Brunswick/Montgomery Street Properties
(Note: this is a copy of what was handed or posted through doors on Monday 26 September 2011, and emailed to those who had provided contact details)
Dear Neighbours,
Further to our communication in February/March of this year with those of you in the 46/48 Brunswick St /47 Montgomery block, we promised to keep you informed of progress.
For those of you in adjacent buildings, i.e. 43/45 Montgomery Street, and 50/52 Brunswick St, we would like to first of all say hello, and trust that you will be as keen to protect your homes and investments as we are. (We note that you have been proactive in this already as evidenced by the current scaffolding.)
To enable easier communication between us all, you are all invited to subscribe to follow a blog that has been set up. This can be found at http://brunswickstreetblog.blogspot.com/ . (If you click on the 'subscribe now' link on the top right hand of the page, the instructions are self explanatory. If you choose to get updates by email, you may simply have to activate it from a link that will be sent to you automatically).
After some considerable effort, we have now finally managed to obtain some quotes for repairs to the roof, following several incidences of damp and leaks to top floor flats, particularly John Whyte's (now Andy Anderson's) at 3F3.
The most comprehensive of these was from Bolton's, and is attached (or can be viewed at Brunswick Street Blog (BSB)). Simon Saffery (owner of 1F1) accompanied Mr Bolton on his inspection and kindly took several photos that you can now see on the BSB.
As you will see, much of the detail of the quote refers to the mutual chimney stacks as it is here that the work is really required rather than the roof itself. To make it easier to know which particular chimney stack is being referred to, it is suggested that we start at the top with A&B (i.e. Brunswick Street Mutual) and work clockwise round the edge of the building (C&D on Brunswick Street side, E&F on Montgomery Street side) to G&H (Montgomery Street Mutual).
In terms of where responsibility lies for different repairs such as this, please refer to the tenement act (attached or can be viewed at BSB). This highlights that for repairs to Chimney Stacks, the costs are shared between ALL the properties that share each stack. In the case of those stacks that are shared with neighbouring buildings, the costs then would be shared as follows:
i.e. A&B are shared with the 50/52 Brunswick Street building, and G&H are shared with the 43/45 Montgomery Street Building).
The first Stack referred to:
Front Right Hand Mutual Chimney Stalk to Brunswick Street (10 Vent): would be A&B (Or specifically B)
With 10 stacks, this would be shared between the 10 properties that use it, namely:
1F1, 2F1 & 3F1 46 Brunswick Street, as well as 48 and 48a Brunswick Street PLUS
1F3, 2F3, 3F3 (presumably) in 52 Brunswick Street, as well as 50 and 50a Brunswick Street.
The ESTIMATE for this work is £5,514.00 + vat, so would be £551.40 + vat per property.
The second referred to:
Front Left Hand Mutual Chimney Stalk to Montgomery Street: would be G&H (or specifically G)
With 10 stacks, this would be shared between the 10 properties that use it, namely:
1F3, 2F3 & 3F3 46 Brunswick Street, as well as 47 and 47a Montgomery Street PLUS
1F1, 2F1, 3F1 (presumably) in 43 Brunswick Street, as well as 45 and 45a Montgomery Street.
The ESTIMATE to carry out these works is £5,725.00 + vat, so would be £572.50 + vat per property.
The third referred to is:
Rear Left Hand Mutual Chimney Stalk to Montgomery Street: G&H (or specifically H)
This appears to have 7 or 8 stacks so:
Total ESTIMATE to carry out the required works is: £7076.00 + vat, so would be approx £1,010.00 +vat per property
Please note that these are ESTIMATES and as slating is counted as roof work this would be deducted from each quote for chimney work and, as per the tenement act, would be the responsibility of all properties in the 46/48 Brunswick Street/47 Montgomery Street building (i.e. divided by 14).
We would like to progress this work as soon as possible to ensure we are watertight for winter (as if summer hasn't been wet enough!) and propose 28 days notice before formally instructing Bolton's to proceed. If anyone would like to discuss this please contact us.
Your neighbours, including:
Simon & Sharon Saffery
Alan Duff
Andy Anderson
Lesley Johnston
23 September 2011
