Postby Ian Freeman » Fri Mar 31, 2017 11:57 am
The Du Cane Court Residents' Association committee would like to respond to a post on this thread as we feel it is not representative of the situation at DCC.
We don't know what your member means stating that the service charge is “poor value.” The service charge covers the cost of running and maintaining the building. The running costs include the supply of hot water all year round and central heating during the winter (October to April), cleaning, gardening and staffing costs including 24-hour concierge and security, and so on. The maintenance is organised and carried out to a ten-year plan so that, as far as possible, large fluctuations are avoided.
The Du Cane family had nothing to do with the construction of the building. It was built by the Central London Property Trust who were also responsible for Hightrees House on Nightingale Lane.
The figures quoted by your member for the number of flats in the building are quite simply wrong; there were never as few as 420 flats. It is hard to know exactly how many flats there were originally as some flats have been divided, a few within a year or two of the building being completed, others more recently, but it is likely to have been around 650. There are 676 flats in the building today.
It is highly inaccurate to say that many flats have been regularly flooded.
Leaks do occur from time to time and any necessary repairs are carried out promptly. We have a resident plumber who is very familiar with the kinds of problems that arise.
Many of the internal walls in the building are thin and do not give the best sound insulation, some residents do notice noise from adjoining flats. Sound insulation standards are much higher nowadays than they were 75 years ago and a newly built building would be better from this point of view. The building management are always helpful in dealing with noise problems.
We can assure you quite categorically that Du Cane Court is not used for care in the community, for patients from Springfield Hospital or for police cases. We cannot comment on the assertion about battered wives, but can say that we are not aware of any such incidents in the last 30 years in the block.
It is true that one resident did die following a fire in his flat.
What your member fails to mention is that the gentleman concerned was a hoarder with huge quantities of possessions, newspapers, magazines and so on stacked high in every available space in this flat. The fire started when a burning candle in his bathroom fell over and ignited the newspapers stacked in the bath.
The difficulty with opening the door of the flat arose primarily from all the goods stacked in the hall leaving only minimal circulation space. Apart from some smoke damage in the corridor outside the flat where the fire broke out, no other flat in the building was affected by the fire and no other lives were put at risk.
The fire brigade inspects the building every year and informs the managing agents of any changes or improvements that are required. The fire brigade is happy with all of the fire precautions, escape arrangements and so on.
The Association’s experience of the management company is rather different from that of your member. They maintain an office in the building that is staffed during working hours and the door is normally open. The senior manager responsible for Du Cane Court is in the office for three or four days each week. I do not believe Knight Frank and Rutley ever managed Du Cane Court.
We have no knowledge of the reviewer’s 'mad neighbour' and have asked Allsop about the allegations made; they have no knowledge of them.
I do wonder why the reviewer has not complained to Allsop about the 'West End dancer' living above. The management are always very swift to act on noise complaints and if, as the review suggests, the flat above has no carpets on the floor they will make sure that carpets are put down as this is required by every lease in the building except for ground-floor flats.
The present Residents’ Association committee includes an accountant, a lawyer and an architect amongst its members. The accountant carries out a very thorough audit of the service charge accounts each year and finds these to be in order each time.
We find that by co-operating with the management and freeholder owners (Dorrington Belgravia) we achieve much for the benefit of all residents. The committee is consulted and involved in decision making and budget planning to a greater degree than is statutorily required.
It would be fair to say that Du Cane Court is not the best place for raising children, but many babies are born here with the parents typically moving on after a couple of years and we know of a family with two nearly-teenage children who have lived here very happily for over ten years. Our experience is that the elderly residents are very happy to be here; the building is warm and secure.
In closing we would point out that to the best of our knowledge no lender has ever declined to lend on a flat in Du Cane Court, the prices of flats (both to purchase and to rent) compare favourably with other flats in the area and when flats to come onto the market they are snapped up quickly.
We love our block and hate to have it disparaged in such a way by someone who clearly has no real knowledge of what it is like to live in this historic and beautiful building. Many thanks for the opportunity to respond.
