Some years ago, we sold our family home in Woking and downsized to an apartment in Chichester which we could lock up and leave whenever we wanted, have no concerns about the garden and go sailing. Yes, this does involve communal living and the inevitable service charges but our neighbours are the nicest people you’d want to meet and we get the use of an indoor swimming pool, tennis court, beautiful gardens and we overlook the rolling hills of the South Downs and the Goodwood estate – what’s not to like?
The estate is run by a board of Directors made up of volunteer residents.
That said, Nina decided to join the board. Mistake! She wanted to understand how an estate of only 100 properties which should be a relatively simple affair to manage, had become an over complex affair controlled by a small number of autocratic and controlling dictators whose sole role in life was to inflate their egos whilst overseeing the demise of a beautiful estate, preferring to avoid spending money on maintaining it. It felt like a secret society, unanswerable for any of their actions and expenditure. (Other opinions are available)
So why did the blog almost stop?
In the Autumn of 2023, Nina and I discovered that due to a mismanaged project by the aforementioned Board of Directors, the roofs of two of the apartment blocks (one being ours) didn’t adhere to Building Regulations. They were subsequently labelled as unauthorised work by the local Council as they fell far short of what was required. For the past 18 months we have drawn the sword of justice for our neighbours and as such, spend every waking hour in writing reports, speaking to contractors and asking questions that no one wants to answer in order to make a claim to fight for a substantial sum of money required to put right this disaster.
In the meantime, several of ‘those’ concerned have suffered total amnesia so the blog has dropped further and further behind. I never want to hear the word ‘roof’ ever again.
