INTERIM ZOOM MEETING 29 July 2021
The attached are the minutes of the interim meeting meeting held with owners by ZOOM on 29th July 2021
download Minutes of open zoom meeting
REvised resoluti0n 5
download - revised resolution
Outcome of the voting
Thank you very much to all of you who voted on the Revised Resolution 5.
The total available votes (including those submitted by LTHLP who will be contributing to the overall cost) were 176. The required 67% majority was 118 votes. I can confirm that 119 votes were received for the resolution with the chosen supplier being North Star.
I will now contact LTHLP management to advise them of the result. We will also advise LTHLP Management that we accept their offer to provide the lampposts. We will also make it clear that the estimate is the expected cost and should the supplier not be able to meet that cost we will require to have the detail of any
overspend ( above the accepted £500 overspend limit) to be submitted to us for approval before it is agreed.
I will be in touch with the expected timescales for the work.
2020 OWNERS ASSOCIATION AGM
This year’s AGM like everything else this year was a little different with 20 lodge owners joining us on a ZOOM meeting. The meeting went well and most owners appreciated the opportunity to take part. LTHLP Management were also able to join the meeting for a spell to set out their comments and thoughts on the future of the Park.
All resolutions bar one were approved by Owners. Resolution 5, dealing with the replacement of the lighting in the lower park area, required to be resent to owners with up dated quotes. The result of this will be published once owners have submitted their votes.
There were several changes to the Owners Association committee this year with a couple of our long standing members retiring. Thanks were given to Janette Cooper, John Turner and Morag Nicholls for all their work and effort of the last few years. New committee members were introduced - Ewan Williamson (The Harbour), Maureen Balloch (The Viking) and Andrey McKenzie ( Forktree and Sitella). The key roles on the committee also changed with Gail Gibson stepping down as Chair to be replaced by Campbell Archibald, Gail will now replace Janine Murray as Secretary and Janine will take on the role of Treasurer (replacing Morag)
Full minutes are able to be downloaded in the Archive section.
COVID 19 AND LTHLP OPENING
Several Owners have contacted us to find out when the Park is likely to open to Owners to check on their property. At this moment it is unclear from the Scottish Government guidance as they are only addressing the timescales for potential letting to recommence. We have contacted LTHLP Management and asked for their guidance and will let you know as soon as we have a response.
FURTHER UPDATE ON PROPERTY FACTOR
As you are aware from the information we have posted in the past, LTHLP Management have had their WSOS submission rejected and have now re-submitted to the 1st Tier Tribunal a further WSOS. Please see below for the details. We await the comments from the Tribunal.
download - LTHLP Property Factor submission
Mrs Morrison has commented on this submission, please see below
download - LTHLP Property Factor Eleanor’s comments on submission
RESOLUTION OF DISPUTE WITH LTHLP MANAGEMENt ovEr THE agreeMeNt reacheD IN DECEMber 2019
Dear Owners
I recently communicated with you regarding the breach of the Agreement that we had reached with LTHLP Management back in December of last year regarding the East Field to gauge your opinion on our approach.
As the vast majority of owners were against its inclusion as an area of owner responsibility, we went back to LTHLP with your decision.
After several email discussions with LTHLP Management, I am pleased to report that we successfully persuaded them to change their minds and have agreed a Map that is reflective of our original discussions and does not include the East Field. I have attached a copy of the Map for your information. We also insisted that the original SLA that formed part of that agreement was re-instated and again I am pleased to report that this has been agreed.
We are therefore of the opinion that it will not be necessary for Owners to place their AMC into a holding account, as was proposed if this agreement had not been reached.
I would like to thank you for your support on this issue and look forward to seeing you all again at some point in the near future back at Loch Tay.
Kind Regards
Gail Gibson
Chair LTHLP Owners Association
Information on how to apply for a small business grant from Perth & Kinross council
Perth & Kinross council are making small business grants available to individuals who own a lodge and would normally have received rental income. Please see the information on how to apply below. Go to www.pkc.gov.uk and search coronavirus business grants
download - Perth and Kinross Business Grant info
UPDATE on PROPERTY FACTOR TRIBUNAL
In the last month we received a revised WSOS and an email from LTHLP Management advising us that the WSOS was finalised and the Property Factor Tribunal case was now closed. This was disputed by the Committee and the following email extracts and documents make it clear that indeed the case is not closed and that the WSOS submitted by LTHLP Management still does not comply with the Code of Conduct.
download LTHLP and Committee correspondence on !st Tier Tribunal
download 1st Tier Tribunal second decision
PROPERTY FACTOR TRIBUNAL INFORMATION AND DECISION
Below are the documents relating to the recent Ist Tier Tribunal Review of the LTHLP WSOS and the result.
download - Property Factor Tribunal Summary
download - Property Factor - Written Decision
download - Property Factor - LTHLP Appeal
download = Property Factor - review decision
Results of the VOTE to change the Annual Management charge
Thank you to all who submitted their votes. Over 90% of owners voted. The results of the votes are attached. Both votes were voted for by more than two thirds of the owners who voted. It is hoped we can now move on to a better relationship with LTHLP Management and receive the services we require.
download - Results of VOTES A & B
IMPORTANT CHANGES PROPOSED TO THE ANNUAL MANAGEMENT CHARGE (AMC) PAYABLE TO LTHLP MANAGEMENT (PROPERTY FACTOR) THESE PROPOSALS WILL REQUIRE YOUR VOTE SO PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
Dear Owner
I am writing to let you know about some important proposed changes to the AMC that the Owners Association Committee have negotiated with LTHLP Management (acting as Property Factor of Loch Tay Highland Lodge Park).
MOVING TO A NEW BASIS OF CALCULATING THE AMC
We, the Owners Association Committee, have for some time felt that a complete overhaul of the AMC was required, the principle reason for this being that year on year it was becoming impossible to agree with LTHLP Management both the appropriate services and the costs attributed to us, as owners, for the running of the Park.
Over the last couple of years, we as owners, have seen LTHLP Management add a variable additional cost to our AMC. This cost has been as a result of the difference between the actual running costs and the arranged AMC which is the previous years AMC + RPI. This was explained at our last AGM.
SPLITTING THE PARK
In order to help resolve this and to make it perfectly clear what the area is that we require to be serviced going forward, we have negotiated a split of the Park. One part being the top half of the Park and several other areas owned solely by LTHLP and the other part being the bottom half of the Park that consists of the independently owned lodges, including those owned by Rupert Barrett. This split will allow us, the independent owners, to be clear about the area being managed on our behalf. A copy of the rough split site showing the area attributed to us is enclosed – Appendix A. Please note that The Crannog has been missed out of the area by mistake and this will rectified.
SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT
We have also negotiated a service level agreement (SLA) which sets out the services we expect to receive from LTHLP Management as a property factor for the agreed area. A copy of the SLA is enclosed – Appendix B. We have also agreed a monitoring and communication process for all issues relating to the SLA. I have also enclosed a breakdown of the resources that will be allocated to the area relevant to us as set out in Appendix A and the services we expect to receive as set out in Appendix B – see Appendix C.
PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE AMC
As part of the negotiations we have discussed the true cost of delivering these services. As we are all aware, staff costs have been the largest portion of the AMC and the total cost of providing adequate staff to run the Park has increased significantly over the last few years. LTHLP Management have expressed a need to move to a more realistic basis for the overall costs but have also agreed to stage the increase over the next 2 years and to fix key elements of the costs for the next five years (subject to RPI increases only). This means that for the next five years we will not expect to receive any adhoc variable additional costs to our AMC, subject to external influences remaining the same. At that time we will review the basis. We have enclosed a breakdown of these revised costs – see Appendix D.
CHANGES TO FUTURE INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS
In addition to negotiating the overall AMC costs we have discussed with LTHLP Management the potential to change the basis on which any future infrastructure costs are charged.
To date should any part of the Park require major replacement or overhaul we, the owners, in accordance with the agreement reached with LTHLP, would contribute 75% of all such costs. In light of the proposed changes to the site we have renegotiated this and have attached a table setting out the proposed renegotiated split of such costs – Appendix E.
You will be required to vote on the proposed change to the AMC and the infrastructure costs - VOTE A ( see Voting process below). Each lodge will be allocated 4 votes, excluding those owned by Rupert Barrett as he is not a member of the Association.
WRITTEN STATEMENT OF SERVICES (WSOS)
In addition to the above proposed changes, LTHLP Management have prepared a written statement of services (WSOS) which they are obliged to do as a Property Factor. You must review this and give your views, if you have not already done so, on whether it is acceptable to you. A final WSOS is still to be produced.
A vote on this will be required once we have a final WSOS.
MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
As a result of all the proposals set out above and the Written Statement of Services, a new Management Agreement will be prepared and sent out for approval and signature by all owners. We, the owners association committee, will prepare together with LTHLP Management a draft of the new Management Agreement. It will then by scrutinised by a lawyer to ensure that we haven’t missed anything. We will be in touch once this draft has been prepared.
PROPOSAL TO EQUALISE THE AMC BETWEEN ALL LODGES
In the past the AMC was calculated on an allocated points basis – each size of lodge be it 2,3 or 4 bed was allocated a number of points and the AMC was divided by that number to achieve the amount to be allocated to each lodge. This was devised at time when there were different types of services being provided for the lodges ie painting, window cleaning etc and depending on the size of the lodge the service requirement would be proportionately different. This is no longer the case. On the basis that the AMC now applies only to the management of the Park area on which our lodges are situated – Appendix A and not to the provision of services to individual lodges, the Owners Association Committee feel that we should now consider moving to a fairer and more equitable AMC cost split between all owners ie the same AMC applies for every lodge irrespective of size.
An outline of what that would mean for each of the lodges is attached – Appendix F.
You will be required to vote on this proposal – VOTE B (see voting process below) Each lodge would be allocated 4 votes, including those owned by Rupert Barrett as this is not a vote involving LTHLP Management.
WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
As an owner you have an obligation under the terms of the current Management Agreement to pay the current agreed costs (AMC). The owners association committee, having negotiated these new terms, would like you to review the proposed changes and vote on whether or not to accept them and arrange for them to be implemented by LTHLP Management. As has been done in the past in accordance with the Management Agreement and Owners Association Constitution, each lodge will be allocated 4 votes and 67% of the total possible votes in favour of the changes will result in them being implemented. You will require to have paid your current Owners Association subscription in order to vote for VOTE A. If you do not submit a vote it will be assumed that you are in favour of the change.
If you do not vote for the change but the necessary majority is in favour the changes they will be binding on all owners in accordance with the current agreement.
VOTING PROCESS
Please send an email to the Secretary, janinedaviespr@hotmail.com, indicating your lodge, your share of that lodge and the votes you are making.
VOTE A
PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE AMC AND INFRASTRUCTURE COSTS
I am in favour of the new proposed charges, site split and SLA
I am not in favour of the new proposed charges, site split and SLA
VOTE B
PROPOSED CHANGE TO EQUALISE THE AMC
I am in favour of the new proposed change to equalise the AMC
I am not in favour of the new proposed change to equalise the AMC
The votes will be collected 14 days from the issue of this email and the results will be notified thereafter.
If you have any questions on the proposed changes please contact me, either by email, gailgibson3@btinternet.com or by phone 07872441506.
Any questions received from owners and the relevant response will be posted on the Owners Association website, www.lochtayhighlandlodges.com.
download - site map
download - SLAdonload
download - staff allocation
download - proposal for payment in 2020
download - proposed infrastructure costs
download - proposed charging structure
2019 Accounts
Following the AGM the OA committee approved the 2019 Accounts for the purposes of moving on to a new proposal with LTHLP. A copy is attached
download LTHLP ACCOUNTS 2019
2019 AGM
The minutes for the 2019 Owners Association AGm
download - AGM minutes
Lodge for sale
The owner of Fork Tree Lodge has advised that they wish to sell the lodge. Any interested buyers should contact Irving Geddes ,Contact Info. Sales. 01764 653771.
Written Statement of Services complaint
As set out below,, Eleanor Morrison, one of our owners has made a formal complaint to the 1st Tier Tribunal regarding the Written Statement of Services produced by LTHLP Management. The following document sets out a summary of the complaint.
download
2019 AGM
Please save Saturday 7th September free for this year’s AGM. It will be held once again at The Bridge of Lochay Hotel in Killin.
We will also be organising a social evening on the 6th at Ciros at the Bistro to give everyone a chance to meet and mingle with fellow members, please try to come along.
UPdate on Meeting with LTHLP
Dear Fellow Owners
Following on from my earlier communication I want to update you on the forthcoming meeting with LTHLP Management and to remind you that all the current and past communications are now on our website, please take a look and let me know if you would like to add anything www.lochtayhighlandlodges.com, password lthelp1300.
Representatives of the Owners Association will be meeting with LTHLP Management on 11th July.
The purpose of this meeting is to further discuss the Written Statement of Services produced and sent to yourselves by LTHLP Management as Property Factor and the associated Service Level Agreement and Site Map. If you have any points you would like me to raise in connection with these documents please let me know.
As we mentioned earlier this is all a significant departure from the current Management Agreement and requires some negotiation to make sure that we are receiving a fair, reasonable and value for money service.
We will update you again following this meeting.
Kind Regards
Gail
Chairperson LTHLP Owners Association Committee
Comments on the WRITTEN STATEMENT OF SERVICES
The Owners Association Committee has emailed comments on the LTHLP Ltd written statement of services (WSOS).
For and on behalf of LTHLP Owners Association
Without Prejudice
Hi Jo/Rupert
Thank you for forwarding the draft copy of your Written Statement of Services for LTHLP Ltd as property factor.
Firstly can we state that we currently still believe that with the present negotiations we have an opportunity to take things back to having a basic, simple, measurable set of deliverables supplied by a reliable service provider which are monitored by the owners association committee.
At this point in time we await your justification, including any external comparison, for the proposed increased costs, some discussion around some simple amendments to certain areas, for example the map, which is not clear, the SLA and the existing management agreement.
Can we also point out that it would appear, as you have mentioned, that around 96% of the owners have paid the January invoice you issued, This is surely a credit to the committee and their communications to owners, particularly given the lack of approved accounts. The amount of consternation caused and communicated by you to the committee as a result of the outstanding amount of @£380 is consequently very surprising.
With reference to the WSOS in particular we would make the following points/comments but would stress that these would need to be reviewed by a lawyer.
1. This document is the statutory obligation that LTHLP Ltd are required to have if they are a Property Factor in accoradnace with the Code of Conduct, we do not believe it complies with this in a number of areas.
2. We do not believe that it can supercede or replace the Management Agreement, which is the only legal document we have agreed/signed. The Management Agreement makes reference to LTHLP Ltd being the first party to that contract but does not refer to the appointment of a Property Factor. Section 11 does allow LTHLP Ltd to appoint an agent but any subcontracting or outsourcing must be managed so as to comply with the Regulations and be with the agreed AMC unless deemed to be ‘exceptional ‘ but even then prior consent and authorisation is required. Section 12 of the Management Agreement states that any alteration or addition to the Regulations require the majority of the owners to consent to any proposed changes and any changes need the prior agreement of both parties before being implemented.
3. Our title deeds make no reference to the Management Agreement or the appointment of a Property Factor. However acknowledge we that once the Management Agreement is signed and the rights, obligations and liabilities (including the payment of fees) have been undertaken by both parties, it constitutes a legal contract.
4. The SLA and Map which are attached are still under negotiation, as are the fees and the split of these fees, therefore if this is to be sent to owners, these documents must be marked as drafts.
With respect to the document itself, the format is set out as per the standard template issued by the Scottish Government. However there are some key areas which we do not think are right/acceptable.
1. Section 4 Finance and Charging, this cannot unilaterally change/replace the existing Regulation 1 in the Management Agreement without the approval of the owners.
2. Communication channels. This should make reference to the Owners Association and their role in co-ordinating and channelling communications with LTHLP Ltd as Property Factor.
3. Debt Collection. We expected this to be added, however what appears to be missing is that if a court finds in favour of any owner who has failed to pay, no amount can be recovered from the other owners.
4. Termination. The amended property owner schedule sets out the repayment ratio. This again has not be agreed. There is also no reference made to the fact that we can appoint a new Factor if we choose.
Regards Gail
Chairperson LTHLP Owners Association
One of our Owners, Eleanor Morrison of Milton Bay Lodge,has also commented on the WSOS and is in the process of lodging a complaint with the Scottish Government’s 1st Tier Tribunal regarding perceived discrepancies with the Government’s Property Factor Code of Conduct.
The following sets out Eleanor’s email and submission.
Dear Jo
I was pleased to finally receive a Written Statement of Services from you, but disappointed and frustrated to find that it did not meet the minimum legal requirements set out in the Property Factor Code of Conduct. As a result I am writing to inform you that I intend to submit a complaint to the Tribunal next week. With this in mind I decided to do a separate word document outlining the main areas where I believe your WSS fails to meet the requirements, which I can include in the papers I will send to the Tribunal and attach the result.
As your WSS makes significant changes to our current Management Agreement I agree with you that it should now be put to a Lodge Owners vote before it can be implemented. Given what I see as major issues of non compliance with the legal requirements it may be worth postponing the vote until the Tribunal has clarified what (if anything) needs to be changed to make the document legally compliant. That is clearly a matter for the Owners Committee to decide and so I am copying Gail, the Chair, into this response.
As you are aware the Code of Conduct does not cover the amount of money a Property Factor charges (that is left to market forces) but only the information that must be given to Property Owners about how these fees are calculated etc. I would imagine however that the Property Owners would want to have the information on fees etc before voting. I see that you intend to charge the Owners 100% of the costs attached to either the whole or part of the site, but without details of which Owners will be charged it is difficult to measure the impact. The key issue here is whether the properties owned by Mr Barret are included in paying towards the costs incurred. I assume this will be covered in the list of Lodge Owners mentioned as an appendix in your WSS and so this too will be required before a vote can be held.
I look forward to hearing what is decided regarding the vote and will forward both you and Gail a copy of the papers I intend to submit to the Tribunal next week.
Regards
Eleanor Morrison
Eleanor’s document download
LTHLP LTD Written Statement of services
LTHLP Ltd have now issued to owners their written statement of services. A copy of this is set out below.
LTHLP Ltd WSOS download
2019 Invoices, 2017/18 Accounts and the way forward
Dear Lodge Owners
May I first wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year when it comes.
As most of you are aware for some time now there have been various discussions and sometimes disagreements regarding the impact of the current management agreement and the resulting annual management charge for our lodges at LTHLP. We, your Owners Association Committee, have been trying to find a way forward in respect of both of these areas. We have now agreed to put in place a meeting between LTHL Management and ourselves to discuss how these areas can be improved upon for both parties. We will be in touch to let you know the results of that meeting and the next steps.
In the intervening period between the 2017 AGM, where a change was first discussed, and now the Committee have been involved in correspondence with LTHL Management in respect of a new AMC proposal , a draft service agreement and the current annual management charge and 2019 invoices. In the interest of transparency and to help Owners understand the current position we thought it best to set out a timeline of the correspondence that has happened to date between LTHL Management and ourselves.
I hope you will take the time to read the information and feel free to get back to us with any questions you may have. I will also put a copy of the correspondence in the News section of our website for future reference.
Kind Regards
Gail
Chairperson
For and on behalf of LTHLP Owners Association
LTHLP Communication download
Tradesman required
One of our owners is looking for a recommendation for a plumber that can convert a bathroom into a shower room in the lodges. If you have a plumber you would like to recommend please contact me on gailgibson3@btinternt.com and I will pass the information on.
Update on discussions with LTHL Management
As most of you are aware we have been in discussion with LTHL Management with a view to revising the existing Management Agreement and resulting AMC. Discussions to date have gone well and we are close to agreeing the service level agreement ( a copy of which is set out in the section below). We are arranging a further meeting to look at the resulting AMC costs and will be in touch to advise you of the outcome of these discussions.
