Dear residents,
The Metropolitan Police investigation
Last night the Metropolitan Police confirmed to JSC Chambers, MCRA’s legal representatives, that the investigation into TTMC’s handling of leaseholders’ service charge monies at The Maltings has been assigned to a specialist Officer in the Case. The matters under investigation are theft, fraud and fraud by abuse of position under the Fraud Act 2006, and concern the money leaseholders have paid to TTMC and Urang.
Allocation to a specialist officer means the report has passed initial assessment and is now being actively investigated. MCRA’s Chairman has provided a formal witness statement and a full exhibit bundle to the police on behalf of the Association’s members, and JSC Chambers is the point of contact for the investigating officer.
For those who have joined us more recently, or who want a reminder of what the investigation is about, these are the figures:
The 2023 service charge accounts record total expenditure of £681,477 against a budget of £530,547. Of that £681,477, only £323,154 has ever been supported by invoices, despite Urang confirming in writing on 17 June 2025 that it had supplied every invoice it held. That leaves approximately £358,000 of leaseholders’ money spent with nothing to show for it.
The Notice of Estimate served on 26 June 2024 certified expenditure of £751,725, some £70,000 more than the accounts themselves record for the same year.
Major works were budgeted at £39,300 and recorded at £216,074. The reserve fund fell from £281,248 to £149,008, including a £44,435 transfer which Urang admitted in writing on 11 June 2025 was an error in the 2022 accounts.
The accountants who signed off the 2023 accounts are the subject of an ICAEW complaint that has been referred to its Conduct Committee, after the accountants produced invoices to ICAEW that Urang had never given to leaseholders. The accountants for the 2022 accounts had previously been subject to ICAEW disciplinary findings.
The 2024 and 2025 accounts have still not been produced.
We will not be commenting further on the detail of the investigation while it is ongoing, and we ask residents not to contact the police directly about it unless asked to. If you hold documents or information you believe is relevant, send it to info@maltingsclose.org and we will pass it to JSC Chambers.
Your right of set-off
Every leaseholder has a right of set-off. Service charges are only payable to the extent they are reasonably incurred and properly supported. Where TTMC has charged you for expenditure it cannot evidence, you are entitled to set the unsupported amount off against any sum TTMC or Urang claims from you.
On the 2023 accounts alone, the roughly £358,000 of unsupported expenditure is approximately £2,900 per flat across the 122 flats. Taking the most conservative view, MCRA’s position is that every leaseholder has a set-off of at least £1,500 before a penny of the disputed 2024, 2025 or 2026 charges is considered. Any claim TTMC or Urang were ever able to bring against you, which the Court orders of 13 August 2025 and 26 June 2026 currently prevent, would meet that set-off first.
The £300 “Solicitor case preparation” charge
On 16 September 2026 Urang issued a number of leaseholders with a £300 “Solicitor case preparation Admin Charge”, dated and “overdue” on the same day. This is a scare tactic. It is not payable, and you should not pay it.
Enforcement against leaseholders is stayed by the Order of Deputy District Judge Chakravarty dated 13 August 2025 and the Order of Deputy District Judge Lynch dated 26 June 2026, both pending the Tribunal’s determination of the service charge disputes. Charging you in advance for a “solicitor case” that the Court has already stopped TTMC from bringing is a breach of those orders, and an administration charge is in any event only payable if it is reasonable. JSC Chambers has already written to Urang and its in-house solicitors Lazarev Cleaver on behalf of affected members, enclosing both orders and reserving the right to apply to the Court with indemnity costs.
If you are an MCRA member: forward the Urang email with the invoice attached to info@maltingsclose.org and we will pass it to our legal representatives to respond on your behalf. You do not need to do anything else.
If you are not yet a member, or would prefer to respond yourself: send the template email below to Urang. Save the two images of the court orders attached below to this update (right-click or long-press each image and choose “Save as” / “Save image”), attach them to your email, and copy MCRA in at info@maltingsclose.org so we have a record.
Either way, do not pay the charge, do not enter into any payment plan, and do not ignore it.
Template email to Urang
To: osama.ahmed@urang.co.uk
Cc: info@maltingsclose.org
Subject: Flat [NUMBER], The Maltings — Invoice [INVOICE NUMBER] — Administration Charge disputed — Breach of Court Orders
Dear Mr Ahmed,
I am the leaseholder of Flat [NUMBER], The Maltings, Twelve Trees Crescent, London E3 [POSTCODE]. Tenant reference [REFERENCE].
I have received your Administration Charge invoice number [INVOICE NUMBER] dated 16 September 2026 for £300.00, described as a “Solicitor case preparation Admin Charge”, issued on behalf of Twelve Trees (Bromley By Bow) Management Company Limited.
I dispute this charge in full and will not be paying it.
Enforcement against my account is stayed by the Order of Deputy District Judge Chakravarty dated 13 August 2025 and the Order of Deputy District Judge Lynch dated 26 June 2026 (sealed 13 July 2026, claim no. N4NL55F3), copies of which are attached. Both orders stay enforcement pending the First-tier Tribunal’s determination of the service charge disputes in LON/00BG/LSC/2024/0266 and LON/00BG/LSC/2026/0135, which remain undetermined. Neither order has been varied, discharged or appealed.
A charge for preparing a solicitor’s case against me is a step in the enforcement of sums whose recovery the Court has stayed. Adding it to my account is a breach of those orders. In any event, an administration charge is only payable to the extent that it is reasonable (Schedule 11, Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002), and no reasonable cost can be incurred in preparing a case which the Court has stayed.
I further give notice that I am entitled to set off against any sum claimed by TTMC or Urang the unsupported expenditure charged to my account in the 2023 service charge accounts, in which £681,477 of expenditure was recorded against £323,154 of supporting invoices, and I reserve the right to rely on that set-off in any proceedings.
I require written confirmation within 7 days that invoice [INVOICE NUMBER] has been withdrawn and the sum of £300.00, together with any associated interest or fees, has been removed from my account, and that no further administration or legal charges will be added to my account while the orders remain in force.
I am [a member of / supported by] the Maltings Close Residents Association, which is represented by JSC Chambers. I reserve the right to rely on this invoice and this correspondence on questions of costs and conduct in the existing proceedings, and to apply to the Court in respect of the breach of its orders. All my rights are reserved.
Yours sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
Flat [NUMBER], The Maltings
Attachments: Order of DDJ Chakravarty (13 August 2025); Order of DDJ Lynch (26 June 2026)
If you receive any further demand, reminder or letter from Urang, TTMC, PDC Law or Lazarev Cleaver, forward it to info@maltingsclose.org. If you are not yet a member of MCRA, now is the time to join: members are represented by JSC Chambers on all of these matters at no individual cost.
Thank you for your continued support.
MCRA Committee
Maltings Close Residents Association Limited
info@maltingsclose.org | www.maltingsclose.org
