The Scandal Of Timber Wharf: Part 6

THERE has been a little bit of Christmas cheer for the long suffering leaseholders at Timber Wharf who had to pay £1m to get the leaky roof of their multi-award winning building fixed.

If you missed instalments one to five of this saga you can catch up here: part one, two, three, four and five.

“Nobody should have had to go through this and it makes me question whether I would ever buy another flat"

After much wrangling the NHBC has finally paid out some insurance money, around £550,000, and half of that has been passed back to owners. It is hoped the final payout will be nearer £750,000.

The other half is being held back by the building’s own management committee until a final debting dozen or so of owners make a contribution and until the cost of initial work such as reports and excavations are calculated.

The Committee is hoping to pay out a second tranche in the New Year with a third and final instalment coming when the NHBC agrees its final amount. They have pledged that this money will go back to owners and not be swallowed up in the sinking fund.

Timber Wharf's leaky roof

Credit to the Management Committee for continuing to have the energy to pursue this and a very small and belated bit of credit to developer Urban Splash which says it does not want back any of the £150,000 it contributed for the sixteen apartments it still owns. The very least it could do given the decade of misery owners have suffered.

Even when the NHBC agreed it would be liable for some of the damage (Its warranty never covered the flat roof) the process of claiming has been painful with every owner having to fill in overly complicated and confusing forms.

The building’s management company, Mainstay, has been playing its part but there have been grumblings about it taking so very long.

Still, some money has been paid back which shows you should never give up the fight – however painful.

Tom Coyle, one of the management committee directors, said: “Nobody should have had to go through this and it makes me question whether I would ever buy another flat.

“People should be under no illusion that leases are always written in favour of the freeholder and they should be examined very carefully, line by line, before you buy.”

The repair work to the building should be completed early in 2015.

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