Dear Residents and Leaseholders,
A short update on the Right to Manage, and an important practical note about letters some of you have been receiving from Urang.
Right to Manage: on track – all being well, handover by April 2027
Our application has now been filed with the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) with a full evidence bundle and position statement. All things being well, we expect the Right to Manage to go through by April 2027, when the management of Blocks B, C and D would formally transfer to your own resident-owned company.
You may recall that the landlord and the outgoing management company objected to our claim. The picture has moved in our favour on both fronts. Chime Properties has once again served a defective counter-notice – among other problems, it was not served in the manner the claim notice required, no copy was received at the address specified, and the document objects by reference to the wrong date. Twelve Trees (TTMC), for its part, has back-tracked on allegations it previously raised in objecting to the claim. We now believe there is a strong chance the claim will succeed.
If, for whatever reason, it does not, we will simply continue – this campaign does not stop. And residents should not worry about costs. The law has changed: under the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, which came into force in 2025, an RTM company and its members are in general no longer liable for the landlord’s or management company’s costs of an RTM claim – so TTMC and Chime (via HomeGround) cannot recover their costs from us in the way they threatened leaseholders in the past. In any event, the Company holds insurance for these proceedings, which we have just renewed at our own expense – at no cost to members.
If you receive a letter from Urang: send it to us
Members of the MCRA should direct any notice, demand or letter they receive from Urang to info@maltingsclose.org as soon as it arrives, and before responding to it. Our legal team will deal with it for you.
Please keep three things in mind. First, Urang cannot simply add solicitors’ fees to your account: administration and legal charges of that kind are subject by law to a test of reasonableness, and can be challenged before the tribunal. Second, there are court orders in place preventing the enforcement of the disputed service charges while proceedings are ongoing – so demands of this kind are not legally sustainable. Third, the recent wave of PDC letters has been stopped in its tracks: thanks to the hard work of our legal team, all recent PDC actions (in addition to the earlier claims which were stayed by the courts, with TTMC liable for the costs) have been paused. Urang and TTMC were asked to provide the evidence and breakdown behind the sums demanded; they have provided none, and PDC had no choice but to hold the matters.
So if a letter lands on your doormat: do not panic, do not pay, do not reply – just forward it to info@maltingsclose.org and we will take it from there.
Thank you, as ever, for your continued support. It is the collective position of residents, acting together, that has brought us this far – and that will carry the Right to Manage over the line.
With best wishes,
Maltings Close Residents Management Company Limited