their adoption of Linear Park.

Owners/residents can copy various sections to compile your own letters to Greenbelt seeking clarification and justification of their charges.

As you will see from the letter we have requested,

“For sake of good order, we request that you issue a notice advising the owners and residents of Bannerbrook Park that in view of the above Greenbelt will be cancelling the current invoices for the period September 2016 to February 2017 and that following once ratified you will be issuing a final invoice to cover the period from September to 31^st December 2016.”

We shall also be writing to Persimmon to instruct Greenbelt to withdraw these invoices until their fees and charges have been justified, agreed and re invoiced for the period September to 31^st December 2016.

Meanwhile we would recommend that anyone paying Greenbelt for their current invoice should make the statement with their payment that the maintenance invoice is being paid “Under Protest”.

Kind regards

 

Graham Harper

For and on behalf of BAG.

 

Greenbelt

Mc Cafferty House

99 Firhill Road

Glasgow

G20 7BE

1^st November 2016

Dear Sirs

Re Bannerbrook Park Maintenance

I have been asked to write to you on behalf of Bannerbrook Park Action Group regarding your latest invoices referring to the period from 1^st September 2016 to 28^th February 2017.

As you may be aware Persimmon are currently in negotiation with Coventry City Council regarding their adoption of Linear Park. We have been advised by Persimmon and also by Coventry City Council that these arrangements are scheduled to be completed before the 31^st December 2016.

Persimmon have also advised us that at this time the Persimmon directors will resign from Bannerbrook Park Management Company and the running of Bannerbrook Park Management company will pass to the owners and residents.

Knowing this we previously requested that the maintenance fees due at the beginning of September were only to up to the end of December 2016 as at this time Bannerbrook Park Management company will be making alternative arrangements for the maintenance of the remaining areas.

We were therefore surprised that your invoices cover a 6 month period and not the 4 months as requested.

We have the following questions and queries that we require your answers to assist us reconcile your charges and the handover process to Bannerbrook Park Management Company to the owners and residents.:-

• We have been advised by Persimmon that there are a total of 352 properties on the North side of Bannerbrook Park who are contracted to pay maintenance fees. How many properties have Greenbelt amortised the current 6 month maintenance fees between?

• We understand that several properties have been invoiced with differing amounts? When we purchased our properties we understood that each household would pay an equal amount?

• How many properties did Greenbelt invoice with the previous 12 months maintenance charges?

• Please confirm how many houses on our estate were invoiced for the previous period, the total amount invoiced by Greenbelt and the total amount outstanding to Greenbelt from the previous 12 months maintenance?

• Referring to the previous 12 month maintenance charges, what are the current Credit and Debit accounts for Bannerbrook Management company?

• You have applied an annual management charge of to the 2015/6 billing period. What does this figure include and who agreed to this admin charge, when we first purchased the properties we were told the annual maintenance fee would be in the region of £100?

• What is included in the £1,500 fee referred to as “account filing”?

• Please confirm what the items marked “Routine Maintenance” refer to and provide a breakdown and details of the charges applicable.

• In your letter you refer to “a significant amount of work is still involved”. Can you please confirm what this refers to as we are now entering the winter period and there is less work?

• Can you please confirm the details of the contract Greenbelt have with Persimmon regarding Bannerbrook Park?

• As the park maintenance is completed by a subcontractor to Greenbelt, please confirm exactly what services Greenbelt are contracted to perform and what your agreed rates/mark ups are?

As stated above, we expect the transfer of Linear Park to be completed by 31^st December at which time we propose having other arrangements in place as from 1^st January 2017 when the services of Greenbelt will no longer be required.

Previously many of the residents paid the maintenance invoices “Under protest”. The foregoing underlines our concerns and the need for justification of the previous and proposed management fees.

We await your replies and responses to our queries and questions outlined above.

For sake of good order, we request that you issue a notice advising the owners and residents of Bannerbrook Park that in view of the above Greenbelt will be cancelling the current invoices for the period September 2016 to February 2017 and that following once ratified you will be issuing a final invoice to cover the period from September to 31^st December 2016.

Yours faithfully

 

Graham Harper

For and on behalf of BAG.                                                                         cc Persimmon