The Waterways Management Company (WMC)
The Waterways Management Company Limited is a private company limited by guarantee without share capital. It is a properly constituted company and is registered with Companies House (company number 3968441).
The WMC must follow certain rules, some of which are laid down in government legislation and some in a document called the Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A). The M&A are specific to the WMC but share much in common with those for other, similar resident management companies.
The M&A set out the principal objects and powers of the WMC, which can be summarised as follows –
- to manage, insure and administer the Estate
- to act as an association of and for the property owners, and
- to acquire any freehold or leasehold property as an investment for the benefit of the Members of the WMC.
WMC Estate
The estate of the WMC includes most of the communal areas around the Waterways, but not the two equipped play areas (which are looked after by the City Council) or those areas associated with the properties that are looked after by GreenSquareAccord, namely Rackham Place, Ryder Close and some apartment blocks and houses in Elizabeth Jennings Way and Stone Meadow.
The WMC estate does not include the main roads around the Waterways, but it does include communal parking areas and some short road sections, such as Clearwater Place, Complins Close and parts of Stone Meadow.
Management of the Estate
The Company is responsible for the maintenance of the communal parts of the private apartment blocks, including roofs and balconies. The WMC is the only body authorised to carry out repairs and maintenance within the areas for which it is responsible and no one else is entitled to undertake such work.
The WMC has not purchased any additional freehold or leasehold property, but the estate includes some landscape areas retained by Berkeley Homes, the freehold of which may pass to the WMC in the future. Meanwhile, the WMC is still responsible for the management of these areas. More information on the Waterways estate and how it is managed is given in the Welcome to the Waterways booklet.
The WMC act as an association of and for its members but differs from the Waterways Residents Association (WRA).
The WRA represents all residents and organises events and activities, including publishing a newsletter and running the Community Room. The WRA is a separate organisation (a community interest company, company number 08058658) that seeks to represent all residents of the Waterways. Learn more about the WRA.
Members of the WMC
If you own either the freehold to a house or the leasehold to an apartment, then you are a member of the WMC. Members are required to pay an annual service charge, to ensure the Company can meet its financial responsibilities.
During the early years of the development, the WMC was controlled by the developer of the Waterways, Berkeley Homes. In November 2006, Berkeley Homes handed over control of the WMC to ‘the residents’, in the form of a Management Committee of Directors, each of whom is a Member of the WMC.
Please note that the WMC represents the property owners only (freehold houses and leasehold apartments) and manages the common private parts of the estate.
Operations of the WMC
The business of the WMC is overseen and directed by members of the company who have been appointed as directors of the WMC and who sit on the Waterways Management Committee.
Members can be co-opted on to the Committee between General Meetings or can be elected at General Meetings; any member co-opted during the year is subject to election at the next available general meeting.
The Management Committee can have up to fourteen (14) Directors and is always interested to hear from the members who may be thinking about becoming directors.
If you care about the Waterways and want it to be a great place for everyone, if you enjoy taking responsibility and getting things done, are a good team player, (and perhaps a leader), and can spare a few hours a month, then there may be opportunities to get involved as a director of the Management Company. The principal task of the directors is to oversee the work of the estate managing agents. For further details, please contact the Chair at chair.wmc@gmail.com.
The work of the Management Committee is supported by several sub-committees that focus on areas of responsibility, such as the outdoor areas or the apartment blocks.
WMC meetings
Annual General Meetings
Annual General Meetings are held in the autumn and members of the company are invited to attend these meetings. They are an opportunity to hear about how the company is doing, learn about what has been done on behalf of all members and what is planned, participate in appointing directors to run the company on behalf of all the members and vote on matters and resolutions (limited to one vote per household).
The Management Committee Meetings
The Waterways Management Committee convenes every two months to discuss the agenda items set out to manage the estate and review the activities of FirstPort Property Services.
Minutes of the AGMs and the Committee Meetings
Current Directors of the WMC
Nazeem Dharamshi
Dr Ann Hall
Roni Hameiri
David Morris
Dr Aroul Ramadass (Treasurer)
Liz Cairncross
Louise Robertson
Dr Brian Shine (Agenda Secretary)
Raquel Stremme
Sue Leach
Complaints
The WMC has contracted FirstPort Resident Property Services to manage the day-to-day running of the estate in accordance with instructions from the WMC Committee of Directors.
If you have a question or complaint about the care or management of the common parts of the estate, services charges payable by owners or other issues please contact FirstPort in the first instance.
If FirstPort cannot answer your question, or resolve the issue, please contact wmc.chair@gmail.com
Contacts
All enquiries wmc.chair@gmail.com