The Chairman said that although his
understanding was that the garages,
outbuildings and greenhouse were covered by the
Block Insurance, the renewal certificate did
not specifically mention them. This point was
repeatedly queried by solicitors acting for
prospective purchasers. The Insurance Director
said he would check the policy.
The Insurance Director said he would
shortly be receiving the insurance quote for
the coming year. He was also revising the
guidelines on insurance for the web site.
Gardens
The Gardens Director reported that the
summer plants had now been removed. 100
geraniums had been moved to the greenhouse for
the Winter. She was now in the process of
choosing plants for the Spring.
A considerable amount of ivy had been
removed from behind the garages.
The ordering and installation of the new
shed had been put on hold until next
year.
Premises
The Chairman reported that, apart from one
tank room, all the work scheduled this year for
the Inner Court was now complete
The garage roofs were being cleaned in the
course of which several problems had been
uncovered. In many places the roof was in bad
condition and really needed replacing. For now,
temporary fixes and patches were being applied,
but professional advice was needed on how best
to replace the asbestos.
The Chairman said he was planning a survey
to identify the stopcocks around the premises
and which flats they supply
The next entrance to be
refurbished/redecorated would be that to flats
54-59
Services
The Services Director reported that he had
now purchased a new stock of lightbulbs. He had
also been monitoring the cleaning – the
improved standard appeared to be
continuing
AOB
The Insurance Director reported that the Metropolitan
Police had invited suggestions on the best way to
circulate information under the Neighbourhood Watch
scheme. Email was a possibility. Notices on the web
site was, perhaps, another.
Insurance Director asked whether there could be a
dedicated email address for this. The Technology
Director said that he would set one up.
Apparently one of the latest scams involved
callers offering Surbiton residents to send
chocolates and flowers as gifts. Unwary victims
had been asked for credit card and bank details
which the scammers had then used to steal money.
The Chairman informed the Board that work had
now started on updating the website, to bring it
into line with current technology, and devices
such as smartphones and tablets. The Technology
Director explained that web pages needed to be
responsive to the devices on which they were viewed
and the new website would accommodate this. The
Chairman was also taking the opportunity to update
some of the content. He was receiving advice on
the selection of fonts and colours. It was hoped
that the new site would go live in the New Year.
The Services Director asked whether there
had been any progress on the installation of a
barrier at the front entrance. The Chairman said
he had been looking at other blocks in the area
to see how successful (or otherwise) their barriers
appeared to be.
The Director for Insurance felt that we
should tighten up our guidelines for residents
intending to claim on the Surbiton Court
buildings insurance. The procedure for
obtaining estimates and making claims should be
spelled out explicitly.
it was suggested that this issue should be
raised in another newsletter to all the
residents. This could include reiteration of
the guidelines covering recent issues such as
internal plumbing in flats, parking
regulations, and insurance claims. The Board
agreed that a newsletter should be drafted and
issued soon after the AGM.
Gardens
The gardens Director reported that the tree
surgeon had undertaken work on two trees: one
which was overhanging our ground from the
electricity sub-station, and one in the
garden of Flat 114, Surbiton Court Mews.
Both trees had very large branches which needed
to be made safe to avoid future
problems.
A skip had been commissioned during the
past month and the garden waste next to the
greenhouse had now been removed.
A dead tree outside Flat 18 had been
removed. A replacement would be planted in due
course.
Premises
Recently completed maintenance work
included:
Roof repainting and associated work
at roof level was now complete
(e.g. brickwork repaired, cabling
secured, hatch doors repainted, leaking
gutters repaired,)
The wooden seats in the garden had
been stabilised
The front door of Flat 19 had been
repainted: that for Flat 10 was
outstanding.
Water stains on the brickwork in
several places had been substantially
reduced; some might need further
treatment.
Damaged paintwork on the walls of
various staircases had been
redecorated. The floors remained to be
done.
Repainting of the back doors was
still outstanding.
New items recently identified for attention
include:
to refurbish and seal floors and
architraves on landing 40-41
some rendering on the back wall to garages
11 – 18 had deteriorated and needs
replacement. As an interim measure Shane
Williams has undertaken some temporary
repairs.
Work on the window frames and sills in the
inner Court was well advanced. Remaining work
on window frames and sills, inner Court, to be
completed this year are Flats 42-47, 29, 32,
and 35. This is scheduled for late September to
mid-October, weather permitting.
Services
The contract with the Cleaning company had
been reviewed and a number of improvements
Identified.
Since then, the standard of cleaning seems
to have improved. We will draw the
cleaners’ attention to any outstanding
issues in the expectation that they will be
addressed.
The Services Director reported that all the
failed light-bulbs he had identified had now
been replaced. He observed that the cheapest
suppliers of new bulbs in his experience were
still CDR Lighting, Hampton Hill.
Planning Permission
Kingston Council had now approved the
application for planning permission subject to
a number of terms and conditions specified by
the Council (details can be found on the
Council website).
AGM
The AGM will be held on Thursday 22 October
2015.
AOB
The Metropolitan Police had been in touch
proposing to revive the Neighbourhood Watch
scheme. They will keep us informed of
progress.
The Gardens Director reported that some
residents had started feeding the foxes. This
encouraged the animals to come into the inner
Court and there had been several instances of
fox faeces left on doormats and open
staircases. The next newsletter should include
an injunction to residents to refrain from
feeding the animals.
Recently, non-residents had been found
bringing their family, uninvited, into the
Court to take advantage of our facilities. All
residents are requested to be vigilant and to
ask such intruders to leave.
Information had been received from our
Insurers about responsibility for window glass.
In the case of malicious damage, or breakage
due to accidents affecting the building (such
as fire or structural damage), the insurers
would pay. Breakage due to temperature
fluctuations or actions by the resident were
not covered. Repairs arising from damage due to
water ingress would be covered by the
maintenance charge.
Gardens
Owing to the recent spell of hot, dry
weather, the lawns were now quite parched. The
Gardens Director had been out most days
watering the beds and the ground around the new
tree in the inner Court.
There was concern about the false Acacia
near the entrance to the garage area. A large
branch had recently fallen off. OUr gardeners
would ask the tree surgeon to inspect. He would
also be asked to take a look at the Acacia in
the garden of 114 Surbiton Court Mews and
advise about its health.
Premises
Work on the roof was now in the final
stages of completion. In addition to the
repainting with Dugganite, the following
additional works had also been carried out:
Pipework supports had been
repaired
The parapet walls had been
repainted in black bituminous
paint
The gutter on tank room E had been
repaired
All doors at roof level had
been repainted.
Upon completion of the roof, Shane and his
fellow-worker (Steve) will revert to the next
phase of the refurbishment of window frames and
sills.
Miscellaneous jobs yet to be completed:
Repainting the front doors to a
number of flats and one of the
staircases and the back doors
Repairs to the door of one of the
tank rooms
Touching up paintwork on various
staircases that had sustained damage
due mainly to residents moving in and
out
Sealing around the Crittall windows
in the towers
Securing the cabling along the
parapet walls
The Technology Director reported that he
had escorted the Virgin Media engineers onto
the roof recently to give them access to the
junction box. This was so that they could
connect one of the flats to the phone system.
It appeared that they had discovered a fault in
the wiring that made it impossible to achieve
the connection. They would therefore need to
come back and lay a new cable.
Services
There were several issues raised about the
recent standard of cleaning. The Services
Director would arrange to meet Crystal Clear,
our cleaning company, and discuss them.
Planning Permission
In answer to a question to the developers
about sheilding Surbiton Court from building
work during the building process, they had
replied that hoardings would be erected as a
matter of course. They invited the Board to
choose which colour the hoardings should be
painted. Dark green was chosen.
The developers also pointed out that the
hoardings would block off one of the paths
providing access from Surbiton Court to
SC2’s driveway near Flats 42-47. They
advised, therefore, that that the installation
of any gates there should be postponed until
construction work was completed and the
hoardings removed.