A BAD Residents' Association = NO Residents' Association

Residents get the residents' association they deserve.

Don't get complacent: Everyone has their contribution to make, but sometimes someone who is very good in committee doesn't work at all well with people when they become Chair. You want everyone to feel they must be accountable, and everyone to feel welcome, so if your residents' association executive aren't calling regular general meetings for everyone, and you are feeling they aren't representing most of the people, or passing on important information to the Managing Agent and freeholder, you have to do something about it quickly (rather than leaving them to not call meetings  for fifteen months after the last AGM, until the Association lapses).

Here are five steps to take, if your residents' association loses the constitution and stops holding meetings (one for each finger on your left hand):

DAY ONE:
1. Ask for the Constitution and Call for a General Meeting  and contact your local ward councillor and explain the situation.

(get as many residents to sign this request as possible -- your constitution should tell you the number you need at an absolute minimum). Send this written request to the executive members and yourself by registered mail, and send a copy to the Managing Agent and your local councillor, and keep all the receipts. If your executive hasn't called the meeting within a week , the constitution they have provided will tell you how long they are allowed to take to call a meeting, once requested (usually seven to ten days is the limit) ....

ON DAY SEVEN (or the day given in the constitution)
2. Repeat the request and give them a week.

If your bad executive haven't  produced a valid signed properly-worded constitution, or arranged a meeting after this additional week.

Tell people about it.  Also tell people there is a constitution they can adopt, if the valid signed constitution isn't found,  you will be moving to adopt a new constitution. Make the model Constitution below available  (put a copy on the notice board, or a notice telling people where they can read the constitution immediately).


ON DAY FOURTEEN
3. You must now gather a written request for a Vote of No Confidence and call for a meeting in three weeks time to vote  (to give everyone a chance to plan to attend the meeting) Set the date, time and place for the meeting - making sure it is open to everyone and accessible to everyone)..

Gather signatures again,  and again, send it registered mail (again keeping  all the receipts for proof).


ON DAY THIRTY-FIVE
4. Contact your local councillor, and invite them to be independent observers at the meeting. At this meeting you will discuss the Vote of No Confidence.

(Make certain the meeting is open to all residents, and also accessible to all residents (this includes people in wheel-chairs).  You must invite an independent witness to verify the meeting has taken place and appoint someone to take minutes and attendance. If your local councillor is one of your witnesses, it may be possible to use a Town Hall Meeting Room (which is wheelchair accessible) .

If the residents' association signed valid constitution hasn't been produced, then move to consider adopting the Model Constitution. At this point, you must give every flat in the building a copy of this constitution  so people can see what sort of constitution is being proposed (this is a long document, so see if your community centre provides free or cheap photocopying, or ask your local photocopy shop if they can give you a special deal. Ask people if they would be willing to donate the cost of photocopying the constitution).


5 .If the situation is resolved, and your constitution provides proper General meetings at regular intervals, well done! Set the dates of the General Meetings  and the date of the Annual General Meeting a year in advance (a general meeting should be held every three months) and continue on. If the situation isn't resolved, or a proper, valid, signed Constitution isn't produced, at the Vote of No confidence meeting, set  the date for your own meeting to replace the executive (this should be in not less than four weeks time - which will be on or after DAY SIXTY-THREE ).

Demand that the residents' association account books be audited and the cheque book returned by the executive at the meeting.  You do not want to be responsible for a bad executive's debts (also have the newly-elected Executive cancel all direct debits on the account, and if possible, close the account and start another,  to be sure the ex-executive no longer have signing power on the account.

DAY SIXTY-THREE

At this meeting, elect a new executive and adopt a new constitution which will not allow any executive to abuse their powers again. Don't be tempted to re-elect ANYONE who was on the previous executive (if they have  been part of the committee which has thwarted democracy for 63 days, they don't understand the meaning of the term and they can not represent you effectively). Set the dates of the General Meetings  and the date of the Annual General Meeting a year in advance (a general meeting should be held every three months) and continue on.

A constitution is just a way of setting out the rules of the game of democracy. No one worries about a constitution when things are going well, but it's always useful to post your constitution on your locked notice board (so it doesn't disappear) post it on your website if you have one, leave a copy with CamFed or Camden federation of Private Tenants and if you're doing a history project, donate it to your local archives, as well as making sure all your members have a copy. The constitution model provided by the Camden Federation of Tenants' and Residents' Associations contains five  important clauses which must not be ignored (one for each finger of your right hand):

1. You must hold 4 open meetings a year (one of those is the AGM).

2. You must hold an Annual General Meeting once a year (preferably at the same time every year, but if your association reaches 15 months after the last AGM, it has lapsed and must be re-started

3. You must have your accounts audited once a year for the AGM

4. You must have an independent observer at your AGM to verify that the meeting and elections have been held properly.

5. Know the number you need for a quorum (it's generally set at 20% of the flats). It's one vote per flat and you MUST have a quorum for the election to be deemed valid. If you don't have a quorum, then hold the meeting every week at the same place and the same time until you do. If you do not have a quorum, you don't have the support of your building, and you can't't, in fairness, make decisions on their behalf, and know that that is what the missing residents would wish.

The 63 day plan may not work. You may  find yourself having to put up with these people yet again ... and again. Don't be discouraged. Don't be tempted to just go away, if you think serious issues are being ignored. Go to meetings and speak - and volunteer to do things. Talk to people about problems, especially their problems; join committees to make the building better. Gradually, people's positions will change.

When bad people with negative energy take over, the first instinct of good people seems to be to go away. Please Don't Go Away (in particular, if you are on the Executive and are so unhappy with the situation you decide to resign, call a meeting for two weeks before or after your resignation, to arrange for someone to replace you). A bad Association that does nothing, or no Association is much easier for a bad landlord (yes, in some cases, it might even be your Local Authority)  to deal with than an active and united TRA.


Constitutions specify 'Quorums' for a reason (the number of people you must have to make a meeting valid). If you don't have a quorum, you don't have a proper amount of people for your building to make major decisions, and you SHOULDN'T make major decisions, because you aren't speaking for everyone.  This is important to remember if your bad residents' association is holding an unpopular meeting - if  they don't have a quorum, any decisions made at the meeting aren't binding.

Remember, if you pay a fee to join your residents' association, then only the people who have paid that fee within the last twelve months are allowed to vote.

Remember, there is only one vote per flat, so someone has voted, and so has the other person who lives at that flat, they shouldn't - only one vote counts.

Don't be tempted to try to pretend there is a quorum when there isn't one. Just call another meeting for the next week at the same time. If you can never get a quorum, you don't have an association that is speaking for its building.

If the Residents' Association falls, it falls. Keep your perspective.  If you live in a Local Authority building, don't worry about not having an Association for a bit.  If you've tried, and you can't get a quorum,   you may miss out on a round of DMC bids,  you may be passed over for Walkabouts, but very shortly you will probably find Camden employees doing (or more usually, NOT doing) something which will re-kindle the building's communal spirit. When that happens, the people who were quarrelling amongst themselves will remember how much better things were when you had an effective Residents' Association and re-group.  Remember, with or without a Residents' Association, the Managing Agent and freeholder still has a duty of care to the residents of the building. If there are health and safety issues (vermin, fire concerns, filth) complain in writing - and write a letter to the Camden New Journal as well. Misery loves Company, and you are not alone.

MOST IMPORTANTLY:

Don't let anyone play the 'leaseholder versus Council Tenants versus Private Tenants' game to divide the people who live in your building. You all have more shared interests than differences. Lease-holders are just long-term assured private tenants -- and private tenants have all the increase in service charges passed on to them through rent increases. Unless you own the freehold, you are all tenants, and you are all residents, and everyone has something to contribute . Talk to your neighbours - four times a year at the general meetings, at the garden picnics, over coffee looking at photographs for the history project -- it makes democracy easy.