Resident Parking bays are not for the Hotel!

We have received numerous email enquiries as to the correct status of the Hotel being able to use the parking bays that the residents pay for when they have events.

The correct answer, as per your lease, is NO. The only person that has access to your parking bay is YOU.

Should anyone be parking in your designated bay, you have every right to call the building manager and have the car booted.

Should this problem persist, we must seek resolution as a group. The main gripe is that it's highly inconvenient to have to elsewhere when you pay for a parking bay, and it really rubs salt in wounds when the event carries on late into the evening and causes huge noise disturbances.

Good luck to all residents!

Letter to residents still stuck at UES

Hello world, I still get a lot of emails from residents telling me their unique situations anonymously, asking for help, and fearful of what big, bad Grid Co will try to do to them as they have threatened other residents with legal action (to say the least).

Residents of UES must stand together and rely on each other for help. You must not lose faith as this is bigger than just some crappily built flat that's hardly up to code erected by some joke of a builder and dishonestly marketed by insanely ignorant wanna-be estate agents.

This sort of service delivery and unethical business practices should NOT be tolerated in South Africa.

Don't forget there are additional resident-run assistance groups that have risen out of the ashes of this scorched Earth dumping ground of a living premises. Keep emailing in your problems and WE HAVE PEOPLE READY TO HELP YOU!

Stay strong residents,
UES Residents' Activist Team

Hotel torturing residents, Body Corporate does nothing

Hi all,

Yet again midnight on Tuesday, 07 December 2010:

I live in the west block, on the 3rd floor seaside and the music of the vent is loud, this being a disturbance which seems will never end as long as the Hotel exists.

On Friday night 03 December 2010, I went to speak to the hotel management about the excessive loud noise which is keeping me from peace and rest in my place, but ended up speaking to a lady, which happens to be on the body corporate as well as part of the hotel and redefine group if remember correct from a meeting we had few months ago.

On 14 September I send a letter of complaint to the body corporate about the manner in which they host the events, which is a disturbance and nuisance to residents.

Very little has changed although they have replied and said the hotel will not cause any further disturbances.

Well the lady whom happened to have interest in both the body corporate and the hotel, told me they are allowed to make noise till 12, although according to the conduct rules they are breaking all the rules as I clearly reminded them in my letter below, dated 14 September 2010.

This has to end immediately, this my home and I will not adjust my life and priorities according to the Hotel events.

They should surely sound proof and redesign the structure as it was never design to host events/temporary night clubs with this level of noise.

Are there any other residents having the same issues?

Please speak up.

Thank you

:::Below, the letter sent from the resident to the Body Corporate:::


TO:

The Chairman
Body Corporate
Upper East Side Development, Woodstock, Cape Town

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

NOISE DISTURBANCE AND PARKING NUISANCE – UES HOTEL

References:

Discussion between Emmanuel Spamer (Resident, Upper East Side) and Roger King (Executive Housekeeper, Upper East Side Hotel) – dated, 09 Sept 2010.
Conduct rules – Use of section and common property - p.39
Conduct rules – Behavior of owners, occupiers, guests, etc - p.41
Conduct rules – Parking - p.43
Conduct rules – Commercial units - p.47

AIM

1. This letter is submitted to notify of disturbance and nuisance caused by the Hotel events.

1.1. Resident’s concern based upon information provided in Reference A.

1.2. A formal response from the Body Corporate with regards to issues and rules.

BACKGROUND

At reference D, the rules state guests are only to use visitor parking bays.

On Thursday, 09 September 2010, 8.30pm, I arrived at UES to find my parking has been taken by a guest (attending the UES Hotel function), which left me nowhere to park as the rest of the underground parking areas were full.

At reference B, the rules state no noisy, injurious or objectionable trade or business and no nuisance or annoyance to be caused to any Owner, occupier or surrounding neighbours.

Opening the door to my apartment I was overwhelmed by the excessive loud music and noise made by the guests coming from the Hotel function held in lobby on the ground level.
As per reference A, I explained the issue with parking and noise disturbance to Mr. Roger King, where after he informed me these promotional functions will continue for the next couple of months, and I should have been informed about it the event.

Mr. Roger King, managed to arrange me a temporary parking bay for the night, however he could only apologize for the loud music and noise disturbance caused.

At references C & E, the rules state; No nuisances are to be caused especially in the form of loud music or irritable audible noisome sound and commercial units shall have due regard to the rights of occupiers of residential units, to privacy and peace and noise levels shall not exceed prescribed guidelines.

The music and noise disturbance from guests shouting and screaming continued till the early morning hours of Friday 10 September 2010, disrupting sleep and my intensive studies.

NOTIFICATION

As it is not the first time, I am seriously concerned with the Hotel turned into an occasional night club, for whatever promotion or function. Regardless of whether residents have been informed about these functions or not, the fashion in which they host the events are totally unacceptable and does not entitle them to cause any inconvenience or disturbance of any nature to the residents, in which case the hotel should control the parking, guest behavior and the sound levels.

As I live on the 3rd floor in the West block, it is proven the building is not designed to keep airborne sounds from travelling to the residential side of the development.

I trust these issues will be address immediately and no further nuisance or disturbances will caused by the UES Hotel hosting events.

Building Manager abandons building with no one to work in his absence.

This one perhaps takes the cake. One of our residents discovered via the total cluster of confusion amongst security guards that the Building Manager had GONE ON LEAVE since last week and there was NO ONE APPOINTED IN HIS STEAD!
Now, generally when the secretary goes on leave in my office, we get a temp in. Because when the phone rings and no one answers, that's a lost client and an unhappy customer. Hey Faircape, before you go trying to give your residents a tongue lashing about it being our fault for not being able to reach this Allie Moos phantom building manager, maybe make sure he's even there!!

It would have been a good move to appoint someone else while he was sipping Pina Coladas and we're sitting around with a broken lift and a zillion other problems caused by Faircape Property Management.

Unbelievable, but not unexpected.

Redefine hosts Open Forum/Happy Hour this Wednesday @ 6pm, be heard!

Submitted yesterday:

My Fellow Residents,

I have received contact from the various parties over the weekend and today. For the sake of brevity, I will keep this short, but the following has occurred...

1.) I have filed with the Rentals Tribunal for a laundry list of problems with my documented attempts of resolution.

2.) I have been contacted by the Body Corporate and builder (someone named Miguel/Michael?) from what he says is the company that is the developer, etc. but they basically contact me to argue with me. I can provide more details of these conversations/emails if anyone would like.

3.) The owner of the unit I am in, won't amicably release me from my lease obligations and I've already filed for various formal complaints and Health Hazards that occur in the unit. Simultaneously this Miguel guy said I must go ahead with the Rentals Tribunal. Seems like they really want a full throttle event.

4.) Most all of my communication with any person representing Upper East Side has been confrontational, argumentative, and overall rude. Which I think is uncalled for and just shocking considering they are completely at fault in all of these matters and grievances we have brought to their attention. I advised this Miguel/Michael that if he wanted to get to the bottom of this he must host an Open Forum for the residents to air their grievances. He rudely INSISTED that he meet with only me, as to suggest that somehow I am more important than the other residents because I have been making the noise. As a member of UES Help Desk, I will not just be taking a kick back in trade for silence. All Residents must have the opportunity to be sorted.
----
So even after I have been told by UES to go ahead and take it to the Tribunal, as if they have no fear of South African Democratic Process, showing a lack in our Provincial Government. And after I have been told by UES that they have no interest in hosting an open forum for residents to air grievances, because "Why would we go looking for problems?" and all of our problems are "Open for Interpretation". And after all parties involved have missed deadlines repeatedly, (I know, it seems to never end) we have been contacted by a representative of Redefine. It appears amidst the fog of poor manners and unprofessional behaviour there is hope. She has said, on behalf of Redefine that they would like to host an Open Forum.

This Resident Open Forum will provide Redefine an opportunity to hear Resident Grievances and be provided an opportunity to, if you are interested, offer an explanation. Most importantly, we must be bringing a list of problems and if we can think of solutions those as well. i.e. My apartment is filthy because of the construction dust and damp here, please provide us with (as another Resident I see here suggested) a basket of eco-friendly cleaning supplies to offset my time and hassle.

Things to note: it appears this is going to be the opportunity to best utilize the purpose of UES Help Desk. In my experience we need to be forthright about what we want and how we want it done so that should anyone take their grievances further we can show for the record how we have tried to mediate the situation ourselves. Allow them to dig their hole with their rudeness and apathy should they choose to continue to behave this way.

My contact from Redefine has said that many of the issues we have blogged about have been mostly attended to and are being attended to early this week in completion and since she's been the only polite one in the bunch I tend to give her the benefit of the doubt. Therefore, I know many of you will not have a need to attend if your issues are sorted. However please note that if you do not attend you will not be considered part of the group bargaining collective and any sort of agreements we reach will only be afforded to Residents that participate. If you are unable to attend but would like your list to be attended to, you must submit your list to UESHelpDesk@gmail.com by Wednesday at 4pm.

The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday at 6pm, the location will on-site at UES, we shall meet downstairs in the lobby, there will be FREE drinks courtesy Redefine, we hope to settle all of this over a glass of wine among friends.

Well Done UES Help Desk Team, this is how we make a difference!

No Refuse Disposal for Phase 2, no worries, we live in a dump!

"Morning Neighbour
i need help, where do i dispose rubbish at phase 2."

Unfortunately you cannot dispose of any Rubbish in Phase 2, nevermind recycle anything! Although Faircape has issued multiple warnings to residents here of issuing fines, they have yet to provide proper, nay, ANY Waste facilities for Residents in Phase 2. Many residents still leave their trash in the hall ways in protest. In the spirit of Khayelitsha, we could just dump our trash out the windows, they are already filthy and a total dump outside of our flats. Did you know that the developer's representative told a member of the UES Help Desk that they are also supposed to be providing window washing services? None of our windows have ever been washed and are opaque with construction grime! But in all seriousness Resident, I regretfully have no solution for you as there are NO Waste Facilities in Phase 2. I've heard that some residents sneak over to the hotel and dump their trash there in the hall ways, I have been taking my trash to work. Since we have no solution for this one due to the lack of facilities from UES, this has officially been lodged with the Body Corporate and the developer and we hope to hear some results soon. Don't hold your breath!

Construction Workers sitting ON MY CAR, seriously? Broken lift, still?!

"Yesterday morning I came down to the parking and I walked to my car which had 2 construction workers sitting on my rear bumper. My car is not a bakkie and should not be sat on like one, and why are they so unsupervised that they are able to do that? I agree, this developer is so unprofessional as they cannot even manage their employees. I should not have to live in fear of my car being damaged by the developer's workers, as if the developer would pay for any of my damages.

Many thanks for starting this blog, it's time we had a voice as no one at Upper East Side gives a second thought to their residents."

Of course Resident, I'm sorry you've had to deal with that, it's totally inexcusable. This has actually happened to me once before as well, they were leaning on my car and sitting around a pail playing checkers. Seems they are never working, this explains why we've been FORCED to live in a construction site for 2 months! If I see that, I get back into the lift, if it's working of course, as the lift has been out for almost a week now, "Routine Inspection" my a**, filthy lying developer. Then I go to the next level and trigger my alarm, it generally scares em off because the noise is so loud. We should NOT have to be patrolling UES as well, the security guards are too busy in the lobby watching TV, I saw 6 of them gathered there chillin last week!

And where is that darned Car Wash Bay?

"Could anybody please indicate to me where the designated taps is from
the stormwater supply to wash our vehicles as per terms and conditions
5.4? I'd asked around and to security but they also do not know of
such taps.

Anybody feedback?"

Great point Resident, it's important to use storm water taps for vehicle washing. Especially since we are wasting water like it's going out of style in Upper East Side.

I've not even attempted to wash my car there, you might be able to ask all the construction workers that shower in the parking lot, I mean, they get totally naked sometimes so it might be a bit awkward, but the obviously know the water sources in the parking lots. I will pose this to the Body Corporate, who's email we presently have not verified posting permission as of yet (though they never respond to anything), to see if we can figure anything out.

Does anyone else out there know what to do? They have not provided us with a hose that's for sure, so I think we would have to buy one to actually be able to use it, another example of poor Body Corporate management.

We'll get back to you ASAP with some feedback though, fear not!

Burglars make themselves at home here at Upper East Side

Gee, glad the criminals feel so welcome, apparently he even slept in the unit's bed and ate the resident's food. Classic.

"Sergeant Hilton Malila, of the Woodstock police station, said they believed the 34-year-old suspect had entered the complex with a set of keys for three flats and also carried an access pass."

Read the full article here

We made the front page of the Cape Argus, this is a call to action for residents, protect yourself and your possessions as it is not safe here. Neighbours, let's look out for each other, who thinks we should start a neighborhood watch?

Thank you to the resident whom submitted this to us, I would have never known, it might have been prudent for the building to just send a note to residents advising them of a breach in security and to keep alert. We're on our own out here, we have to look out for each other because UES certainly isn't.

I love the sound of jackhammers at 9am on a Sunday morning!

Don't you?

It's so invigorating and exciting, really knows how to throw you out of bed!

Seems like Upper East Side is more concerned with completing the construction of this development than the quality of life of it's residents. Why, we have to ask, does the Body Corporate allow this? Are they powerless to the developers? It clearly states in the Body Corporate Rules that noise and disturbances (though it's a jackhammer, and really I think those terms are understatements) are not permitted beyond business hours. Unless of course they have been given special permission by the Body Corporate, which makes me think that this is the case. I personally think that in order for the Body Corporate to get the bid to manage this building they had to do the whole "wink/nod", and have allowed this sort of stuff to carry since I've moved in.

There hasn't been a weekend I've lived here where the pounding and construction doesn't go far into the evening and on weekends as well. Plus, these units are so poorly insulated that you can hear everything, even the construction workers conversing with each other.

Maybe in the move in Welcome Basket they should have included some industrial strength ear plugs. Oh wait, there was no welcome basket. All UES has given me is a bunch of notices posted to all residents telling us more of their ridiculous rules that only seem to apply to residents and no one else, i.e. developer, construction employees.

A lot needs to change here to make this place bearable. We've been so patient and understanding, but 2 months of still living in a terrible construction site when we were promised a "COMPLETED PHASE" is absurd. More mis-representation, more agent tactics to pad their wallets, more evidence of South Africans being forced to live in an anti-consumer driven economy. Don't we all get sick of having to cater to service providers? Shouldn't they be the one trying to compete for our business? Stand up, South Africa! Don't take this anymore! Forward this blog to people you know, we've gotten a great amount of traffic so far. We are basing this blog on identifying problems at UES but perhaps the need for a broader site for consumer protection is there. Keep sending us your encouragement at our email address UESHelpDesk@gmail.com. More importantly, pass this along, don't let your friends make the same mistake we did, don't ever go near Upper East Side!

So keep pounding away, it was actually an evening I was sick and all I wanted to do was sleep that prompted me to start this blog by the suggestion of my neighbors. Finally, I had had enough of it, clearly Upper East Side does care about it's residents. If they did, they would never have let it get this bad.

They won't tell you but they billed you wrong!

Yes, it's true.

Residents that are living in Phase 2 have been issued a utilities bill by the metering company at an incorrect rate! Sources tell us it was at a commercial rate which includes other fees that residential units should not be paying. But will anyone tell you? Of course not! This is UES, they're not interested.

Residents MUST send an email to Janineda@pecgroup.co.za, whom is one of the administrators and they will be able to officially sort you out, but they will NOT just correct the charges.

Some of us only discovered this by putting the pieces together when we had our first little meeting with other residents in the building. I had to call PEC, solicit the proper numbers myself and have them sent to me after my own personal enquiry. Another resident had to have their landlord sort it out for them, what kind of resident service delivery do we have here? Gee, wouldn't it have been nice if UES told their residents without us having to dig it out of them?

Just a sample of the correspondence we have to have on a regular basis with this place

"An update on the rest of the building this week:
-the bathroom light completely blew out finally after much flickering, that's why I said in my snag list that it was flickering, hoping Upper East Side would fix it.
-The lift was in-operational last night and many of the tenants were yelling at each other banging on the steel doors to 'stop jamming the lift', it was kind of like a prison movie with people on several levels yelling and banging on the steel. I figured that it had to be construction workers, whom still bang on things past 5pm (despite the Body Corporate Rules), because it was on the 6th floor for over 15 minutes (this was the only operational lift) and the stairs were closed off. Then the lift zoomed down to the -1 floor without stopping anywhere else which I've discovered that you can only do with a builder key. It was strange though because it was at about 630pm and they should be cleared out the building each night at 5pm, but I think some of them live here now because they often are here way past hours.
-Though I'm all for getting along with all walks of life, it's kind of a nuisance when the construction workers try to pick you up in the mornings and in the evenings while they shower with the door open and strip down to their underwear in plain sight, and I'm really hoping the developer will perhaps tell them it's inappropriate to say 'Hey mommie' and 'hey girl' to residents, not to mention running around past my car while I'm unlocking the doors. So I've been parking in a different spot because it's actually quite scary as this is how I was hijacked once upon a time.
-Also, the lake that floods the parking lot every day is still a problem, but I have a SUV so I'm okay, but I'm surprised the developer hasn't sorted it out yet, it's kind of funny the residents here affectionately refer to as "Lake Victoria East", and then when it rains it's "Upper Victoria Falls", because it seriously comes down from the ceilings in the garage.
-There's still no recycling in the building, even though it was advertised as a Green Building but I don't think much goes to waste as on trash days there are many homeless people milling around the building going through the trash, so I guess it's recycling in it's own way.
-The new entrance finally opened up last week and it's nice because you don't need any card to get into that one because every time I've used it there's been no security and the boom is always up so I'm not stuck waiting 20 minutes waiting for a security guard to let me out like what happened before, when I literally had a plane to catch.
-I do worry that the hot water still takes a long time to come on because I think I'm being quite wasteful running it till it gets hot. The pressure in the shower head is also really bad so with your permission I'd like to take the restrictor off and maybe that will fix it. The drain is getting a little worse in the shower but I'm going to get the right tools this week and I'll see if I can fix it on my own.
-Also, I cleaned the heck out of this place the past few days and somehow underneath the sink it still smells like mold. It's actually where the dishwasher space is in the cabinetry, so I've blocked off the open holes for the ports with some plastic and I'll see if that isolates the smell and then we'll know if it's from this kitchen sink or from the plumbing behind the drywall which I think it might be.
-Additionally, there was a strange puddle in the corner by the sliding glass door of water, I checked where it might have come in and the whole window door frame was damp but since I got home after it had been raining I couldn't tell it's point of origination, so just an FYI I'll be investigating this more and connecting with the maintenance people here to have them fix the damp issues, which are plentiful in this building."

And still many of these issues are a problem. This correspondence was from the end of June, 2010.