Nobel House

The freehold for Nobel House is owned by Avon Ground Rents Ltd. This means that they own and are responsible for the building. Individual people own individual flats within the building and Avon Ground Rents Ltd is responsible for the building as a whole.

In 2011 Raven Housing Trust purchased 40 flats within the building. These were sold to individual homeowners on a shared ownership basis. This means we retain equity in these homes and shared owners own a range of percentage shares. This therefore means that Raven is also a leaseholder.

Y&Y Management was appointed by Avon Ground Rents Ltd as managing agents for Nobel House, their responsibilities include:

• Collection of service charge
• Management of contractors
• Compliance with relevant company and property law
• Management of on-site staff
• Preparation of budgets, financial forecasts and year-end accounts
• Handling solicitors’ enquiries on the sale of individual properties
• Engaging and management of maintenance contracts and repairs
• Administration of insurance and communal claims
• Compliance with health and safety legislation
• Attending meetings
• Regular property visits and inspections.

Avrohom Jason is Nobel House’s Property Manager. You can contact him by email at avrohom@yymanagement.co.uk but please copy Raven homeownership@ravenht.org.uk in to any emails you send.

The properties in Nobel House that aren’t owned by Raven are represented by a Residents’ Management Company called, Queensway Management (4QM). We often work together to ensure the smooth running of the building.

The probability of a fire occurring at Nobel House has not increased, and the block has many differences from the construction of Grenfell Tower. However, the landscape has changed in the aftermath of the disaster and all owners of buildings over 18m high are taking extra precautions to ensure the safety of the buildings that they own.

Y&Y Management is responsible for compliance with health and safety – they are responsible for fire safety at Nobel House.

Please report anything you are concerned about to Y&Y management by emailing avrohom@yymanagement.co.uk and copy homeownership@ravenht.org.uk in to any emails you send.

Y&Y Management is required to arrange for a Fire Risk Assessment at Nobel House which is normally completed each year in the Autumn.

In 2022 the ACM cladding was removed from the building. The next stage is to remove the non-ACM cladding, which is subject to Government funding from the Cladding Safety Scheme. Avon Ground Rents anticipates this work will start in 2025.

The EWS1 certification process records, in a consistent way, external wall systems (cladding) on residential apartment buildings where the highest floor is 18m or more above ground level or where specific concerns exist. These are completed by a Chartered Fire Engineer.

There is no statutory obligation for building owners to carry out EWS surveys, it is up to Avon Ground Rents, the owner of the building, as to whether they do this. If Avon does progress this, EWS1 certificates are issued once remediation work has been completed. It can take some time to get a certificate issued due to a shortage of fire engineers. This is one of the reasons the government has worked with lenders and RICS to introduce some mortgage products that do not require this.

Raven is continuing to work with private owners, shared owners, and the managing agent, who is acting on behalf of the freeholder, to help ensure the necessary building works are carried out.

There were a large number of buildings all across the country that have had to undertake the same fire safety investigations at the same time. There are a limited number of qualified experts that can undertake this work which meant it took some time to understand what work was needed.

There was then a significant amount of time spent by the building owners securing funding to pay for the work needed, this involved talking to the original developers, NHBC and the applying for Government funding.

Once funding was in place a planning application was submitted to the local authority for the work to be approved.

The contribution from leaseholders will depend on the level of funding that is secured for the work. However, the Building Safety Act introduced protections for qualifying leaseholders. This caps the level of contribution at £10,000 and is proportionate to the share you own, so if you own 75% the contribution would be £7,500. This cost can be spread over a number of years. If you need more information about this, please contact the Homeownership team homeownership@ravenht.org.uk.

Please get in touch with us at homeownership@ravenht.org.uk so that we can discuss your options and offer support through our money advice service, Moneywise. Raven’s Moneywise service helps our customers to find ways to maximise their income and reduce their expenditure.

You can sell your share of your property at any time. Homes impacted by cladding are harder to secure a mortgage against as there is a smaller pool of lenders available, and they have strict criteria for eligibility. The evidence required varies by lender, so it’s best to speak with them directly to check.

Yes, if you need to arrange a new mortgage on your home you will also be affected but lenders do have products available.

Raven assesses buyback on a property-by-property basis. To be eligible you will need to meet our buyback criteria. You can find out more about this in the following policy – Homeownership policy.

Yes, due to the extenuating circumstances at Nobel House, customers are able to sublet their properties. Please contact our Homeownership team for more information about this, homeownership@ravenht.org.uk.