This letter was posted and emailed to Ace Security
Services on the 8th January 2014. I am publishing it now on the 13th
February because no response was forthcoming and more tickets have been
issued. The letter was also forwarded to the management company Upton
Dene Residents Ltd and no reply was received from them either.
I hope this letter will throw more light on the problems we are facing at Upton Dene.
To;
I hope this letter will throw more light on the problems we are facing at Upton Dene.
To;
Ace Security
Services trading
name of Pace Recovery and Storage Ltd
Another attempt to explain to "Ace Security Services" that their
enforcement of Upton Dene's "No Rights to Parking for Shareholders"
remains unlawful.
I would ask you to
read through this carefully. Some points you may recognize, others may be new
to you.
1 ....."the Lessee
and all persons authorized by the Lessee....".
Not only can
shareholders "Use", "Pass" and "Repass" over the
"Common Parts" of the freehold, they also hold the authorizing rights
and privileges to that act, which includes the use of "parking
spaces".
It is a
shareholder's right and privilege to park on the square and to authorize others
to do the same. This privilege was laid down in the lease in 1981, to run for
999yrs. The management company cannot take that privilege away, they have to
acknowledge those rights and privileges and abide by them.
Easement Rights and Privileges included in the
lease. p19
"The right for
the Lessee and all persons authorized by
the Lessee (in common with all other persons entitled to the like
right) at all times to use go pass and repass through along and over
the Common
Parts for all purposes incidental to the occupation...."
The authorizing
rights to the Common Parts is a Lessee right. That is why we are mentioned in
the above section of the lease. The management company (the Lessor) do not hold
such rights and privileges that is why they are not mentioned in this section
of the lease.
The new "No
Rights to Parking for Shareholders" reduces our Easement Rights and
Privileges to mere licences. This is a corruption of our leasholder status to
that of tenants. Shareholders are not tenants and Upton Dene Residents Ltd is
not a landlord, they are our management company. Simply.
What the lease does
not state and cannot be changed to state is, ".... all persons
authorized by the LESSOR....". because such a statement would be a legal
contradiction. And yet this is the position Ace Security Services is contracted
to enforce.
Ace Security
Services need to speak to a legal advisor qualified in lease rights and
privileges regarding the Upton Dene lease and their position in regards to
shareholders' easement rights and privileges.
Upton Dene Residents
Ltd should have first sought shareholders' permission to take away their
authorizing rights to parking before doing so. (I and other shareholders
would have rejected such a request).
Managing the parking
at Upton Dene can be carried out without denying shareholders their EASEMENT
RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES INCLUDED IN THE LEASE. Other freeholds have no problem
managing the balance between Lessee rights and day to day site management. I
see no reason why Upton Dene Residents Ltd cannot do the same.
Upton Dene Residents
Ltd (the Lessor) have a right to manage the freehold, relying upon, as the
lease states, "... reasonable regulations....(p9)".
Taking away
shareholders Easement Rights and Privileges to parking is not a
"reasonable regulation" it is their degradation.
The management
company has failed to abide by the limitations the lease places upon them.
Imposing changes to our rights and privileges is a step too far.
Shareholders'
"authorizing rights" (p19) combined with clear reference to
"parking areas" (p3), supported by the freehold plan (p1) makes a
clear 3 point case in support of shareholders rights to parking at Upton Dene
and Ace Security Services should understand this fact.
2.
It seems Ace
Security Services has an uncertain understanding of what a leaseholder is. In
an email to me they defined it as...
"You (the
shareholder) do not own the common parts, you only own your place of residence,
i.e. a flat or house, and garage if you have one".
This statement is so
wrong. We are leaseholders. We do not own a single brick of our properties.
However we do own the rights to its use, for as long as the lease allows, in
our case another 966 yrs.
Leaseholders have
two types of property rights, "sole rights" and "shared
rights".
Those parts of the freehold that have a lock
and key, our home and our garage, are our "sole rights". Our
"shared rights" are the "Common Parts". It is the
Common Parts (p19 of the lease) that we, the shareholders hold authorizing
rights to.
3.
A while back Ace
Security Services emailed me a copy of their contracts terms and conditions.
When I looked over
the T&C I could see why such an agreement would seem attractive to a
management company. It is clearly written, it fits neatly onto an A4 sheet and
only requests that the, "......
Client confirm(s) they have the
authority to instruct The Company (Ace Security Services) to carry out The
Scheme".
Was a "confirmation" the only
"demanding requirement" Ace Security Services made upon Upton Dene
Residents Ltd prior to signing their contract?
Can anyone else, "See the elephant in the room" regarding the
failings of this type of agreement?
Is a "confirmation"
sufficient "due diligence" on the part of a parking enforcement
company, to assure the public that parking enforcement is legitimate?
Within this T&C
document neither, "The Client's Obligations" or "The Company's
Obligations" uses the word "lease" once. In fact the word
"lease" makes no appearance on the T&C page.
How can a parking
enforcement company not include in their T&C the precondition that a lease
is to be scrutinized and understood, by a legal advisor, before a
contract is signed?
How would a parking enforcement
company know if they were acting lawfully or unlawfully, if they hadn't had the
lease scrutinized prior to signing an agreement?
The law of
probabilities dictate that not to scrutinize a lease could result in a
significant proportion of unlawful contracts, unlawful enforcements.
Such a contract
would be further compromised by the fact that a large proportion of directors,
that make up freehold management companies, are home owning, shareholder
volunteers who may or may not be well versed in the complexities of lease
rights and privileges and sometimes may get it wrong.
What would Ace
Security Services do in such a case?
Do Ace Security Services
audit their contracts annually to identify any "unlawful agreements"?
Surely it makes good
business sense to ask a solicitor, versed in lease law, to pass judgment on the
"legality of parking restrictions" on a freehold before
signing to an agreement?
Such legal scrutiny
by a qualified/experienced "legal advisor" should be the foundation
to any contractual agreement. That document would be a "get out of jail
card" for any parking enforcement company. Of course such a document would
have to be available to the Lessee, and open to scrutiny, as they are going to
be subject to it. And more importantly, if any section of the contract
conflicts with the easement rights and privileges that Lessees enjoy then those
parts of that contract are null and void. The lease is not.
I have asked Ace
Security Services on many occasions, and I ask again today, to look at the
lease that I emailed them on the 30th August 2013 and to understand what Lessee
rights and privileges are at Upton dene.
4.
It is now January
2014. The "No Rights to Parking for shareholders" came into force on
the 1st August 2013, a full 5 months ago.
Across these five
months I have tried numerous times to engage Upton Dene Residents Ltd, our
management company, on the issues addressed in this email and not once have
they replied to any of my communiques or requests.
⦁ I have requested to see their
"legal advice" they claim to hold. No reply
⦁ I have presented arguments that
detail shareholders rights to parking. No reply.
⦁ I have offered to arrange a
mediator to manage a discussion between us. No reply
⦁ Five months I have attempted
reason. No reply.
What sense is there
in that position?
They are not
allowing themselves to be challenged. And yet the communication between Ace
Security Services and Upton Dene Residents Ltd seems to flow freely,
facilitating Ace Security Services with the confidence to continue their
enforcements.
Many of our seven
directors live 10 seconds from my front door and yet they might as well live on
the other side of the planet. Zero communication. Zero explanation. Zero
effort. But lots and lots of tickets from Ace Security Services enforcement
vans.
I cannot be sure you
will pay any attention to these points but maybe you should.
I have noticed that
the theft of my car ariel has taken place (unscrewed and taken). I place the
responsibility for this disregard for my private property at your feet. Ace
Security Services “ticketing” and “stickering” of my vehicle is forming the
impression in shareholders, tenants and visitors minds that my vehicle is
abandoned and the owner cares nothing for it. This impression is your creation
and the damages will be yours to compensate. The same applies to the damages to
my reputation.
This letter was
forwarded by email (and post) to Ace Security Services. It was also posted,
(and signed for) to a Director of Upton Dene residents Ltd.
Attached to the
email are my daily charges to the end of December 2013, mostly for the use of
my vehicle as a billboard.
Regards