History
Old Farm Court forms part of Farm Court which comprises Brooklands and Old Farm Court.
Farm Court was sold to Rayford
Properties Ltd in 1986 who initially converted the farm outbuildings to form numbers 1 to 8 Old Farm Court and Latham Lodge. These properties adjoin what is now called the south courtyard. Rayford Properties applied for planning consent to build an additional 6 new build properties on the north side of the development being numbers 9 to 14 Old Farm Court which were completed between 1988 and 1990.
In 1996 Rayford Properties sold the freehold interest of Farm Court to Brooklands Residents Association Ltd (BRAL). This comprised the freehold interest of the Brooklands House and the majority of the communal grounds. However Rayfords retained ownership of the south courtyard and the south entrance to the south car park. Brooklands manage and maintain their land, but they had no legal obligation to look after the land retained by Rayford Properties, but as an act of good faith they offered a basic grass and hedge cutting service until May 2011. Brooklands stopped maintaining the south courtyard for two reasons, they had no legal obligation to do so and due to a number of OFC residents who were withholding payments.
Rayford Properties were dissolved in 1998 and the south courtyard and car park entrance were vested in the Crown. This made maintaining the grounds very difficult as there was effectively no owner.
After Brooklands discontinued maintenance in May 2011 it was proposed by the current OFC Land Ltd Director that a participation agreement be negotiated with Worthing & District Management to allow continued management and maintenance of the south courtyard, however the management company wanted 4 OFC residents to sign an agreement to accept financial liability for payments in the event that OFC residents defaulted. No OFC residents were willing to be liable for non payers, so this proposal collapsed.
The Managing Director of OFC Land Ltd took legal advice and proposed that the land be purchased from the Crown and that each OFC resident purchase a share in a newly formed company to cover the costs of buying the land and the legal costs. However after the purchase was completed residents seemed to be unwilling to participate in the project. To date 3 shares have been purchased and issued. One resident owns 2 shares and therefore owns the majority interest in the company and he is the Managing Director of the company and has been funding the company since its formation which has created a Directors Loan account as at Oct 2016 of £28,000
Having purchased the land, it was necessary to point out to Brooklands Residents that they had no legal rights of access over the courtyard and the south entrance to their own car park. This triggered 2 complaints to the Crown from Brooklands residents which in turn caused the Crown to request another full review of all property details and rights of way. This doubled the legal costs of purchasing the land and the outcome was the Crown agreed with our case that they had no rights. The rights issue has never been resolved as BRAL have never approached OFC Land Ltd to discuss this.
The sale of the land from the Crown was completed in January 2012 and the company undertook a large number of repairs and improvements in the courtyard as it had lacked any maintenance since 1986. The priority for the company was to attend to the courtyard paving and pathways. 50% of the paving slabs were loose, as the slabs had not been properly set on a a proper sub base, many were laid on mud which represented a health and safety risk. Every slab was lifted, cleaned and properly reset on a 150mm cement sub base.
Over the past 3 years the company has invited OFC residents to take a vested interest in the communal land without success. For some unknown reason residents do not wish to get involved. The legal section highlights the fact that the company is unable to charge residents through their covenants for the basic costs of managing and maintaining the estate and as a result has been unable to recover costs from OFC residents so has stopped all maintenance.
The Directors of the company see two ways forward being that each resident buys a share in the company, and has a vested interest in managing and maintaining the land.
The second option is for each homeowner to sign an agreement to pay the costs of managing and maintaining the land. This would allow the company to engage the services of a property manager and also charge for the costs of electrical repairs and supply, water, insurance, bank charges and an accountant.
Both of these proposals have been put to OFC residents, without any response, so as at today there is NO formal maintenance regime at Old Farm Court.
Many owners believe this has no impact of the sale of properties at Old Farm Court, however if you are looking to buy a property you need to take advice and see if your solicitor and mortgage lender are happy that there is no maintenance regime.