We are arguing that the clauses in our leases and transfer documents are unfair under standard consumer legislation.  

We are also asking the lawyer for their opinion on whether the FEC is a ground rent.

We are not challenging the calculation and backdating of RPI again.

Legal opinions have so far come from the LLDC and the LLP who, of course, defends their position.  

You should also be aware of the First Tier tribunal judgement regarding a challenge to the FEC as a service charge  

We see this as a Four step process:

1. Step 1: Raise funds for Step 2 (we are in this stage now and fund raising is promising).

2. Step 2: Obtain legal opinion.

3. Step 3: Assess the legal opinion, decide and raise funds. 

4. Step 4: Go to court.

We spoke with a KC last year who specialised in this area of law, he felt that we had a case.  In reality we don't really know until we test it properly.  We need the independent opinion of a lawyer with the appropriate expertise to advise us.  

We are engaging HCR (a law firm) to finalise instructions and obtain a quote.

We will circulate the main findings from the lawyer used in Step 2 with the estimate of the full costs and risks.  Decisions would be made through an Open Meeting, perhaps an Extraordinary General Meeting. 

We anticipate that we will be suing Chobham Manor LLP - that is the joint venture of Taylor Wimpey and L&Q - because the LLP is our landlord.  

That would be for the judge to decide but if the ruling was in our favour we would hope to recover costs.

We do not think that funds spent on the solicitor in Step 2 will be recoverable.

We recognise that not everyone on Chobham Manor supports our legal challenge.  We leave it to residents to decide whether they wish to support the case and how much they can afford to contribute.

We plan to approach as many residents who pay the Fixed Estate Charge as we can reach; this will include Eastwick and Sweetwater.  We know of residents who have moved to Eastwick and are ready to help.  We will make a formal approach once we have the legal opinion and a better understanding of the full costs.

Note that Eastwick residents have already challenged the FEC on the grounds that it is a service charge.  That challenge failed, here is the judgement from the First Tier tribunal. 

At this stage we don’t really know but we think its the order of £100,000 perhaps more, not including cover against the LLP costs if we were uninsured.

We ask residents to contribute what they feel able to afford.

We anticipate that our case will be based on consumer law, if we win there would be no benefit to commercial units so would not expect contributions from them.  If the basis for the challenge changes then we will consider asking the commercial units.

That might be a possibility and we will explore that once we have the legal advice from Step 2.

We do not believe that mounting a legal campaign on behalf of residents warrants charitable status - especially as the goal suggested is simply to get gift aid on fund raising.  Any move to reform the CMRA to a charity will require trustees, a new constitution, formal application to the charities commission and a resubmission to Chobham Manor LLP .  We don't think this is a viable option.

We have had support from residents with legal qualifications to form the problem.  However 

• We do not have any residents with the appropriate legal knowledge or experience for such a case.

• We need a lawyer able to instruct a barrister, or represent us in. court and one with liability insurance

• Residents would inevitably suffer conflict of interest with their day-jobs.

• We are, of course, biased against the charge.

Yes.  We will publish as much as possible, hold an open meeting to decide on courses of action.

Yes.  We are using the same Natwest group of accounts with dedicated and separate accounts for the legal fundraising. 

Yes.  Our leases are clear that we must pay but we understand that we can insure against costs being awarded against us.

Not directly.  Our challenge to the basic calculation has been rejected by Chobham Manor LLP and the LLDC.  We now have evidence that the application of the lease clauses stems from the LLDC and is consistent through the LLP to residents.  It's now for the courts to decide.

We do not plan to use CMRA funds (although we did vote £3,000 towards the case at the AGM in April) because:

• We do not have sufficient funds to cover this action

• The CMRA funds are for all residents including those in social housing who do not pay the FEC

• The funds need to last for longer to support the operation of this legal campaign.

Of course if members decided that the funds should be spent then the constitution allows for this.

No, because we expect to sue these organisations through Chobham Manor LLP.  

Yes, here is a template to use (for Leaseholders):

• Google docs. 

• MS Word. 

or for Freeholders:

• Google docs 

• MS Word 

Download the document and update it with your details and send to ChobhamManorpm@rendallandrittner.co.uk