Category: Annual Service Charge

CCMC & Channels CIC Update

Dear Eagle Rise & Aqua Verde residents,

In line with previous discussion and agreement, Remus are no longer acting as Managing Agent as this has been taken over by PG Property Management as part of the site-wide Channels CIC arrangement.

As such you will receive the second half year Service Charge invoices over the course of the next week and the process will be as follows:

  1. Invoices issued which require payment by 31/12/2024.
  2. Statements issued early January 2025 reminding those having not paid that late payment will attract a late charge.
  3. Late charges applied at the end of January and statements/warning letters issued.
  4. Further late charges applied at the end of February and letters warning of legal action issued.
  5. Legal action started for non payers at the end of March.

Unfortunately the continued level of aged debt over the last 3 years has caused cash flow problems for CCMC Ltd so we do ask that everyone pays promptly such that actions (3)-(5) above will never need to apply.

The contact pages on the website have been fully updated so if you need to make contact about either the CCMC Managed Estate, Service Charge Accounts or the CIC Site-Wide Managed Estate, you can do so easily by completing a simple form: Click HERE for contact forms.

2023-24 Service Charge (Jan-Jun)

Dear Eagle Rise & Aqua Verde Residents,

The second half year Service Charge Notices (January-June 2024) have been sent by Remus in late December to your preferred correspondence address which will either be by post or e-mail.

If your correspondence preference is e-mail, please check your junk/spam folders and if you do not believe you have received the notice, please contact Remus accordingly.

The summary schedule of costs for the period 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2024 can be viewed and/or downloaded below and the second half year charge represents 50% of the figures outlined:

2023/24 Service Charge Schedule

Further explanatory notes can be found HERE

The easiest way to make payment is via the Remus Website at:
www.remus.uk.com/make-a-payment/

Just fill in the form with your account reference number and balance as found on the demand and you will be presented with various payment options to facilitate the transaction.

The payment is due on or before 3rd February 2024 and late payment fees will be added for accounts not settled by this date as non-payment creates significant cash flow issues.

If you have any queries about your payment or account balance, you can use the form on the website to contact Remus.

CCMC Ltd Directors

2023-24 Service Charge

Dear Eagle Rise & Aqua Verde Residents,

The first half year Service Charge Notices (July-December 2023) have been sent by Remus in recent days to your preferred correspondence address which will either be by post or e-mail.

If your correspondence preference is by letter, you may have to wait a few more days for it to drop through your letterbox!

If your correspondence preference is e-mail, please check your junk/spam folders and if you do not believe you have received the notice, please contact Remus accordingly.

The summary schedule of costs for the period 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2024 can be viewed and/or downloaded below and the first half year charge represents 50% of the figures outlined:

2023/24 Service Charge Schedule

Further explanatory notes can be found HERE

The easiest way to make payment is via the Remus Website at:
www.remus.uk.com/make-a-payment/

Just fill in the form with your account reference number and balance as found on the demand and you will be presented with various payment options to facilitate the transaction.

The payment is due on or before 19th July 2023 and late payment fees will be added for accounts not settled by this date as non-payment creates significant cash flow issues.

If you have any queries about your payment or account balance, you can use the form on the website to contact Remus.

CCMC Ltd Directors

2022-23 Service Charge (Jan-Jun 2023)

Dear Eagle Rise & Aqua Verde Residents,

The second half year Service Charge Notices (January-June 2023) have been sent by Remus in recent days to your preferred correspondence address which will either be by post or e-mail.

If your correspondence preference is e-mail, please check your junk/spam folders and if you do not believe you have received the notice, please contact Remus accordingly.

The summary schedule of costs for the period 1st July 2022 to 30th June 2023 can be viewed and/or downloaded below and the second half year charge represents 50% of the figures outlined:

2022/23 Service Charge Schedule
2022/23 Site-Wide Estate Charge

Further explanatory notes can be found HERE.

The easiest way to make payment is via the Remus Website at:
www.remus.uk.com/make-a-payment/

Just fill in the form with your account reference number and balance as found on the demand and you will be presented with various payment options to facilitate the transaction.

The payment is due on or before 1st January 2023 and late payment fees will be added for accounts not settled by this date as non-payment creates significant cash flow issues.

If you have any queries about your payment or account balance, you can use the form on the website to contact Remus.

CCMC Ltd Directors

2022/23 Service Charge Notification

Dear Eagle Rise & Aqua Verde Residents,

The budget for 2022/23 has now been agreed and Remus will be sending out Service Charge demands on this basis imminently. In a climate of rapidly increasing prices, directors have endeavoured to minimise increases to the Service Charge. This has been achieved by minor amendments to the Grounds Maintenance specification, on the basis the landscape is now well established, and reducing the sums transferred into reserves.

The year on year overall budget increase is only 0.97% and this is mainly attributed to the CIC site-wide charge as our share was estimated last year prior to the contributions being finalised by the CIC.

The summary schedule of costs for the period 1st July 2022 to 30th June 2023 can be viewed and/or downloaded below:

2022/23 Service Charge Schedule
2022/23 Site-Wide Estate Charge

Further explanatory notes can be found HERE.

CCMC Ltd Directors

2022/23 Service Charge

Dear Eagle Rise & Aqua Verde Residents,

We are aware that you have not yet been notified of the Service Charge for 2022/23 and yet the new year starts on 1st July. In a climate of rapidly increasing prices, directors have been working to minimise increases to the Service Charge and the biggest single cost is Grounds Maintenance for which discussions are ongoing with Remus and Olly (Channels Estates).

Our intention is to be in a position to communicate the 2022/23 charge to you week commencing 20th June and we are confident that there will not be any significant increase over the 2021/22 budgeted sum. We do however need to be mindful that if costs continue to rise at the current rate, the position at the end of the coming service charge year may not be so favourable and as such robust in year management will be required.

CCMC Ltd Directors

Service Charge Payments


For freehold owners, don’t forget that the due date for payment of your half year Service Charge demand for the period 1st January 2022-30th June 2022 is Saturday 1st January.

The easiest way to make payment is via the Remus Website at:
www.remus.uk.com/make-a-payment/

Just fill in the form with your account reference number and balance as found on the demand sent out in November and you will be presented with various payment options to facilitate the transaction.

Some residents may have small credits on their account as a result of an error from the days of POD Management so do check the amount you have to pay to clear your account as it could be less than the headline half year charge.

It is important that Service Charge demands are paid without undue delay as this income is used to pay contractors, which in turn ensures directors can deliver the legal obligations of the RMC. This was flagged as a key risk to effective cash management and the ability to comply with obligations as set out in the RMC Articles of Association at the AGM held on 6th September.

If you have any queries about your payment or account balance, you can use the form on the website to contact Remus.

Thanks 🙂

Important: Site Wide Costs

You will recall that directors have been investigating site-wide costs for the last 2 years and neither DJC nor POD acting as managing agents were able to provide sufficient assurance as to what we were actually paying for given that only circa 20% of site-wide land was available for use.

We have advised all parties involved on many occasions during the last 2 years that we would only pay for site-wide land we had access to and only where we were confident that expenditure was valid and appropriate. Without such information being made available, we took the decision to withhold monies and credit residents last autumn based on a proposal put forward to the site-wide management company via POD last year.

PG Property Management (who took over from POD Management and now support the site-wide management company) proposed a way forward in February 2021 which directors agreed to in principle on the understanding full sets of reinstated accounts for the last 4 years were made available for us to inspect. The site-wide contributions that form the 2021/22 Service Charge presented at the EGM in May support this proposal.

Unfortunately we have not been furnished with re-stated accounts and as we are obliged to look after the interests of CCMC members, we are standing firm in that we will not pay any further monies owing until the accounts (together with supporting information and invoices where appropriate) are received. PG Property Management have suggested that they will be writing to all residents imminently (as part of a wider update) flagging the CCMC arrears position.


CCMC directors (supported by Remus) are working with PG Property Management on this issue and indeed no direct legal relationship exists between the site-wide management company and individual residents.

As such individual residents do not have to take any action and there is no requirement or need to liaise directly with the site-wide management company on this issue.

Given the lack of assurance we received from both DJC and POD in relation to site-wide expenditure, we believe that members would rather us undertake sufficient and robust due diligence prior to paying any further monies to PG Property Management, especially as this accounts for 30% of the overall service charge.

For the avoidance of doubt, PG Property Management is a company created by directors of Ptarmigan Land to act as site-wide managing agent. Ptarmigan Land is the consultancy firm that acts for and represents the land owner in relation to the Channels development.

Service Charge Payments


For freehold owners, don’t forget that the final date for payment of your half year Service Charge demand for the period 1st July 2021-31st December 2021 is Friday 16th July.

The easiest way to make payment is via the Remus Website at:
www.remus.uk.com/make-a-payment/

Just fill in the form with your account reference number and balance as found on the demand sent out in June and you will be presented with various payment options to facilitate the transaction.

Thanks 🙂

Site Wide Cost Queries

The opening of Channels Park, which is part of site-wide communal land that is gradually being opened up for use, has raised a number of questions in recent weeks and has prompted correspondence both to CCMC Ltd directors and the site wide management company.

Channels Park formed part of the original Planning Consent back in December 2012 (which can be found on the Chelmsford City Council Planning Portal). The image below is the Red Line outline for the planning consent that clearly shows the park area. The Skate Park and the Play Area were also part of the original Planning Consent.

The Deeds of sale for every home at Channels include a requirement to contribute towards the maintenance of site wide open space and provision for this is included in the planning consent.

The provision of open space maintenance through a service charge has become the norm for large developments in the last 10 years for several reasons, not least that historically Councils have been poor at maintaining such space, leading to very poor quality public domain space and indeed most Councils don’t want the responsibility.

All of the developers should have made it clear to their buyers that there was a service charge which included site wide elements and additionally solicitors should also have made this clear to buyers.

We have collated some further information on the Service Charges page for your reference that explains the obligations on owners and where the requirement to contribute to site wide open space is documented.

Directors are working closely with Remus and the site-wide management company to better understand future costs and how ongoing decisions in relation to site-wide communal land are made.

The site-wide elements will continue to be collected via the Service Charge however as previously notified, no further monies will be released to the site-wide management company until there is clarity on these matters.