Directors of Castle Court Freehold Limited

The directors of Castle Court Freehold Limited are elected by the members of Castle Court Freehold Limited at the Annual General Meetings.  

The directors are volunteers not employees.

The responsibilities of the directors of Castle Court Freehold Limited include:

• Routine legal responsibilities of directors of limited companies

• Appointing and instructing suitably qualified Managing Agents to manage Castle Court in accordance with lease obligations to repair, maintain and manage Castle Court and the requirements of an ever increasing volume of legislation affecting blocks of flats

• Statutory consultation with residential leaseholders regarding qualifying works under Section 20 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985, as amended by the Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act 2002 and The Service Charges (Consultation Requirements (Wales) Regulations 2004. 

  Consultation is not required every year, as qualifying works are not scheduled at Castle Court every year.  Consultation would normally be undertaken during the service charge year before the year in which a qualifying PPM project is scheduled.

• Finalizing the annual service charge budget to be issued to leaseholders in February / March, and ensuring that the budget reflects the lease obligations and statutory obligations, particularly
  the cost of complying with the landlord’s obligations to maintain, repair & redecorate the building.
   

In addition to fulfilling their legal responsibilities, the directors also spend time identifying strategic opportunities for the benefit of members and leaseholders.

Recent projects include:

1. Installing Hyperoptic fibre broadband (the fastest in the UK) as far as the front door of every flat in Castle Court .

2. Upgrading the communal TV system to offer Sky+, SkyHD+ & Sky Multi-Room to those members / leaseholders choosing to purchase additional Sky feeds to their individual flats & contribute towards the cost of upgrading the communal equipment. 

These projects did not involve any service charge expenditure.

The current directors are:

Liz Mahoney (Chairman)

Gerald Hamer (Vice Chairman)

Tim Davies

Cliff Williams

Correspondence for the directors should be sent to:

The Directors
Castle Court Freehold Limited
Castle Court Office
Castle Court
Westgate Street
Cardiff CF10 1DB

Managing Agents - Cooke & Arkwright Chartered Surveyors

Cooke & Arkwright Chartered Surveyors have considerable experience and expertise in residential property management and provide an excellent service to leaseholders at Castle Court. 

Although Castle Court is primarily residential, the basement is commercial.

Castle Court’s residential leaseholders also benefit from Cooke & Arkwright’s commercial property experience when Castle Court basement issues require Cooke & Arkwright's involvement on behalf of Castle Court Freehold Limited.

In 2004-2005, Cooke & Arkwright successfully negotiated a significant contribution from the basement sub-tenant towards essential repairs to the basement & rear terrace, thereby reducing the repair costs payable by each residential leaseholder. 

Subsequently, Cooke & Arkwright’s efforts on behalf of residential leaseholders resulted in the basement sub-tenant contributing during 2008-2009 to the cost of renewing & replacing the main roof.  The basement sub-tenant’s contribution to the main roof works resulted in an average cost saving to Castle Court residential leaseholders of £500 per flat. 

Leaseholders with management queries should contact Cooke & Arkwright – telephone 02920 346335 between 09:00 and 17:30 Monday to Friday.

Outside 09:00 to 17:30 Monday to Friday any urgent queries or incidents requiring a response before next working day should be reported to Castle Court Caretaking & Security Staff as they are onsite 24/7
 – telephone 02920 641691 or 07837 093173.

Castle Court 24/7 Caretaking & Security staff have emergency out of hours contact telephone numbers which they can use to contact contractors,
and Cooke & Arkwright personnel if necessary, so that emergency repairs, leaks etc can be dealt with promptly.

Castle Court Caretaking & Security staff - 24/7 cover

In the interests of good estate management, Castle Court Freehold Limited introduced 24/7 caretaking & security cover in 2005 to replace the previous system of short gaps between weekday caretaking shifts & overnight security shifts and a longer gap between Saturday & Sunday overnight security shifts.

This decision was subsequently endorsed by an LVT panel in 2006, who considered that a building the size of Castle Court with extensive communal services etc should have a caretaker/guard on site 24/7 rather than gaps between shifts.

As the on-site 24/7 caretaking & security staff spend a significant amount of
time around the building rather than being office based, the Castle Court office telephone number (02920 641691) diverts to the mobile phone carried by the on-site caretaking & security staff when the office is unmanned.

The office pager is linked through to the mobile phone carried by the on-site caretaking & security staff so that residents, contractors, deliverymen etc can speak with the caretaker / security guard.

Pager buttons are located outside the Castle Court Caretaker’s office and the main gates to Castle Court.