CONTENTS – 1 Refund/legal advice – 2 Individual legal advice – 3 Lease extensions – 4 New NB FAQs – 5 Planning permission – 6 Barnsbury Res Group reminder
As always, you can contact us through barnsburyleaseholders@gmail.com
We check this as often as we can, but can’t promise to respond within a specific time frame as we are volunteers. There is a lot of information on our website – FAQs and past Blog updates – so your question may be answered there. If you have an urgent enquiry, please contact Source.
1. Refund – shared legal advice/GoFundMe
A final thank you to all of you who contributed to our GoFundMe appeal in 2021 to cover the costs of shared legal advice. Unfortunately, it’s now clear that this will not be possible, due to the complexity of different leases, flats, and leaseholder circumstances. Legal advice needs to be given on an individual basis. More info on this in item 2. below.
With regret, Annie will be refunding the funds raised. Please email her by clicking here, and she will explain how to securely give her your bank details to receive the refund. NOTE – if you send your bank account details by email, they can be seen by all reps, and gmail is not secure.
We consulted a leading expert in the field, Keith Murray (compulsory purchase surveyor), who offered to write an initial report for NB leaseholders on the general aspects of Newlon’s proposals, in the confident expectation that Newlon would fund him to represent us as individuals. Keith said that this is industry standard for large redevelopments like Barnsbury. However, Newlon have refused to do this, and Keith Murray no longer feels that his involvement is feasible. See previous update for Newlon’s response to Keith about funding: https://barnsburyleaseholders.org/2022/01/30/new-barnsbury-only-update-30th-january-2022/
2. Getting individual legal advice
If you are in Phase 1a, Blackmore House, please get in touch with us via barnsburyleaseholders@gmail.com, and we can help you connect with other Blackmore leaseholders. Although you need individual legal/surveyor advice, you may be able to support each other by appointing the same expert and sharing information. If you have not already, get in touch with Source for help and advice.
Phases 1b and later do not need to get advice about negotiating with Newlon now, unless you have received a letter from Newlon initiating the negotiation – in which case, you can simply reply to them with a letter saying you need appropriate independent professional advice before you agree to anything Newlon is proposing. Get in touch with Source (and us).
3. URGENT Lease extensions
However, whatever phase you are in, you need to check if you should extend your lease to maximise the value of your flat when you are bought out. Find your lease NOW (it’s about 25+ pages long and is unique to your flat) and calculate how much time you have remaining. We CANNOT extend leases as a group, since everyone’s lease is different. You need to take action on this yourself, and the longer you leave it, the more expensive it may be to extend. It is not a specialist job – any RICS surveyor who does valuations and any solicitor who does lease extensions can help you. There is a significant cost to extending a lease, and you need to seek individual advice on whether it is worth extending in your particular situation. Useful lease extension links here.
4. NEW FAQs section on our website
The Reps are working on a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section on our leaseholders website, so that you don’t have to search through past updates. This is a big job, and your help to develop it would be much appreciated. Please take a look – if there are any items missing or incorrect, please email us: barnsburyleaseholders@gmail.com
5. Planning permission update
The BEST website states that the planning application will be submitted this month. We haven’t heard anything for months. We are awaiting an up to date ETA from Source and will let you know when we do.
As far as we know, the phasing plan hasn’t changed since our last update: see betterbarnsbury FAQs sections on Phasing and Leaseholders.
6. Independent Barnsbury Residents Group
The new Residents Group, which is tenant/leaseholder led and run, meets monthly in the community centre. Please come to the meetings, lots of people are attending and it is an important forum for putting group pressure on Newlon. The Barnsbury Residents Group organise their agenda/minutes etc, this is not run by the leaseholders group or by Newlon. These will be available on a website which is under construction. In the meantime, you can join the mailing list by emailing Emma Preston-Dunlop: community.Services@newlon.org.uk
Barnsbury Estate Leaseholders Group 