Alexandra-Tower-Residents-Blog

Alexandra Tower Liverpool - AVOID

2013-03-19T04:51:00.004-07:00

So then, since Nov 2012 has there been an update to the problems plaguing Alexandra Tower Liverpool?

Have the car parks been fixed? Have the windows been cleaned? Are tenants being vetted and checked by the likes of City Residential (to prevent more criminal gangs moving in?). Has the safety curtain around the building been removed or is there still a threat of falling glass panels weighing 100kg?

I think you know what the answer to all of these questions is…..HELL AS LIKE

Building Update - Same Shit Different Day

2012-11-29T04:06:00.002-08:00

I wrote to Breamar (the management company for Alexandra Tower) in the last couple of weeks and here are some excerpts from that email:

As we know, it’s pretty much two years to the week that Thomson and Moulton were relieved as managing agents and if I had to put money on the next outcome, it will be that Zolfo will once again pin the blame on the managing agent and move on without making good on the promises they made 4 years ago? This helps nobody and to be honest, I’m sick to death of Zolfo dodging the issue.

It just seems as though there has been a shift towards a different kind of tenant now, from professional / working people, in need of parking spaces to students who couldn’t really care about the building (and its problems) and have no need for parking either. Two birds one stone so to speak.

This is now 4 years of unresolved issues and despite the assurances from Zolfo that “what ever is necessary will be done” (re the car lifts) some 3 years ago I’m sure you can understand my scepticism? Same with the safety of the glass cladding which is unofficially safe, but yet the unsightly safety scaffolding is still in place two years on?

As such, in respect of parking, I now park my car a mile away at a friend’s whom has a space but no car because I have no faith in the car lifts

Having to park my car a mile away isnt acceptable and low and behold, the first time I use the parking space I am paying for at the building, last weekend and one of the lifts was out so same shit, different day is a phrase that speak to mind with this building.

In answer to a comment today "is it still worth avoiding this building?" I would say that the building has so much potential is in a great location but the people behind the scenes clearly dont give a shit about the quality of the building. Zolfo had not made good on a single promise they made 3 years ago and it seems, are more than happy to have a revolving door of tenants and not look to spend money on improving the building and look to build long term tenants.

If I had a choice of moving in to this building today I wouldnt move in but circumstances mean I cant really move just yet

Urgent - Flat Share Needed

2012-11-22T01:30:00.001-08:00

Hello, I am currently living in Alexandra Tower but I am sharing a 2 bed with someone else.

This arrangement isn't permanent so I was wondering whether anyone else in the building has a 2 bed flat and would like to rent out the rooms?

I would be happy to go on the tenancy/pay a deposit too. My number is 07447131174 or email alex_mealand@hotmail.co.uk, and I am on 7th floor

Building Update

2012-11-01T01:45:00.000-07:00

So far there is still no word from the Management Company or Zolfo the administrators for Alexandra Tower as to when (if it is indeed safe) for the scaffolding to be taken down after the glass panel fell to the ground two years ago. Nor is there any word whether the car park lifts will be rectified once and for all, or indeed is there any word as to when the windows will ever get cleaned?

“Different day same old shit” should be Zolfo Cooper’s tag line

Pretty much two years to the week Zolfo blamed the last management company and instructed a new one in Braemar Estates and Zolfo (who control the money) gave their word that “whatever needs to be done will be done” and “if the car lifts need replacing then it will happen”.

Now I’m not one to call someone a liar but I am a person who (if required) will tell it like it is so Mr P from Zolfo, you know the conversation we had and you know what you said and everything you said would happen, hasn’t? You are clearly not a man of your word.

It is clear you are effectively happy to let the building suffer and instead of fixing problems (like the car lifts) that affect peoples lives in the form of missing work, business meetings, flights, picking kids up from school etc, etc, you are happy to let the revolving door recruitment policy of new tenants continue until you get tenants with such low expectations, they don’t give a crap about the problems.

Total Car lift Outage (again) 26/04/12

2012-04-26T01:32:00.000-07:00

With some degree of predictability yesterday one car lift failed, and the second remaining car lift failed this morning leaving residents without use of their cars and the resultant fallout.

Yet another issue of cars stuck 05/03/2012

2012-03-05T07:24:00.003-08:00

Sunday afternoons are when some people go to see families, keep in touch with friends, or take their family out for the day. Sunday afternoon's are also when some people have to work.

Whatever people do on a Sunday, and if they have a car, they couldnt go about their lives today for yet again, both car lifts at Alexandra Tower Liverpool were not working and the engineer could not call out until Monday morning.

Plans cancelled Sunday, taxi fares incurred for people going to work, and for people who need their car to work (and there are a couple of cabbies in the building) a day/night of lost work.

Monday morning and both lifts are still offline and as at 3pm, the issue was not resolved and people cannot use their entry fobs (in this long long long long line of lift outages) to call the lift or open the lift doors from the ground.

And still no response from the Management Company Braemar Estates or Zolfo Cooper (the buildings administrators) about when ANY of the issues affecting this building will be resolved.

Car Lift Outage (since friday) 20/02/12 AM

2012-02-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

Bad enough that people had cars trapped in the building Friday afternoon and over the weekend through the continued inconvenience to personal lives and those who work who reside here.

But to add insult to injury, both of the car park the lifts at Alexandra Tower were still off Monday morning, causing yet more disruption to anyone with a car and a job/business to go to.

Ongoing Issues and their Resolution?
Still no response from the Management Company Braemar Estates or Zolfo Cooper (the buildings administrators) about when ANY of the issues affecting this building will be resolved.

Car Lift Outage (no shock there) 17/02/2012

2012-02-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

The car lifts at Alexandra Tower Liverpool both went offline again this afternoon and will remain off over the weekend likely.

No shock there, and still no response from the Management Company Braemar Estates or Zolfo Cooper (the buildings administrators) about when ANY of the issues affecting this building will be resolved.

07/02/2012 - Car Outage Update 8pm

2012-02-07T11:44:00.000-08:00

According to the concierge, the lift engineer Marciac Lift services were not available to service the lift today owing to a family funeral. As such, the fault is still not fixed and the lift fobs are not working.

This effectively means that the one working lift cannot be called to your floor. The engineer is due out shortly after 8am in the morning (8th) so anyone needing to commute some distance tomorrow can forget it.

Whilst this is obviously not ideal with the engineer not available today, we simply shouldn't be at the mercy of one single lift engineer in any case and credit to Marciac, they have done a lot to keep things going as best they can with the shitty lift/s we have.

Same with the concierge staff.

However, despite not being their fault, it’s not the lift engineer or the concierge staff that make the decisions but they do get earache for it. That responsibility and the direction at which the earache should be given falls firmly to the feet of Zolfo Cooper (the buildings administrators) who oversee the building on behalf of the final owner, which is still Barclays Bank we believe. Secondly, the management firm Braemar Estates who run after the day to day stuff.

They can be contacted on the following:

Neil Roberts

Managing Director Braemar Estates

Richmond House Heath Road Hale Altrincham Cheshire WA14 2XP

0161 929 2300

And

Laith Dajani

Zolfo Cooper, The Zenith Building, 26 Spring Gardens, Manchester, M2 1AB

0161 838 4542

Good luck getting a response as 3 years on, most residents don’t hold much respect for either party. They used to talk a good game and 2 years ago promised that if the lifts needing replacing, than that’s what they (Zolfo) would do, but now emails and phone calls from residents and owner landlords largely go unanswered.

All that can be done is to stop the revolving door of new tenants, unaware of the problems, but whom, in general don’t renew their leases.

Perhaps when City Residential report that people do not want to even view the building owing to its history, maybe then life for all current and future residents will become better.

7th Feb 2012 – cars stuck in lift outage, AGAIN

2012-02-07T02:05:00.000-08:00

For the residents of Alexandra Tower, Liverpool, this morning was a cold and misty one with fog still hanging over the Mersey and yet if there wasn’t enough to contend with, the ever failing car park lifts at the building both failed, leaving residents unable to get in or out of the car park.

Yet another incidence of residents being denied use of their cars to go to work, take the kids to school or go about their busy lives or self employment!

That the lifts have been failing like this for 3 years doesn’t seem to motivate the buildings’ owners/management to act when two years ago, assurances were given by Zolfo Cooper, that “if need be, the car lift system will be replaced”. Still waiting on that one....

This blog is now getting hundreds of visits per month, and is currently sitting on the first page of Google for all relevant search terms, right along side the very agents that are marketing this property.

Somehow, and despite a legal obligation to inform potential future residents viewing the building, about its problems, who in all honesty thinks that the letting agents are being upfront in their disclosures of information, which would otherwise have a bearing on the decision whether to live here or not?

Its not so easy to ignore Google when it places this blog (written without spin or misrepresentation of facts) alongside the very estate agents websites marketing the property. This building has so much potential to be a prime residence of the Liverpool waterfront, but with the current management, many feel it is destined to become nothing more than waterfront student accommodation and weekend party rentals as many working professionals are leaving the building, never to renew their leases.

*ps nothing against students but this isn’t a halls of residence or party building, hence the recent notice in the lobby from the buildings management, about noise complaints.

Falling Glass from Alexandra Tower Liverpool - update

2012-02-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

This was in the press March 10th 2010

The managing agents of the Alexandra Tower building in Princes Parade were last night ordered to undertake the task after a 100kg glass sheet shattered and fell to the ground.

Liverpool Echo story here in full

Now the funny thing is, nearly two years later and the safety scaffolding around the building, preventing more 100kg glass panels hitting the ground with full force is still up and only yesterday, a letter was delievered to all occupants, that the safety inspection (ordered 2 years ago) is now taking place.

If the bulding was safe from more falling glass, then wouldnt it be logical to remove the eye sore that is a ring of scaffolding around the building?

Another question for would be residents is this:

Do you want to live in a building that when 100kg glass panels fall off it, those that manage and own the building have so much respect for the residents, and their safety that after two years, no progress is made?

If the powers that be dont seem to be too bothered to act and reassure residents about 100kg glass panels falling, do you think that they give a damn about smaller issues which dont mean life or death, but whether you enjoy living in the building?

View from Alexandra Tower Liverpool

2012-02-03T07:24:00.000-08:00

This is the lovely view from the river facing floor to ceiling windows of Alexandra Tower Liverpool

Great for NOT being able to see the river view you thought you were getting

Alexandra Tower Liverpool / Dec 2011 Car Lift Outage - update

2012-01-03T01:08:00.000-08:00

As per the last blog post (Fri 30th December) and for which every resident at Alexandra Tower, Liverpool are all too aware, there was a complete outage to the car park lifts on Friday 30th December, 2011.

It is now Tuesday 3rd of January 2012 and for most people, a day to get the kids back in school, the first day back at work, and the first day back to their own businesses. It is also the 5th day of consecutive outage for the car parks at the building, and denial of use for their cars.

From people wanting to have any sort of private/social/family life over the New Year, to a couple of self employed cabbie’s not able to use their car on New Years (resulting in serious loss of earnings), the loss of use was frustrating, but add now the holiday period is over, the misery is still there and cars remain stuck in the building.

Resolution?
Most residents, including myself have long since given up any hope of either the management company Braemar Estates or the administrators Zolfo Cooper overseeing the building post liquidation dealing with the issue now in its 4th year. Both parties have a stock excuse involving “our hands are tied”. Braemar Estates say they can only do so much and blame Zolfo Cooper saying that Zolfo make the decisions, and Zolfo Cooper in turn blame the banks saying the banks (with Barclays possibly as the largest stakeholder) control the purse strings.

One has to wonder if Braemar Estates mention to Zolfo Cooper that no tenants seem to want to remain past their first 6month lease and if in turn Zolfo Cooper communicates this to Barclays?

Only certain route to resolution?
Perhaps the only way to get the message across is in having potential residents see this blog, and report to the likes of City Residential (the principle agent) that they have no desire to move in with so many high profile issues, and with no resolution in sight?

Who would want to move in knowing what is reported in this blog? I wouldn’t and I live here now, have done for over 3 years, but my resolve is being tested.

It also has to be said that there is no spin or glossing over of detail in the writing of this blog. If you are thinking of moving in, ask the agent about the issues, ask the onsite staff in the office. They may not volunteer the info unless you ask, but if you ask, they cannot lie as to do so is a criminal offence.

Alexandra Tower Liverpool - Dec 2011

2011-12-30T09:04:00.000-08:00

As someone who is stubborn and has little other choice but to have lived in this building for the last 3 years, and has a wont be beaten attitude, I would say to others, that unless you have the same attitude, steer clear and live somewhere else.

Below are a list of some of the issues that have been experienced at Alexandra Tower for the last 2-3 years. All without resolution....

Unsafe Building?

A 100kg glass panel fell off the building from one of the top floors in March 2010 narrowly missing a delivery driver near the front entrance (reported here in local news) yet nearly 2 years later, the safety curtain around the building to prevent death to residents and passing public (from further falling glass) is still up. Why is that?

No Maintenance

Despite said glass panel falling off the building nearly two years ago it has yet to be replaced. This is reflective of the care that is taken with the rest of the building, including getting one of the building lifts fixed so it doesn’t get drenched in sewage when it reaches the ground floor. One of the lifts routinely smells of sewage and despite complaints from both residents, visitors, letting agents and staff, the problem and the smell remain.

No Window Cleaning and very little other cleaning

The windows to the building, despite having a winch and cradle on the building roof to do so, haven’t been cleaned once since the building was built. So, that River view you thought you were getting is largely smeared with salt and sand with the winds that the building is exposed to. So when the Queen Mary II or other cruise ships are docked mere feet from the building, you can forget seeing them or taking a photo of them.

This attitude is also applied to the general upkeep to the building. There used to an onsite cleaner but that has been replaced to hovering the communal carpets once a month. So if there is any mess, and sadly some residents have been scumbags or have had scumbag guests who will leave faeces in a lift, or in the fire exit staircase, along with rubbish they can’t be prepared to take down, the problem stays there for days, or weeks through lack of on site cleaner.

Carparks and Cars getting stuck

If you have a car, don’t live here. You will be late for work. If you are self-employed you will miss meetings and upset clients and as a result, you will lose business. Not to mention the extra taxi fares you have to pay out when the car park lifts fail. AND THEY DO FAIL.

This issue with the car parks has been ongoing and without a complete resolution but temporary fix after temporary fix for two years. As I write this blog post both car lifts are out and my car is stuck inside the building.

During this month of December 2011 there has been several outages and approx 4 days of total outage in this month alone. Granted a lot of outages are caused by residents hitting the doors and breaking them but not all outages, and in any case, whatever the reason for the outage, your boss, business customer, children needing picking up from school, dentist or any other thing important in your life wont give a shit about the reason, just that you werent there when you were meant to be!

Residents

By and large, most residents are a nice bunch of people. Working city dwellers and students make up the majority of the building yet earlier this year one major Liverpool letting agent was found out to not be carrying out any checks on the tenants it was putting forward. A practice that had gone on for some time. Therefore, not only were credit checks not being performed or former landlord references being checked, they weren’t even asked for. Surely this is counter productive as by opening your borders to any old person you may well attract some nicer elements of society but chances are you will let in those that will ruin it for everyone else. And this is exactly what happened.

Whether this practice was agreed by, or under the approval / knowledge of the management company (Braemar Estates) or the Receiver’s (Zolfo Cooper) overseeing the building post liquidation of its former owner is anyone’s guess?

When you don’t perform any checks before people move in, and you also allow people to pay cash, apartments get ransacked, drugs gangs etc move in and the building becomes like something out of the Wire. Several police raids have taken place at Alexandra Tower this year.

Outlook?

That not one single issue highlighted to the management company in the last 2-3 years has been effectively tackled or seemingly even attempted to be resolved begs the question as to how long the building owners will allow a revolving door policy to flourish. One where most people don’t renew their leases and owner/landlords are having their investment handled no better than a Nick Lesson hedge fund.

As other new apartments are completed (eg Mann Island) the likes of Alexandra Tower wont be able to compete (it cant now really) and until that day where it cant get any worse, and it does feel like the current powers that be are just letting it run down until that day, then maybe they will act?

Bearing this in mind, ask yourself if this is a building you would like to move into?

I will tell you for certain that if I hadn’t invested my time and money in this building and my business wasn’t in the city, and I was faced with the decision to move into it now, I would stay the hell away.

.....Alexandra Tower - Dont bother moving in

2011-12-30T08:31:00.000-08:00

Do you have a car and need to get to work in the morning?
Do you like to use your car to visit friends and family?
Do you use a car and as such care about being able to use it?

If you answered 'YES' to any of the above then Alexandra Tower Liverpool is not the building you should live in.....

Do you want to miss family holidays because you can't use you car and get to the airport on time, as your car is stuck in Alexandra Tower's carpark and the only means to get it out is broken and may be for a few days each month?

Do you want to miss important meetings and lose business because you need you car to travel for work/business but cant because your car is stuck in Alexandra Tower's carpark?

Do you want to have the worry of missing anything important in your life because your car will likely get stuck in Alexandra Tower's carparkwith no means of getting it out?

If you answered NO to any of the above then Alexandra Tower Liverpool is not the building you should live in.....

Granted before December there were a few outages but this month the car lifts have had problems every week and there have been several days of complete outage, and several other days of just one lift working.

It also has to be said that on some days (inc today 30th Dec and 14th ) that the lifts went off more than once in the same day, got fixed, then went off again...

At the time of writting, there is no access to cars parked at Alexandra Tower Liverpool. Cars are blocked inside the building and those arriving home from work have nowhere to park...

What is the Car Park lift/s?
For non residents (perhaps looking at this blog and thinking of moving in?) Alexandra Tower, Liverpool has an adjacent 5 storey car park for some 80 or so residents cars. Whilst a dozen or so spaces are accessed via the road into a ground level car park, the majority have to use the upper floors of which the only access to these floors is via a car lift system.

As with any normal lift in any other building, the principle is exactly the same but the notable exception is that if a lift is broken, people can use the stairs!

At Alexandra Tower Liverpool there are two lifts and since they were installed, they have been besieged with problems, faults and also damage which causes one, or as in most cases, both lifts to fail in quick succession.

Unlike any other lift were people can use the stairs, for obvious reasons no such luck for cars and the net result is that for several instances each month, there is a complete shutdown to the lifts and your car is then trapped inside the car park, or outside on the road. A road which is a private and owned by Peel Ports who have no sympathy for cars parked on said road (fine when lifts are working) and as such are never slow to get out the parking fines/tickets when the lifts are off.

“Surely the lifts are being looked into?” we residents hear people ask….

And the answer is that although the lifts are a well known, well documented fault with many a resident citing it to their letting agents as a direct reason for non renewal and leaving the building, no solution (beyond temp fixes) has ever been, or likely ever will be actioned.

The building has so much potential but there is no movement on any issues which have plagued the building over the last 3 years.

IF YOU HAVE A CAR AND NEED IT, DON’T MOVE IN

.....Residents Forum

2011-02-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Its been some time now since the last management company departed our building and the new management put in place.

I know there are a number of onogoing issues and some new ones have come to light since the New Year so if you want to email any comments rather than post in a public forum, get in touch via this email alexandra @ edibleinternet .co.uk and I we can start a dialogue on the good/bad/ugly comments some of you will no doubt have, and I can put them to the management for a response.....

Cheers

Lee
(Blog Admin)
p.s. the spaces in the email address are to only avoid spam bots!

.....Latest from Alexandra Tower

2010-10-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

Following a meeting with Thompson and Moulton in September in respect of an update to issues concerning the building and suggestions given to Thompson and Moulton in order to improve communication with the residents and owners and offer a service worthy of a management fee I have to report the following.

Thompson and Moulton are no longer employed to manage the building, by either the bank or the recievers, Zolfo Copper (acting for the all parties.

1) As such, an update on the Car Park Lifts and whether they are to be replaced, or if possible, have a long term effective repair in place is not forthcoming

2) Furthermore, an update as to the issue concerning the building safety and the 360 degree / top to bottom inspection of the glass panels also remains outstanding.

On both point above a letter will be sent to Zolfo Cooper and a response will be copied to residents who request a copy.

Just when you think you are getting somewhere after two years!

Granted the outages with the carpark lifts are no where near as bad as this time last year, but as we approach the cold/wet season which was blamed for much of the outages last year, it remains to be seen whether (without a permanent solution) we will get through the Autumn / Winter pain free, or with the same outages that caused outrage last year.

If there are any problems residents wish to highlight and get answers to, we have a running dialogue with the building receivers, (who are calling all the shots along with the bank) so just use the forum or leave your contact details (inc email) with John on reception and he'll pass your enquiry through.

Then as I know more I'll update everyone!

.....18 months on and still the same problems (and some more thrown in too)

2010-03-31T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well, for some of us that have been here since the building opened some 18 months ago, its been an interesting journey. One that you can't help but feel a sense of déjà vu, or recurring dream about.

18 months ago the car lifts would go out of service and we were told
"its just teething problems", "they'll be sorted next week". Read on but in a nutshell, the building has had problems from day 1 and the only change since then is for the worse.

Well taking "next week" as was intended for when the "teething issues" would be sorted the margin of error is some 7400% on that estimate to date, and in those 73 weeks gone, the building has seen untold residents leave through sheer frustration. 73 weeks of having your car locked in the buildings car park, and not being able to get it out and go to work. 73 weeks of failed promises. 73 weeks of excuses and losing business. 73 weeks of being told the building was full and had waiting lists of people waiting to be moved in (suggesting we should be lucky to be here)?

Its not by the way and judging by the empty apartments, many of us think the building is closer to 60% full at best.

Judge for yourself and drive past at night and see how many lights are NOT on!

For anyone who hasnt been informed by their letting agent (i.e. pretty much everyone) that by moving in you are pretty much guaranteed to be late for work every other week (if thats just in the city) and have to pay out for cabs as insult to injury and put up with all manners of crap think carefully about moving in.

The building is in a great spot and could be so much better but a great many people now think that more than a few corners were cut by the developer, knowing they were going to go into administration and as a result, some of those corners might be poor finishes to the interiors, poor fixtures and fittings, others, unsafe car lifts and glass panels falling from 200ft above your head and exploding all over the street.

Back to the car park issue.
Well imagine leaving your house/flat where you live now in the morning knowing you have a 90min drive only to find your car clamped! And then try and get to that meeting/client/work on time if at all? Thats what its like living here. Some residents have lost thousands of pounds in lost business/earnings, some have left because of disciplinary proceedings at work!

Shouldn't we, for the money people pay, be getting that quality product everyone was expecting? According to the actions of the Building Manager, Thompson and Moulton (part of Sutton Kersch), NO.

Its not all about the carlifts either. The passenger lifts in the building are forever breaking down just a regularly as the car ones and the windows, despite having a working crane for window cleaners, have never been cleaned once since the building opened.

What happens now?
In brief, the management company said today that no dates can be given in respect of the issues currently being faced and the car lift that has been in service for approx 14days since Nov 2009, and remains out of service today (the note is there on the left hand lift for all to see) no date, whether next week, next month or next year has been given so chances are, things are not going to change.

I will update this again in the coming days/weeks when other lines of inquiry have started to take effect with Liverpool Council whom issued a section 77 (dangerous building notice) and the Health and Safety Executive, whom are also investigating.

.....Letter to Agents re: Health & Safety investigation at Alexandra Tower Liverpool

2010-03-31T04:58:00.000-07:00

OPEN LETTER TO LETTING / ESTATE AGENTS
(copy of letter emailed today to City Residential 31/03/2010)

Re: Car Parking at Alexandra Tower

Dear Sirs,

We would like to bring to your attention the difficulties that have been experienced by residents of Alexandra Tower, 19 Princes Parade, Liverpool, L3 1BF, specifically those relating to the car park attached to the building with access via a lift system.

We believe that there is ‘material information’ enclosed in this letter for which a statutory obligation for letting agents exists, in respect of disclosing said ‘material information’ to prospective tenants, enquiring about residing in Alexandra Tower.

It is noted that City Residential has been the principle agent for this building in both the residential lettings and residential sales capacity. However, other agents whom are acting in respect of this building will receive the same correspondence.

Parking not fit for purpose

It is argued by a number of residents with parking spaces and many of the Otis lift engineers whom have attended the building and effected temporary fixes of the lift, that the lift system installed is not fit for purpose. It has routinely been subject to long term mechanical failures owing to poor design, ineffective materials and components installed at the outset, and an incorrect software configuration.

Whilst, for the majority of the time, one lift does remain working, having a single access point in itself is cause for concern, but when combined with the faulty software the overall outcome is one of considerable delay. Sometimes these delays can be up to 45min at peak times to either enter or leave the car park.

At times, the failures result in a total loss of access to the car park, thereby trapping vehicles in the building, and preventing others accessing the car park to store their vehicles. This causes severe disruption, not limited to, loss of earnings and additional travel costs.

We are sure you can appreciate that over the last 18 months, with such prevalent problems, many tenants have decided not to renew their contract upon expiry. We are personally aware of more than a dozen such residents in the last 3 months alone. You will likely be aware of this, owing to some departing via your agency.

The recently formed Residents Committee has consulted with residents and the management company in a bid to solve the parking issue for the benefit of all concerned parties.

For your information, there is also an ongoing dispute between the buildings management agent (Thomson and Moulton), the developers (Millennium Estates) and their subsequent receiver (Zolphur Cooper), the controlling bank (Barclays), the original installer of the lift (Sheridan Lifts Limited ) and Otis, whom are currently attempting to manage the maintenance and ongoing issues of this known problem.

With so many parties to the dispute, and the magnitude of the problem at hand, the last 15 months have seen absolutely no progress to put in place a suitable resolution. At the time of writing the car parking system has seen a total outage to both lifts no less than 5 times in the last few days (3 of which alone were on the evening of Friday 8th) and a further complete outage from approx 7am yesterday the 11th to the afternoon of that same day

However, despite this abundance of information, we feel that despite yours, and other agent’s obligations, many residents whom have moved in over the last 6 months have not been made aware of the ongoing issues in the building, specifically in respect of parking. This is somewhat troubling when it can be argued that the issues have become widespread, well documented and well publicised by current residents and those leaving.

We can only guess that such omissions are an oversight on your part and that of other agents, likely as a result of office miscommunication and we are sure you wish to address this and prevent further omissions.

Statutory Obligations

Whilst we are sure, as such a prominent entity in the Liverpool residential market you value both residents and landlords and wish to offer a good service, we wanted to reiterate to you and all other agents, of your statutory obligations as we appreciate that sometimes there maybe a communication breakdown in an office environment preventing accurate and timely information getting to front line staff who will be handling queries about the properties you act as agents for.

Quite often, residential letting agents do forget about their obligations in respect of disclosures, or are perhaps not aware of them. We are sure that any such omission of any disclosure from City Residential if such an omission has taken place, has been, as indicated, an oversight.

We are also making sure that residential agents are aware that in recent years it is now also a criminal offence for an estate/letting agent to make certain statements about a property which are false or misleading.

Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008

The new Act, which some agents may not be aware of, prohibits 'agents' (letting or otherwise) omitting material information from consumers, if that omission might cause the consumer to take a different decision. (See section 6 of the Act)

Material information is defined within the act as 'information which the average consumer needs, according to the context, to take an informed transactional decision'.

We would argue that the mechanical failures and the subsequent disputes between the parties mentioned earlier in failing to resolve the matter are material enough to warrant disclosure. However, with many residents having left (including those through your office) and more planning to leave upon tenancy expiry, citing the parking issues as the principle reason, that this would be further grounds for disclosure under ‘material information’ as prescribed by the act.

The possibility of lost earnings, additional travel expenses, damage to motor vehicles on the public highway and employment issues in respect of lateness and/or absence as a direct consequence of the car lift failure is also grounds for disclosure of ‘material information’ as all of the above have been experienced by numerous residents on numerous occasions.

The intention of this letter is to both remind all agents as to their obligations, and ascertain whether they will be disclosing the ‘material information’ to prospective tenants?

It must also be noted that The Health and Safety Executive are currently investigating residents safety concerns highlighted to them on recent admission by the management company, that a lift had been in service for a period of time with safety issues and subsequently taken out of service, which has remained out of service since Feb 10th this year.

If you are in any doubt as to the veracity of this correspondence we would encourage you to contact the buildings management agent (Thomson and Moulton), and speak to Tudor Roberts (0151 482 2567). He can confirm the authenticity of the issues this letter highlights. Failure to do so would not be considered a suitable defence to a breach of the act as the obligation is on the agent to take all reasonable steps to ensure compliance.

For the avoidance of doubt, we will include all residents, whether they have parking or not, within our residents updates and/or meetings. However, for the purpose of the ‘material information’ as prescribed by Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, and the intention of this letter for you to disclose such information, we do not currently deem letting agents liable for non disclosure to potential tenants in respect of properties without allocated parking. Furthermore, as prescribed in the act an omission is considered to have taken place upon your prior knowledge of material information, which you subsequently do not pass on to the consumer, whether or not they specifically ask for it.

Taking this point further, it would not be considered reasonable for the consumer to question an agent as to any conceivable issue that may or may not arise and as such, omissions in the context of the act, are limited to known information on your behalf.

We are sure you will be aware of this, however, it maybe prudent to make this point clear to your frontline staff.

As such, we deem this sufficient notice given to you, and other letting agents, of the current issues effecting Alexandra Tower which are deemed ‘material’, to enable you to comply with your statutory duties. Whilst we do not expect any agent to defy their statutory obligations, the Residents Committee will ensure that all new residents to the building will be given access to our findings/correspondence/meetings and in doing so, confirmation sought as to whether the car parking issue was informed to them prior to signing a tenancy agreement.

We would be grateful if you could confirm by return, your receipt of this correspondence and your intentions in respect of disclosing the information to potential tenants of this building.

.....Car Lift Outage (both lifts) 19/11/09

2009-11-19T01:52:00.000-08:00

Morning of Thursday 19th November, and both car lifts are again out of service meaning that residents cars are stuck in the car park and residents are forced to make alternative travel arrangements or if they did manage to get the car out before rush hour, they cannot enter the building on their return.

Two seperate and complete outages in two days. I think even thats a new record? Normally we have to wait at least another day or two for that to happen.

It would be nice if this blog were able to be used to say nice things about the building, and for residents to offer their own views on the city or suggestions etc etc but the overwhelming issues concerning the car park lifts have been in situ since day one and show no signs of abating. Infact, quiet the opposite.

.....Car Lift Outage - (both lifts) Nov 18th (update)

2009-11-18T05:56:00.001-08:00

Both lifts were still out of service at 1130am and Otis who were on site confirmed that the lift does not have a load sensor, meaning that if there are 5 floors and 5 people waiting (1 on each floor) that the lift will stop at each floor on the way down like a lift for people as it does not recognise that more than one car cannot enter the lift at the same time!

Genius !

p.s.
No disrespect to Concierge, as John (for the last 12 months) and now Harry who joined us recently, you are both a credit to the building, but if you are frustrated with the situation and the complaints, imagine being a resident and living with it!

Car Lift Outage - (both lifts) Nov 18th

2009-11-18T05:25:00.000-08:00

When both car lifts were in service at the same on Monday 16th Nov just two days ago, I said to myself that I must write a sarcastic message on the blog saying: "Hurrah! Both lifts working at the same time?"

With a busy schedule Monday and yesterday I intended to write about it later on today. Good to see that the outages being managed (or not) by Messers Thompson Moulton (part of Sutton Kersch), and Otis are still displaying complete ignorance to the effects on residents and a high level of professional incompetence.

Both lifts working lasted little over 48 hours!

This morning at 7am I was lucky/unlucky enough (yet again) to be directly involved. Upon entering Car Lift 2 (right-hand when viewed at street level) the lift proceeded to go up instead of down, and stopped on the 5th floor despite using the fob, and actually perssing the ground button as driving into the lift. After my venture up instead of down, the lift, upon heading in the right direction then proceeded to stop at every floor on the way down to the 1st, where it duly stopped.

After pressing the button for ground from within the lift, the doors would promptly close and I assumed I would be at last on my way. No such luck. The doors then opened whilst still on the 1st floor and after repeating several times with no additional response I reversed out to see if there was someone calling the list to the first floor, which could of affected the lift?

Upon reversing out on to the 1st floor (not my car floor) I saw that there was no other people waiting and assumed (correctly) that a fault was to blame. However, I thought I would give it one more chance and drove back in to the lift and tried for the ground level once more.

I would love to say that I left and made my merry way to an appointment in respect of my business, BUT that would be as accurate and truthful as the Thompson and Moulton / Building Managements claims that the problems are being sorted. In otherwords complete and utter bullsh*t.

Sensing the only option of freeing my trapped car was to reverse out onto the first floor and try Car Lift 1 (left-hand from street level). However, as Level 1 is not my car level, the fob to call the lift is obviously redundant and as such I attempted to see Concierge but at 725am I was not hopefull and upon going down to the office saw that it was empty. (anyone else see the promise of 24 hour Concierge upon moving in?)

Upon returning to the car, someone else was leaving and he kindly called the lift for me, so that I could leave. However, another car got trapped on the first level repeating my experience and to make matters worse, every car leaving via lift 1 would stop at all the floors on the way down thereby making it 4 times longer to use the lift!

The other person waiting also responded that he is moving out as a direct result of the issues with the car lifts.

Finally when the lift came I was lucky to get out BUT by being an hour late and missing a vital travelling hour from 7am to 8am in less motorway traffic I was now late, and the problem was compounding. The net result is that today, I personally have lost another half day which has to be rearranged causing loss of earnings.

.....Alexandra Tower and Letting / Estate Agents

2009-11-14T06:35:00.000-08:00

Just a little spotlight on the legal aspects of either living in Alexandra Tower, or thinking about living in the building if you are either buying or renting.

If you are buying you are in luck, there are laws and regulations protecting you from misleading statements or omissions from estates agents, such as the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991, and the Estate Agents Act 1979.

However, despite such regulation, one of the most common gripes handled by the Ombudsman for Estate Agents is still "inaccurate sales particulars". In recent years however, it is now also a criminal offence for an estate agent to make certain statements about a property which are false or misleading.

Letting Agents like City Residential who handle the majority of Alexandra Tower sales&lettings, are not bound as tightly in their obligations to tenants, yet they and other letting agents could be falling foul of the law in respect of very recent legislation, namely the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

The new Act now prohibits 'agents' (letting or otherwise) omitting material information from consumers, if that omission might cause the consumer to take a
different decision. (see section 6 of the Act)

Material information is defined as 'information which the average consumer needs, according to the context, to take an informed transactional decision'.

As such, it would now seem that agents have to disclose the existence of any 'adverse information' on a property, without having to be asked, if that information would affect the consumer's decision.

It could certainly be argued that the car lift issues are 'material' in that if you were duly informed that on numerous occaisons, both lifts at Alexandra Tower fail, thereby denying you use of your vehicle, with related loss of earnings or employment issues as a direct result, that you would likely think twice before completing the transaction?

The old 'if they don't ask don't tell' excuse no longer applies so I would be keen to know if the estate/letting agents with any Alexandra Tower apartments on their books (e.g. City Residential) are in fact disclosing the issues to their clients (namely private landlords) or prospective tenants when they have an obligation to do so.

Sticking to the letter of the law, the car park issue could conceivably be withheld from tenants looking for an apartment to rent in Alexandra Tower without parking, as it could be argued that no material information exists in their case, seeing as they wouldnt be using the car lift.

However, aside from a building report, an argument exists that estate agents cannot omit the car lift issues, or other 'ongoing and persistent' issues from prospective buyers as such information would likely affect the overall 'resale' and rental value and could be argued to be 'material' even if it was not disclosed in a formal managment report.

November 2009 Car Lift Outage (ongoing)

2009-11-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

This week has been an eventful one yet again in the ongoing and continued issues with the car lifts. The incompetence of the management company in 'managing' (and I use the term sparingly) this is all too apparent.

Car lift 2 (right-hand when viewed at street level) has been out of action for more than a week now and has been so case countless times over the last 12 months, with only one lift working, the extra stress on that one remaining lift always causes it to fail also, leaving both lifts out of action.

Car lift 1 (left-hand from street level) went out of service sometime between 10pm on Thurs 12th and 8am on Friday 13th (which i'm sure is the only excuse not used by management/otis to date) therefore leaving some estimated 80 plus residents without access to their vehicles are late/lost hours of business etc.

Car lift 1 was rectified at some point during the day on Fri 13th yet lift 2 is still out of service.

On occupying the building some 12 months ago management informed residents that the issues with the lifts etc etc were just "teething" issues BUT to any person with an ounce of common sense can see the bigger picture behind the majority of the problems.

Millenium Estates went into liquidation it but chances are this wouldnt of been without compromise on behalf of the developer during the build. Hypothetically, why spend x amount of £'s on a carlift that does the job properly when you can save tens/hundreds? of thousands of pounds by cutting back on items like carlifts or materials and keep the company afloat a little longer?

However, back to Thompson and Moulton, et all. It stands to reason that if the car lifts are inferior and prone to break with 30 residents (as was the case 12 months ago) that if you increase this to some 150 residents that the likelihood of your inferior car lifts breaking will also increase?

Yet when only one lift is working (i.e. most often than not) there is not a rush to fix it and therefore there is (as indicated) only one point of failure left. A single point of failure with prior history.

.....You guessed it - more car lift outage

2009-11-06T00:49:00.000-08:00

As reported in a previous blog post, the 'weekly' car lift outage hasnt disappointed and surfaced again on Friday 30th Oct and lift 2 (one nearest dock to side of building) was out of action from Friday until Monday 2nd even though it was also out earlier in that week.

It seems once weekly is not enough at present.

p.s. It seems that either the concierge or the management company have removed the notice of this blog from the lobby?

Dear concierge/management, residents of this building have a right to express their views based upon factual events and if you are concerned about the effect on attracting new residents, or losing current ones then why not address those issues as opposed to brushing them under the carpet.

If you remove the next notice, more will just be put up and a leafleting campaign done to all apartments.