Hi Everyone,

Apologies for the lateness of getting these minutes out to you all. I’ve been on holiday and of course lost the recording etc. So please check through them here and I’ll be happy to take corrections. I will post them on the website in 2 weeks time. If no-one forwards corrections I’ll take them as given. Has everyone seen the email from Stuart suggesting we send him a list of questions for the insurers/management of DCPM to consider? I don’t feel very confident about starting this list and wonder if people feel we can do this by email or if we need the suggested meeting to discuss it. I can be around the next 3 wednesdays in May if people want a meeting called. Let me know what you all think is best. I’ve been in touch with the gardener and the last two fountains should be planted up next Monday. Unfortunately I noted in my walk around tonight the the fountain outside 26 Sinclair Place has been vandalised. I’ll report this.

Yours Rosina

Here are the minutes of the most recent committee meeting held in late September:

SCMeeting-September24th2012-Minutes

I attended Aspect’s offices on November 6th for the usual quarterly invoice inspection, and found only a couple of minor issues which are already resolved. The previous two inspections made by the Treasurer showed up no issues of note, which is of course very positive. Town-house owners will note a refund item on their invoices this quarter relating to refurbishment fund payments that were accidentally included on previous bills as a result of the shift to the new billing system.

The work to solicit tenders from other factors continues apace, and the intention is to have all factors submitting their tenders in time to be included in an information pack, to be sent to proprietors along with the notice of the January AGM.

Residents should note the continuing improvements to the gardens, and that the bin and bike store roofs have been restored throughout to fix both storm damage and general wear and tear. In various places, ground floor proprietors who have trees and large bushes which are encroaching on windows have asked that they be removed or cut back; the committee would like to hear from anyone in that situation so that the trees can be considered for work.

Obviously the insurance premiums have jumped substantially again this year, once more due to our claims history. As the excesses no longer vary by building (they are £2,500 per claim), the apportionment of escape of water claims has been returned to an equal 332 way split (or around £7.50 per claim) as of the new insurance policy which started in August. Several such claims can be seen in the upcoming invoice. The committee is still considering a motion to require properties identified as the source of an escape of water to pay a higher share of the excess; the intention being to encourage proprietors to be proactive in plumbing maintenance. Opinions are very much divided however, and the committee would like to hear from other proprietors with their thoughts on the proposed policy. As always however, we urge all proprietors to continue to check their bathrooms and kitchens for leaks and sealing issues. We will continue to pay high premiums and suffer huge excesses until we can reduce the number of claims being made.

As always, the committee is interested in any and all opinions or concerns about the development, so please do feel free to contact us.

Again, I must apologise for a delay in delivering the April committee meeting minutes, an extended holiday and other things intervened.

SCMeeting-April18th2012-Minutes

In other news, the test installation of a solar powered light went ahead last week, and the results are very promising. We chose the shed between 20 Sinclair Place and Sinclair Close, as it was the largest of the sheds and had the worst problem with lighting, rendering the back half of the shed virtually unusable, even in the middle of the day. I’d certainly recommend visiting the shed to see the results for yourself.

We will keep an eye on it to see how durable the light is, but on first impression the light produced is certainly bright enough, and the installation can be done with minimal impact to the sheds. The cost for this installation came in at well under £100, so underneath the budget approved by the committee. At the next meeting, we will consider whether or not to have similar lights installed in all of the cycle sheds.

Hi folks, I must apologise for the late arrival of the December committee minutes, there was much to be done over the holiday season and the minutes dropped off my list entirely.

In addition, the minutes from the committee meeting on February 21st are now also available.

SCMeeting-December6th2011-Minutes

SCMeeting-February21st2012-Minutes

Hi folks; apologies for the delay, but the meeting minutes for the November 10th committee meeting are now available here. We focused largely on the continuing discussion with the factor on the quarterly billing, but also covered the parking issue (resulting in the yellow line painting work mentioned before), and discussed the long standing mono-block issue and gardening contract reassessment.

Hi folks, the minutes from the first committee meeting can be viewed here. Largely the meeting was about nailing down our relationship with the factors. We agreed that the parking issue was worth a proper discussion, so due to time constraints we pushed that discussion to the next meeting, to be held in early November.

So, I’d like to ask again – if there is a specific area you think would benefit from double yellow lines being painted on a non-adopted section, or a bollard as was suggested, please get in touch with me, or the committee with the details so we can discuss it.

On a more general note, we have a website in place now: sinclairresidents.org.uk, which will serve as the committee’s way of communicating with the entire development, and we hope to flesh it out with more information on what is going on right now, as well as the history of the development as context for new proprietors. If you have any requests for what you’d like to see up there (or even better, content to contribute), again, please contact the committee.

The mailing containing the minutes from September’s general meeting will be sent out soon, hopefully, those who would like to read the contents in advance can do so here.