Welcome to GardenMewsReading.co.uk.
You might have asked yourself the question above before. Because whether you’re an owner-occupier, tenant or landlord, we have one thing in common, we all care about our homes.
We asked ourselves the question above recently when a request for permission to keep a pet was withheld without reason. The lease for Garden Mews states ‘permission will not unreasonably be withheld’. As we started to look into the lease, understand more about how the Property Management Company operates and ask questions that were met with silence, we started to realise how little transparency there is at Garden Mews.
“permission to keep a pet will not unreasonably be withheld”
Garden Mews lease
So we set up this website to address the lack of transparency and build community at Garden Mews. Sharing stories and collective knowledge, might help our neighbours and bring positive change to Garden Mews.
We started to unearth information, facts and questions like…..
- Did you know, that all the incumbent Directors at Chaneys resigned in January 2023. Although the staff stay the same, the board of directors is entirely new. How will that impact Garden Mews?
- What is the role of a resident director, and what isn’t.
- Since 2016, accounts have been filed as a ‘Dormant Company’ which negates the need to file audited accounts. This means you are unable to view any public accounts for the company, to hold the Directors accountable.
Garden Mews Directors
The biggest revelation we identified is that all the decision-making power resides in just two Directors.
They alone control decisions on how the service charge is spent, who gets permission to keep a pet, and what future investments are made. For example, discussions at AGMs in recent years have included topics such as electric car charging points and solar power to reduce communal electricity charges. These are aspects of modern living, amongst other aspects, that directors on behalf of the leaseholders help move forward.
This is why Garden Mews needs more directors and we’ve created this site to deliver more transparency, more community and more accountability.
If you would like to contribute any news, information, articles or opinions to this website, please email the administrator.
It should be noted that Chaneys is no longer an independent company. It is now owned by a company based in Hemel Hempstead called Trinity Property Management. Looking at Companies House, Channeys now has 3 new officers, all officers of Trinity Property Management who together have 431 active appointments. It is impossible to see how Channeys can any longer sustain the personable service they were once known for. Several staff have now exited the business in 2024.