Hebble Wharf – Emergency Works Notice

The Association has reviewed the Section 20ZA Notice and accompanying Leak Inspection report and resolved to submit the following evidence to the First Tier Tribunal.

Please review the evidence and signify your endorsement to the letter using the on-line form below no later than January 10, 2018 

Hebble Wharf Residents and Owners Association

Proposed Letter to : First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber (Residential Property), 1st Floor, Piccadilly Exchange, Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester  M1 4AH  

Dear Sirs

Hebble Wharf, Navigation Walk, Wakefield : Notice of Intention to carry out Emergency Works

The Committee of the Hebble Wharf Residents and Owners Association met on 20 December, 2017 to consider the application to the Tribunal under Section 20ZA lodged by DWFM Beckman (Solicitors) acting on behalf of our Landlord, Waterfront Wakefield (Hebble Wharf) Limited.

The committee resolved to submit the following response to the Tribunal:

  1. We consider that the scale of repair envisaged in the Emergency Works Notice cannot be considered an emergency given that the problems were first reported to the Landlord in excess of one year ago;
  2. The request for such works to be undertaken as Emergency Works results, at least in part, from the Landlord’s delay in addressing the source of the problem in a timely manner.
  3. The Association accepts that an urgent repair is now necessary to the external pipework and insulation of the affected apartment, but believes that an interim repair should be completed without further delay at a more reasonable cost.
  4. The landlord has been aware for at least two years of rainwater leakage into the building at a number of different locations yet (as confirmed by the Watts report) there has been no comprehensive inspection carried out to date.
  5. The Association believes that the proposed emergency works to effect a full and final repair to the elevation will result in higher costs to tenants (leaseholders) in the longer term if the repairs are not carried out as part of a comprehensive action plan for rectification of water leaks over the whole building.
  6. A full and comprehensive investigation of rainwater ingress should therefore be progressed as a matter of urgency before any final repair to the elevation is completed.
  7. The Landlord should be required to provide the tenants (leaseholders) with details of any proposed works and to demonstrate that detailed and competitive estimates have been obtained for those works.
  8. Whereas the Hebble Wharf Residents and Owners Association currently has fewer than the requisite 60% of tenants (leaseholders) in its membership to obtain formal ARMA recognition, the Association is working towards that aim and currently at least 50% of leaseholders are members, each of whom has been invited to endorse this submission by the Association.
  9. We therefore ask that the Association is treated as a formal consultee, being a body of which at least 50% of tenants (leaseholders) in the block are members.

Yours faithfully

Hebble Wharf Residents and Owners Association

Endorsed by: