Laurel Manor Right to Manage Company Ltd.
Laurel Manor Freehold Ltd.
Chairman's Report at 2025 AGM
Dear Leaseholder.
The Laurel Manor Board has had another busy and challenging year maintaining the property within budgets and timeframes.
We hold quarterly meetings to discuss repairs and maintenance and forthcoming requirements. Please contact us if you wish to come along and be included in any of the discussions.
Estate Rules
The ability to park on site has improved due to the parking permit scheme and I would like to thank all of those who have kept to the rules.
The Board is still having to remove dumped waste from the bin shed area on a regular basis, whilst this has reduced in frequency, occurrence is still unacceptably high.
Please could you read the rules and notify your tenants of these, ensuring that they fully understand the need to dispose of their waste responsibly.
They should be encouraged to contact the Council and arrange a lumber waste collection or donate to Charity.
This will keep our costs down and help two of our residents, Ted Eggs and Alistair De Bono who have been most helpful and proactive in getting rid of this waste.
Please try to keep the Front doors closed, these are meant to be secure and should not be kept open on the hooks.
The hallways and communal areas should be kept clear of all obstructions. Baby buggies are being kept in the entrance of Block E, these should be removed.
The rules are available online at http://laurelmanor.co.uk/news.html#estate%20rules. These apply equally to leaseholders and their tenants and form part of the legal requirements of your lease.
Where a flat is sublet, these rules must be provided to your tenant and a copy of your lease conditions included in your tenancy agreement.
Please let's work together and keep Laurel Manor tidy; clean and safe.
Financial report - 24/25.
The repointing work carried out during the year reduced the reserves fund as the cost of the scaffolding was an extra expense which was unforeseen, (as advised in the last Chair's report). this extra cost meant that we needed to dip into the reserves fund.
The accounting loss shown in the income statement, (£13,180), has provided a tax benefit which will be utilised during 24/25 financial year.
There are some bad debts, and I would like to urge those leaseholders to bring their accounts back in line as soon as possible to avoid late payment charges.
Amounts which should have been paid are as follows: 2023/24 £1090; 2022/23 £990.
Financial year 24/25 to date. Service charge uplift.
The careful financial management and efforts of the Board over recent past years have resulted in a healthy reserves fund but as we are looking to utilise much of this during 2025/26 for the repointing of the Brickwork and repairs to Garages, it will be a challenge to maintain the current level of reserves.
Our prime goal, as ever in this economic climate, is to avoid a cash call for any unforeseen major works that may occur, so we are always aiming to keep costs to a minimum and to manage your funds efficiently and effectively whilst trying to maintain the property to a reasonable standard.
The Board is proposing a small increase in the service charge for 2025-26. We would like to uplift this to £1250 per flat, which is £104.16 per month if you pay by standing order or £625 per half yearly demand.
This will be put to the normal vote at the AGM.
With the increased service charge and relatively low level of expenditure to date we have managed to rebuild the reserves; this has enabled us to progress with the next phase of the repointing.
Once the repointing is complete, I would like to concentrate on the external and internal redecoration to enhance the look of the communal areas and Driveway.
We will be looking to replace carpets at the earliest opportunity but will first have the existing carpets cleaned thoroughly.
Again, I would like to thank my fellow Board members, (Ted, James, Andrew, and Mark and all at Harrow Management) for their continued enthusiasm and resolve in reporting and dealing with the problems as they arise and for giving up their time to come to meetings.
Without an active Board, the property would not be maintained to the current standard and wouldn't be such a great place to live.
If you are interested in joining our Board, please do contact me or Harrow Management.
Thanks again to Chris Ball who has resigned this year Chair, as stated in the Freehold report, Chris has been a source of great insight and given much to the running of the property over the last six or so years. His expertise will be sorely missed and shoes hard to fill.
I look forward to seeing you at the AGM and will value your input and opinions.
Celina Kerr - June 2025