Before the HHGE Major Works contract with Armour Hart commenced in July 2019, the HHGE Board June 2019 Newsletter which was sent to all HHGE flat owners made it clear that the major works included both internal and external repairs and decorations. See the excerpt from the Newsletter above.
As of today 22 October 2021 the HHGE Board are claiming that Armour Hart have completed work on 11 HHGE blocks out of the 22 blocks on the HHGE estate and to my current understanding have been paid for this work apart from a 5% retention.
These 11 blocks are Ayr Court (5 blocks), Buckingham House, Chester Court, Devon Court, Essex House, Fife Court and Gloucester Court.
However our personal experience of letting/managing 50+ flats on the HHGE is that as of today 22 Oct. 2021;
- Most of the internal repairs on these 11 blocks have yet to be carried out by Armour Hart.
- The external repairs by Armour Hart are of a very variable often unacceptable standard.
- Both Armour Hart and the HHGE Board have claimed that there was NO agreement that the cost of the internal repairs would be covered by Armour Hart.
- The HHGE Board say that internal repairs were NOT included in the original contract and that all the internal repairs will be charged to the service charge.
These claims by the HHGE Board and Armour Hart are contradicted both by the HHGE Newsletter of June 2019 and by email correspondence I had with DMH Stallard the HHGE Board’s solicitors in June 2019 BEFORE that start of the Major Works Contract.
See the extracts from the email below which I sent to Cheraine Williams on 10th June 2019 and her reply dated 27 June 2019.
In my email of 10 June 2019 to Cheraine Williams the DHM Stallard solicitor I pointed out that the cost of internal window repairs was likely to exceed £525 per flat with an estimated total cost exceeding £135,000.
Cheraine Williams responded that Armour Hart had agreed to absorb ALL the internal repair costs originally projected to cost £75 per window.
Thus there is a complete contradiction between what I was told by the HHGE’s solicitor on June 27 2019 and what the HHGE Board are saying now.
I have queried this conundrum with the HHGE Board on several occasions but never received any satisfactory explanation.
Because the HHGE Board and their surveyors are unable or unwilling currently to explain who is paying for the internal repairs I am putting the original documents online so that HHGE Flat owners can see for themselves why the confusion has arisen and can make up their own minds why the HHGE Board are unable or unwilling to give me a straight answer.
EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE HHGE BOARD SOLICITORS CONCERNING THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR INTERNAL WINDOW REPAIRS IN THE HHGE CONTRACT WITH ARMOUR HART
