CBWRA ‘co-chairs’ to ‘stand down’ but still refuse to accept responsibility for the mess they helped to create and still intend to stay on as RTM directors

 

Dec 2, 2024

The CBWRA co-Chairs Larissa Villar Hauser and Louis Sebastian Kendall announced they intend to stand down at the next chair election (no date given). In the usually cryptic/no real information style, no meaningful explanation is given although they do refer to the need to:

”make the role more appealing given the limited leaseholder participation and the sometimes challenging input from some leaseholders. These factors potentially discourage future candidates. Those present discussed strategies to alleviate the pressures of the role, such as clearly defining responsibilities, better support and fostering constructive collaboration within the committee”

What a load of disingenuous nonsense and hypocritical bunk. Even in their resignation they cannot be open or honest, just more evasive corporate waffle. The truth is Larissa and Louis have totally undermined the credibility and legitimacy of CBWRA by failing to hold fair elections, failing to engage with residents (just 13% of leaseholders are CBWRA members), failure to consult or communicate with leaseholders, insulting residents’ intelligence on a regular basis, failing to deal with the abhorrent and outrageous behaviour of some committee members (especially the ones who apparently called for acts of terrorism against the UK and the other one who has been the subject of five police complaints). Yes it is FIVE now, and they still don’t have the courage to remove him, though I know that some committee members are (to say the least) unhappy about his behaviour,

Larisa and Louis also fought hard to prevent notes of meeting with leaseholders being published and changed the constitution to further remove checks and balances on the power of the committee, such as removing resident auditors and the right of residents to see correspondencebetween CBWRA and the managing agent or freeholder. They have presided over a decline in CBWRA finances from around £27k to around £1K, in three years (estimated figures – happy to be corrected).

While pretending there is a lack of interest in the role of CBWRA Chair, they try to distract from the fact that they have spent enormous energy on preventing other candidates from having a fair chance of being elected to the role and preventing opportunities for meaningful debate between candidates. They have, in fact, made the elections meaningless – opponents are banned from CBW app, there is no space for debate or discussion, and the culture of fear over which they have presided on the CBW app, and the outrageous online bullying that has occurred there over a long period, has silenced the natural discussions that residents want to have about the future of this development. They ‘forget’ that a candidate was basically bullied of the ballot paper in 2023 and another libelled daily on the CBW app by the former Chair and that they had nothing to say about this. In fact they put the person who engaged in these behaviours in the 2023 election in charge of the 2024 elections, so one can only assume they approved of his methods. So yes these things would tend to ”make the role less attractive”! 

Larisa and Louis are/were part of a committee that misinformed residents for more than two years that RTM was not possible and which closed my CBW account for telling the truth – that RTM was possible, and that it was the only way forward. They continue to give misleading and implausible reasons for the closure of my CBW app account. They are part of a committee which has misinformed residents on very important matters on a very large number of occasions – this has become the norm, the culture of CBWRA.

At the last leaseholder meeting, Larisa and Louis were utterly humiliated in a discussion with residents when their lack of understanding of , or interest in, basic democratic principles and good governance was exposed. It was clear they intended to stay in power as RTM directors indefinitely and will not allow elections, will not allow an AGM of the RTM company, nor are they able to give an explanation of why leaseholders have not seen the contract with Urang, which many leaseholders demanded at the meeting.

Under the ungreat and ignoble reign of Stephen Thompson, Larisa Villar Hauser, and Louis Sebastian Kendall, we have seen huge rises in service charges, constant attempts to remove checks and balances on the power of the committee/Chairs, unfair elections for the chair, no elections for committee or directors of the Right to manage company, a culture of fear on the CBW app, and a complete absence of any vision for the future of this development. And yet they are unable to see, or pretend to be unable to see, why so many residents have lost interest in CBWRA. Up until the end of 2022, CBWRA were also trying hard to supress criticism of Rendall and Rittner and tried to close down my petition against Rendall and Rittner which now has 5,500 + signatures. One cannot help wonder if the same will happen if Urang are appointed.

Larisa and Louis had a chance in March 2023 to turn over a new leaf and draw a line under the dysfunctional behaviours of the former chair (as I urged them to do, in private and in public), but they decided to continue with his basic approach and, as I told them multiple times, this path leads nowhere except to conflict and deadlock. We cannot build a community based on fear and silence.

The so-called “challenging behaviour” of certain leaseholders which the co-chairs refers to is in fact the voice of residents trying to make CBWRA behave in a normal and democratic manner, and to tell Larissa and Louis that they are not, as they seem to imagine, entitled to the roles of Chair or RTM director without a mandate from residents, which can only be achieved through fair and open elections. If Right to Manage happens, it will be despite  the  current leadership of CBWRA, not because of them, and RTM without accountability to leaseholders is meaningless in any case. 

So my message to the ‘co-Chairs’ is  yes, please do step down, not just as Chairs but more importantly, as RTM Directors and let fair elections be held for Chair, committee and Directors of the Chelsea Bridge Wharf Right to Manage company. Draw a line under the dysfunctional culture, start behaving like a normal residents’ association so that we can all work together to make CBW an even better place to live. In the interest of residents, I am very happy to meet to resolve our differences and have in fact offered to do so on multiple occasions in private and in public over the last 2 years.