Response from Scanlans
Bernadine
electricity arrears have now been paid from a 'charging error'
discovered from earlier this year in management compnay finances. It
isnt clear if this charging error relates to The Forge or has come
from somewhere else. However, this still leaves an increase of £408
per flat for 2010. Scanlans are proposing a series of reductions in
the frequency of communal cleaning and gardening which everyone is
being asked to vote on by Jan 4th to reduce the costs further. I am
asking for a copy of the accounts so I can see exactly what the
service charge has been spent on and why no surplus has built up in
four years.
I think we should consider looking for a new managing agent for the
development. I believe this requires a proportion of flat owners to
want to change. I am aware of at least one other company doing a
decent job elsewhere and we could find out about others if there is
agreement.
James
I don't find it acceptable at all that they have suddenly [after we
have complained] found a charging error. If we had not complained,
what would have happened?
I emailed Jo Whalley at Scanlans asking for detail as to what this
charging error was and at what value but have had no response.
It all seems very strange to me and would certainly agree that a new
management company is needed.
Regards,
James
Robin Fuller
The points being made are all valid, and although we are having to interpret some of the 'reasons' being offered by Scanlans, at this stage we still do not know exactly how the 'charging error' came about.
Nonetheless, in my view, any managing agent worthy of the name would have known that electricity was being used, and should therefore have provided for the inevitable charge in our past service charges. This is a fundamental point. How can they not have spotted the absence of an electricity bill? They should have queried it much earlier, and they could have accrued the charge. They might even have read the meter and worked it out. It's not that hard.
And now there is the discovery of the 'charging error', which is affecting our confidence too.
On a separate (and personal) point, because I am rarely in residence at The Forge these days, I arrived at the flat one day in October and discovered Scanlans had referred my outstanding service charges to the solicitors for collection, but without giving me reasonable notice. This has now incurred legal and court fees. All my other charges related to the flat are paid by direct debit, but Scanlans do not accept this type of payment, so I rely on receiving invoices from them. However, because I have received no invoice from them for over 18 months (I believe they have the wrong flat number), I try to remember when the charges become due. Scanlans did not try to contact me in any other way before passing it to the solicitors. Their reaction to my complaint about this was totally dismissive, and they would not contemplate that their billing records might have been at fault.
For these reasons, I would strongly support a proposal to change the agent.
Regards
Robin Fuller
Hi Bernadine,
Regards,
James
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4704 (20091220) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4704 (20091220) __________
The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.
Nikki Jackson
Nikki Jackson | Director | www.thewhitecloset.co.uk
Charlotte Munt
I have asked Jo at Scanlans to give us longer than the 4th Jan
deadline to agree the changes as I don't think this gives us time to
fully digest it all. I have asked her to detail the specifics of the
contracts for what the gardener, cleaner, and window cleaners actually
do as i do not feel we are getting value for money.
Currently the cleaners come once a week and hoover - nothing else.
The window cleaners come once a month (apparently) but do not actually
clean every single window. I have been at home on numerous occasions
and noticed that when cleaning the downstairs bay windows, they don't
always do the small side ones. (I have actually called up in the past
to report this when noticed it.)
All the gardeners do when they come is mow the lawn and blow the
leaves away. My parents come and do the weeding, dead heading, pick
up rubbish, and clean out the bin store.
I would like to see a full break down of services to ensure that
regardless of how many times a month/year these things get done, they
are being done to the highest standard.
Please can other people request a more reasonable deadline than the
4th Jan as this simply isn't long enough with it being Christmas. If
it is requested by others as well they may be more likely to agree.
Thanks,
Charlotte
James
I emailed Jo @ Scanlans regarding the 4th January deadline and also
about the 'charging error'. Below is the response.
Without wanting to sound overly suspicious, I do find the answer to
this charging error quite worrying. I was under the impression that
the proposed service charge increase was to pay the electricity bill
since we moved in but they now seem to be saying there was a budget
provision for electricity from 2006-2008 amounting to 1.9k (so why did
they forget about this?). The other charging error of 1.6k wipes out
the remainding electricity debt.
I'm finding this confusing without having the info to refer to.
Anyone any ideas or know a good forensic accountant willing to work
FOC?
James
---------------------
James,
In reply to your email below, I now respond to the issues raised as
follows.
1. The Forge’s financial year commences from 1st January so we would
be grateful if you could get as close the 4th Jan as possible to
enable monies to be collected and invoices to be paid in a timely
fashion.
2. In regard to the charging error, there are 2 Forge Apartments on
our system and after reviewing the finances it was discovered that a
couple of invoices were wrongly allocated to The Forge (Chorlton)
which left sufficient funds to clear the remainder of the electricity
arrears amounting to £1610.92, there was a further surplus in the
funds created by the carrying forward of the previous years
electricity budget provisions 2006 - 2008 amounting to £1900.
In regard to your other points 1 and 2.
I have asked a contractor to look into sensor operated lights and your
point regarding the heaters is a problem on other Developments which
has been resolved by taking the necessary means to disable them and I
will get a contractor onto this matter also.
I trust the above answers your queries sufficiently, however should
you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me.
Regards
Jo
Jo Whalley
Property Manager
Scanlans Property Management LLP
Visit our new Property Management Website at www.scanlanspropertymanagement.com
0161 233 3065
0161 236 8531
73 Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3JN
On 21 Dec, 15:59, Charlotte Munt <charlotte.m...@googlemail.com>
wrote:
Robin Fuller
I don’t know about the need for a forensic accountant, although it is clear (at least to me) that Jo Whalley is no accountant herself.
I agree that her note is confusing, and I wonder if she meant to write 'insufficient', rather than 'sufficient'?
I suspect the message is supposed to relay the following story (but please do ask her to clarify)!
1 Scanlans incorrectly allocated some electricity invoices to The Forge (Chorlton) - but we don’t know what was their total value (do we?)
2 This left insufficient funds to pay the correctly charged invoice of £1610.
3 However, Scanlans had actually created a provision on our account of £1,900 in order to pay out the actual invoices when they arrived, so there is now (quite possibly) an overprovision of £290? (£1900 less £1610)
It is not clear to me whether they actually used our funds to pay the invoices that were mis-allocated to our account. If they had, then this would explain why we had no funds to settle the correct charge when it came in.
What we need to see is the whole history of the electricity account, showing the invoices, the payments, the provisions and the corrections. Then it might become clear.
Good luck!
Regards
Robin
-----Original Message-----
From: the-forge...@googlegroups.com [mailto:the-forge...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of James
Sent: 21 December 2009 17:01
To: The Forge, Chorlton
Subject: Re: Response from Scanlans
__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4706 (20091221) __________
Rich G
previous, clowns. It is not our problem if they do not have the
ability to process invoices/billing correctly.
This really is becoming one ludicrous joke.
> http://www.eset.com- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -