FAQs

Yes, your apartment can be sublet, however an application must be made to the management company for each tenancy and a ‘covenant’ must be completed accordingly. An administration fee is applicable for each sub let.

Yes. Town houses are subject to normal planning and building regulations, but should also refer to their restrictive covenants in particular (6,2. 6,6. And 6,13), with regard to permissions required. The apartments must make application to the management company for a license, (with plans) and approval must be sought from ‘building regulators’ to confirm that any health and safety requirements are complied with. All internal load bearing walls are the property of the management company and cannot be altered or interfered with in any way. The management company must also be provided with proof of public liability insurance of the proposed contractor.

Yes boilers can be changed, however application must be made for a license as this often requires the replacement of the flue concealed within the cavity ceilings and a new outlet drilled through the external communal wall. Great care must be taken by contractors not to damage external render. Where scaffolding is required for access, it must not block entrances or gateways and cannot be erected for more than one working day, unless it is clad externally to prevent climbing by children or is alarmed to deter climbers. Cherry pickers are permitted for this purpose. The mangement company must also be provided with public liability insurance of the contractor.

Yes, townhouse freeholders are unrestricted with regards to pets within their property. Apartment leaseholders must apply for license to have ANY pet. License will NOT be given for ANY dogs (apart from guide / service dogs).

NO, it is not safe for any children to play in any of the paved driveway access areas, however there is a grassed quadrangle in between the town houses where it is permitted, but this must still only be with the supervision of parents.

Residents are free to park in Macquarie Quay road (which is adopted by Eastbourne Council). Within the restrictions of the yellow lines in place. The town houses have their own private driveways and some also own part of the access road outside their homes (land registry plans will identify those areas). Town house ‘free holders’, have right of access on the estate communal roads and access areas but are strictly prohibited from parking there or using the visitor (V) bays on site which are for exclusive use of the apartment leaseholders visitors. Apartment leaseholders have ‘numbered’ private parking spaces, either externally or in the building undercroft. The visitor (V) bays are for the exclusive use of their visitors and are not intended for use by residents. 26 parking permits are issued to leaseholders on a two month rolling basis. Any vehicles parked outside these restrictions will be issued with a Parking Charge Notice by our contracted Parking patrol company “OPS”. Whist carers vehicles are exempt from parking controls, this is only if they are displaying a VALID (official) NHS carers notice in their vehicle. Hand written notes are not acceptable. The parking of commercial vehicles overnight in (visitor) V bays is strictly prohibited. Under current Fire and Health and safety regulations the storage of any items, in private parking bays, other than a car, motorcycle or bicycle, MUST only be within a locked metal cabinet. NOTE: VQMC do not receive any financial benefit from any fines issued, which are the sole income of the parking control company.

Townhouse ‘freeholders’ can park cycles anywhere within the demise of their property. Apartment ‘ leaseholders’ must use the cycle racks provided in the undercroft areas or within their own numbered parking bay, however they must have a valid white tag attached, which denotes their apartment number. Tags are obtainable from Sensible Property Management.

Town house ‘freeholders’, are free to use BBQ’s as they wish, however consideration should always be given to neighbours. Apartment ‘leaseholders’ may only use gas BBQ’s (with ONE gas bottle). Solid fuel BBQ’s and fire pits (logs burners etc) are strictly prohibited for obvious fire, health and safety reasons. Consideration MUST also be given to smoke interference for neighbouring apartments.

Town house ‘freeholders’ are free to erect any satellite dishes required (within reason). The apartments have a communal dish and the equipment has recently been modified by SKY engineers to be compliant with the new SKY Q systems. Secondary individual dishes are permitted for the purpose of receiving SKY PLUS, however dishes must only be secured to decking boards or the balcony rail (low level, below the top balcony rail) and must not under any circumstances be drilled or fixed in the communal external walls.

Town house ‘freeholders’ can erect washing lines as required within the demise of their rear gardens only. The lease prohibits any washing from being hung out on the balcony by Apartment ‘leaseholders’ , however the directors have agreed to relax this requirement only for a cloths dryer frame, which must be to the rear of the balcony and MUST be below the height of the top balcony rail.

All apartments are fitted with fire alarms by the developer, which are interconnected and run off the mains electricity but with battery backup. The batteries will require annual replacement as they omit an audible beep when running low, which can be an annoyance to neighbours.

The external communal front door keys are of a high security nature and locksmiths will not supply duplicates with an authorisation card. Sensible property can supply new replacement key upon request at cost, plus a small admin fee

The Townhouse ‘freeholders’ are required to arrange all aspects of their own insurance requirements. The apartment leaseholders, receive buildings insurance as part of their service charge payment, however this only covers those areas / items defined in the lease as being the responsibility of the management company. There is currently and excess applicable to any claims made against this insurance, which has a higher banding for escape of water and subsidence. Sensible property can advise the current level of excess. All apartment leaseholders are responsible for their own contents insurance. Sensible property will advise you who to contact in the event of a claim.

Townhouse ‘freeholders’ are at liberty to park their vehicles within the demise of their own property without restriction. Apartment ‘leaseholders’ are required to have their vehicles insured, even if declared SORN with DVLA. There are specialist companies that supply SORN insurance at considerably reduced premiums. This is simply so that there is insurance cover in the event that damage is caused by a SORN vehicle (e.g fire etc).

The townhouse ‘freeholders’ are responsible for all aspects of their property within the demise of their boundaries. The apartment ‘Leaseholders’ have a diverse responsibility of fixtures , fittings, walls, windows etc and should refer to their respective lease for clarification

The town House ‘Freeholders’ are governed by the terms of their covenants which would have been supplied with the deeds of their properties. Apartments ‘leaseholders’ are governed by the terms of their lease, which are both extensive and quite complex. We recommend that they refer to a copy of the lease for guidance. Any tenants are also required to comply with these terms which are again set out in the covenants which are required for signature by any tenants of sub lets.

A licence will be required for anything involving making changes to company / communal property or changes within an apartment, (where the management company need to define the liabilities and responsibilities of the leaseholder and management company, either internally or externally), such as walls, ducts, flues etc. A licence will only be granted after payment of the relevant administration fee (contact Sensible property for current fees) and that Victoria Quay Management Co Ltd, are satisfied that all necessary criteria have been fulfilled by the leaseholder. NO REMEDIAL WORKS MUST BE UNDERTAKEN WITHOUT THE PRIOR AUTHORISATION (licence), OF VICTORIA QUAY MANAGEMENT CO LTD

Electronic gate fobs are available from Sensible Property Management. The cost is £55 each and due to the rising costs VQMC are no longer able to subsidise.  Please note, there is a limit of 2 fobs per apartment per year, (regardless of leaseholder or tenant).

There has been a lot of talk on social media about the above subject and what Sensible Properties and the directors of VQMC have and haven’t done about the situation. An update was sent out by email on the 27th Nov under the heading of Fire Risk Assessment and Health and Safety Report, and letters were sent out on 30th Nov to members with no email addresses registered. It seems that some members have not seen this email or letter. We have not been able to ascertain the reason why but apologize for this and add that email as an attachment to this one for your reference. You will note that we accepted that it was not the end of the matter, and there was a promise that more information would follow. The directors have not been idle since the end of November as we recognized the fact that problems could still remain with lenders refusing to grant mortgages until A1 status was obtained despite us being advised that an A3 rating would be acceptable. Estimates have been sought for two possible solutions, complete new metal decking and alternatively, metal plating fixed underneath the existing wooden decking. On advise, simpler solutions such as painting the existing decking with fire retardant paint were discarded. Also we have sought legal advice on our ability to impose compliance for any flat owner refusing to make the changes if it was decided to replace the existing decking, although we have held up any further enquiries on this front for now. However, in our efforts to keep up to date with developments, on 12th Dec some very relevant information on the government website was discovered. This states that “Owners of flats in buildings without cladding will no longer need an EWS1 form to sell or remortgage their property - thanks to an agreement reached between the government and the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors, UK Finance and the Building Society Association” In view of this we have asked the provider of our EWS1 form if, as we have no cladding on our buildings, could our certificate be upgraded to A1, just in case one or two lenders do not comply with this agreement. We await their answer on this point. That sums up our actions over the past few weeks on this issue. It will be pleasing for everyone to learn that their properties are still sellable and we hope that you will accept that the directors, with the help of Sensible Properties have done the best they could in the interest of you all. For the keyboard warriors out there, we need some more directors on the VQMC board, and would invite you to offer up your services as you appear to have the same goals as us, serving the owners of Macquarie Quay

The budget in our accounts section, is, a full breakdown of our annual service charge total for the apartments. (The Estate fund plus Flat fund combined). The service charge total for the houses, is (The Estate fund alone).

For more info see HERE

For more info see HERE