I got a reply from Chris Jones on 25th April (over 6 weeks later) which contained all the ground rent payment invoices.

I asked for the ones that were overdue and NOT all of them!

So I’ve sent Chris Jones another letter (2009-04-27-request-for-ground-rent-arrears-proof.pdf) in an attempt to get the requested information. I have also copied in Penny Holbrook and Sion Simon M.P. who are invoived with the matter.

I feel that the latest reply is simply not satisfactory and hence I have contacted the local M.P. with a brief letter about matters to date.

This is the letter I sent to Sion Simon M.P.:

Dear Sion Simon,

I am writing with regards to some issues we have been having with our estate management company (Residential Management Group Ltd [RMG], formally CPM Asset Management Ltd) and the directors of this company, and I would appreciate your help.

I live at the apartment at 71 City View, Erdington with my wife and we pay a service charge for estate management services.

The main issues are as follows:

1) We have an incorrect balance on our service charge statement and I have been trying for over a year to remove it as all the evidence I have shows that it is incorrect and our solicitor has also confirmed that it is incorrect.

I have copied recent correspondence with this letter which contains the details. However, in brief, we had a few debt collection charges added to our balance which our solicitor managed to remove as the invoices were being sent to the wrong address. However RMG refuse to remove one debt collection charge for an invoice that was again sent to the wrong address.

The balance has increased from having the invalid debt collection charge to that of a greater one for no apparent reason. I have questioned RMG why they chose to remove all the debt collection charges apart from one which was still related to correspondence sent to the wrong address and they have not replied appropriately. They have simply said that it will not be removed. I have also questioned why the invalid balance has increased for no apparent reason and I have not had a satisfactory reply.

Recently a local property manager of RMG told my wife that he had been told by his superiors not to reply to our recent correspondence as they thought that the information on my website blog was not a true representation of matters. My blog simply contains copies of our correspondence. I have asked for dialogue to continue and if there is anything correct on my blog then I am happy to discuss, amend or remove it, but I have not had a reply.

You can see the related blog articles at the following web address:
http://www.karavadra.net/blog/category/my-work-clients/the-mall-2-erdington/cpm-rmg/

When we last spoke to our solicitors they told us that the balance was incorrect but to take matters further we would have to pay legal fees of perhaps a few thousand pounds which would not be recoverable. I did not see the point of paying legal fees to remove and incorrect balance and hence made the matter public on my blog and continued discussions with RMG myself.

We were advised that the constant request for payment of an invalid service charge and inexplicable increases and further threats of debt collection charges being added to our statement seemed to be behaviour associated with bullying and harassment and perhaps we should report the matter to the police or a financial ombudsman.

I contacted all the directors of the company (some of whom are residents and owners of properties) but they have not replied either.

I have previously been involved with a separate financial issue where the Financial and Health Service Ombudsman intervened and found the case in our favour. I originally contact our local MP who was Dr. Lynne Jones M.P. (as I lived in Moseley at the time) and she agreed with my case but could not get a satisfactory reply from the organisations involved and referred the matter to the Financial and Health Service Ombudsman and we did succeed in claiming our rights. Hence I am now writing to you for your help with this matter.

2) Related to the above issue, my wife has applied to become a director of the management company in order that perhaps a better management company can be created and as she has a right to be a director as the as the owner of the property. We have previously been told that she cannot become a director because we have an unpaid balance. This is the balance in point one above and we have argued that it is incorrect and hence the reasoning for not giving my wife directorship status is invalid. Again we have not had a satisfactory reply.

I have copied all related and recent correspondence with this letter and would sincerely appreciate your help with this matter as it is causing us stress and which is especially not healthy for my wife as she is mothering our first child.

I believe we are not been treated fairly and would sincerely appreciate your help and advice.

Please note that I am away from 16th March for about a month so you may not get a reply from me if you respond during that time, but my wife will do her best to respond.

Thank you and sincerely,

Mr. Bharat Karavadra and Mrs Shilpa Karavadra

Hi Chris,

I’m simply emailing to let you know that the carpet has finally been replaced and the hallway in the block is more comfortable now.

Thank you for getting this job done.

A copy of this email can be found on my online project at
http://www.karavadra.net/blog/category/my-work-clients/the-mall-2-erdington/cpm-rmg/

Please accept my best wishes to you and yours Forever,
Bharat Karavadra

Hi Chris,

My wife told me that she spoke to you today after calling you back about your voicemail of yesterday about the carpet being replaced today.

Please note that your voicemail states that you had sent a letter informing us about the carpet being replaced. I’m not sure when you sent it but it has not arrived.

Apart from getting an update that the carpet was not being fitted today because the fitters had forgotten something, you told my wife that you had not replied to my emails as you had been told not to by your superiors as they felt that the information on my blog did not contain a true representation of matters, however a reply should follow in due course.

In brief, the information on my blog is mostly, if not entirely, copies of correspondence between ourselves, CPM/RMG and other involved people or companies such as solicitors or directors of The Mall No 2 Erdington.

Therefore if there is any other information on the blog which is incorrect then please advise and I will be happy to discuss the issues, amend any information, but more importantly help resolve the issues.

However without continued dialogue or silence there is not much I can do.

Discussions can be continued by email, or even better all the blog articles have public discussion features which you or your superiors can use which may prove beneficial for everyone involved and to help resolve matters in a public forum,

A copy of this email can be found on my online project at
http://www.karavadra.net/blog/category/my-work-clients/the-mall-2-erdington/cpm-rmg/

Thank you and please accept my best wishes to you and yours Forever,
Bharat Karavadra

Hi Chris,

With regards to your point 4 as below:

4)  The Emergency Response 24 Insurance Policy was discontinued last year as was not cost effective. We have since had negotiations with a nationwide company to introduce a free 24 Hour Call Out Service.  Once this is finalised the information will be put up on the communal notice boards. Please note that the 24 Hours Call Out Service but will only be for absolute emergencies, actual out of hours calls out will be charged to individual management companies – i.e your MCL will incur higher expenditure which will ultimately result in increases in your Company’s budget.

QUESTION 1:
Why were we not notified that the 24 hour Service was discontinued?

QUESTION 2:
If the 24 hour service was discontinued then should there not have been an appropriate DECREASE in the service charges?

QUESTION 3:
Also, in relation to the lack of communication in questions 1 and 2, why has there not been an Annual General Meeting for the last year?

A copy of this email can be found on my online project at
http://www.karavadra.net/blog/category/my-work-clients/the-mall-2-erdington/cpm-rmg/
Thank you and please accept my best wishes to you and yours Forever,
Bharat Karavadra

It’s about a flood that happened in the building (read more here) which damaged the carpets and electrics of the water system which have not been attended to satisfactorily for over 2 months (since writing this Post).

Hi Chris,

With regards to your point 2 below:

3) There has been a delay in replacing the carpet due to the contractors having difficulty finding an exact match to the existing carpet.  Unfortunately the colour has been discontinued by many stockists. So far we have sampled two different colours both were slightly different. Since I spoke to Mrs Karavadra regarding this issue last week the developer has got back to me with the details of the company that installed the original carpet and they are sending over a sample in tonight’s post to the contractor. Once I have a confirmed match I will email you a date for installation.

It is has been now over 2 months since the carpet has NOT been replaced and CPM/RMG have not replied with an update since you made your point.

QUESTION 1:
Perhaps function may be more important than appearance; Is it not easier and comfortable for all to simply get a carpet put back in that closely matches the old carpet, instead of the residents having to put up with a cold, bare and ghastly floor? Would it not be a good thing to ask the 8 residents/owners of the block if they are happy with a closely matching carpet than the exact carpet that was there before, considering that an exact match has taken over 2 months to put back in?

Also, the electrics do not seem to have been fixed as per the plumbing service company’s suggestion. The plumbing company had a look at the pump that I switched off to avoid any further plumbing and they stated that they could not evaluate if there is a plumbing issue until the electrics had been fixed which were damaged by the flooding. The plumbing company were also managing the replacement of the carpet and when they came a couple of weeks after the flooding issue to remove and replace the carpet, I suggested that there was no point in replacing the carpet until the electrics and plumbing had been fixed considering that when they did their tests on the plumbing the water leaked out of the system onto the floor where the carpets would be. They agreed and were quite surprised (as I was) that it had been about 2 weeks since they told CPM/RMG that the electrics need to be looked and that nobody had come to look at them. The water flow seems to be OK despite the electrics not being fixed, but would it not be good to actually get the electrics fixed properly so that no other issues arise in future?

QUESTION 2:
When do you consider properly repairing the water system?

A copy of this email can be found on my online project at
http://www.karavadra.net/blog/category/my-work-clients/the-mall-2-erdington/cpm-rmg/

I will reply to your others points (as below) as soon as I can.
Thank you and please accept my best wishes to you and yours Forever,
Bharat Karavadra