Fernwood Village Working Together For The Future Apologies

Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Apologies The accounts are late and should have been with you before Christmas. The auditors have held up the accounts, an investigation has begun. The accounts are showing a surplus, only a few apartment block owners will have a deficit to pay, due to major works being required which the reserve fund didn’t cover Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

The First. Port team at Fernwood Gary Cox – Property Manager John Jeys – Facilities Manager Alan Newbury – Gardener James Parker - Gardiner / Cleaner Support is given through Customer Services, Finance, Health & Safety and Major Works Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

The First. Port team at Fernwood The aim of the four members of staff responsible for the maintenance, consents, security and health & safety of Fernwood is to provide a service the residents are happy with. At times decisions will be made which you won’t agree with, they are made with the aim to make the village a better safer place Here a few photos of the work that has been carried out to make the village a better place to live Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Aim of the Meeting To highlight what First. Port does To highlight the importance of resident representative associations when a managing agent is charging service charge Highlight some intended changes as to how First. Port plans to improve performance and possibly reduce costs To look at how all Fernwood villagers can work with First. Port for benefit of the future of the village Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

The First. Port team at Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Quiz Time There a number of rumours about First. Port which circulate on a regular basis. This quiz is a way of assisting with your understanding of what is true or false Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Quiz Time Statement 1 First. Port is the largest property management company in the UK TRUE First. Port has the largest portfolio of developments in the UK Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Quiz Time Statement 2 First. Port is part of the same company as David Wilson Homes and or Holdings and Management FALSE First. Port is part of the Knight Square group neither of the other two companies are Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Quiz Time Statement 3 First. Port will be buying the David Wilson Homes owned land at Fernwood when David Wilson Homes chooses to sell FALSE First. Port only manages developments it doesn’t purchase any land or property Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Quiz Time Statement 4 First. Port will be managing the new David Wilson Homes development at Fernwood FALSE The managing agent is appointed through a competitive tender process which hasn’t begun First. Port will obviously tender Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Quiz Time Statement 5 Fernwood is a David Wilson Homes show village which is why First. Port maintain it how they do FALSE The site staff are the reason it looks so good, a small round of applause would be appreciated at this moment to thank them Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Quiz Time Statement 6 First. Port’s Management Fee continues to rise FALSE The 2013 Management fee was £ 115, 001 The 2018 Management fee is £ 114, 656 Council Tax has increased by 12% over the same period Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Maintenance Plans For The Future Currently the site staff can only complete 70% of the work required on site The other 30% is carried out by external contractors There is money in the budget for an extra person to be employed however this will only allow for continued reactive maintenance For monies to be saved it is important that the majority of the maintenance is proactive not reactive Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Maintenance Plans For The Future To move to proactive maintenance management a further part time member of staff will be required The intention is to create the First. Port Fernwood Maintenance team that will work throughout Fernwood, carry out contracted works at other developments, for residents and the school. Where work is carried outside of the Fernwood budget then developments will be crossed charged, income from residents or the school will be paid back into the Fernwood accounts – potentially reducing the service charge Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Maintenance Plans For The Future This is still a work in progress However to ensure transparency it is important to inform you how we are working to keep costs low for all our customers, whilst further improving standards. The reserve fund requires to be reviewed to ensure all major items of equipment are covered in the event that a major repair or replacement is required. An audit will be carried out in March to confirm what equipment is not covered. Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Maintenance Plans For The Future We will then through either FRA, the Joint Maintenance Panel or a survey of owners look at what action residents want to take. The aim is to establish whether: • Owners want to pay a little annually to keep all items in the village permanently (reserve fund) • Owners want to pay a one off levy should equipment need a major repair or replacing • Owners don’t want equipment to be maintained when it is uneconomic to do so, it is therefore removed when that time arises • Owners want to remove equipment straight away Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

First. Port Communication Dave Mack Chair of FRA posted the following on the Fernwood Facebook page on 26 th October 2017 "Hi Fernwood folk. I know we all have different opinions but can we allow Firstport to continue with their work to aid the recovery of the woodland. If Firstport are bad at anything its communication. But the woodland does need looking after. Thanks. " Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

First. Port Communication The statement summed up the main issue First. Port has at Fernwood – Communicating With Residents aren’t reporting issues to First. Port, they voice their concerns on Facebook First. Port don’t monitor or communicate via Facebook and will never do so First. Port can’t help if we don’t know First. Port is not communicating enough and to the majority of the residents Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

First. Port Communication The New Means of Communication 2 x Newsletters per annum 3 x Noticeboards to be installed on estate grounds Notices posted on the noticeboards to inform residents of ongoing issues Regular meetings with FRA A new joint maintenance panel which is representative of the who village More owners sign up to YPO Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

First. Port Communication Your Property Online The Property Manager sends out both texts and emails highlighting urgent issues Currently 272 owners are receiving notifications More and more information will be sent out using this format as it is a platform for current information Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

First. Port Communication Noticeboards to be installed in areas where there is a high density of footfall Where there is likely to be maintenance work undertaken which may restrict access Where anti social behaviour may take place and needs highlighting Where community projects and activities take place A place to keep residents informed without intrusion Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

First. Port Communication The new Joint Maintenance Panel Why Change? The existing panel was not representative of the village There was no clear understanding as to the impact of the panel The decision making process was not timely or based on a set of guidelines to ensure a fair decision making process Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

First. Port Communication The new Joint Maintenance Panel Made up of a minimum 8 residents across the phased building of the village and 2 FRA committee members, this ensures a majority for voting purposes. Phase 1 will have a representative but can’t vote on matters which may affect service charge. All issues are tabled either by First. Port or through First. Port will not be voting. Minutes of all meetings will be posted accordingly Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

First. Port Communication The new Joint Maintenance Panel Urgent decisions may be carried out via email and voting may take place via a survey monkey. Members of the new panel are to agree a timeline for meeting. If you are interested in being part of this please stay after 20: 00 where it will be discussed in greater detail. Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

First. Port Communication The relationship between First. Port and resident representative bodies First. Port in September had a meeting with both the Parish Council and FRA to attempt to agree a working relationship with both parties. First. Port felt that the parties weren’t working together and as a consequence there was too much negativity surrounding First. Port’s work at Fernwood As a result of that meeting and subsequent meetings held by the independent groups Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

First. Port Communication First. Port and FRA will attempt to work together for the benefit of the village FRA currently does not have enough confirmed support amongst owners to make it representative First. Port and FRA will be working hard to grow that support beginning at this meeting now. First. Port will voluntarily support FRA and work with it if residents agree that it is the mechanism for them to be represented. Legislation for Residents Associations is laid down in the 1985 Landlords and Tenants Act. Fernwood Village – Working Together For The Future

Support Please consider staying around to see what support you can offer FRA. Please if you haven’t already sign up to Your Property Online If there any activities you would like the Joint Maintenance Panel to review please let me know at gary. cox@firstport. co. uk We look forward to continuing to provide the service you have become accustomed to. Thank you for your time this evening. Commercial in confidence