Fernwood Maintenance
Fernwood Central is the area that is occupied by 1,000 properties that is being joined by three further expansions, starting with Fernwood North. Most of the open spaces and leisure facilities in this central area are owned by the developers Barratt David Wilson. This includes most of the open grass spaces, the woodland and drainage ditches, the tennis courts, the childrens' play park and the fitness trail.
The maintenance of these open spaces in the Central area is maintained by the company FirstPort which was appointed by Barratt David Wilson on a 999 year contract. The same company also maintains all of the private car parking spaces and also cleaning and maintenance to the leasehold properties.
FirstPort has full time staff employed during week days on maintenance around Fernwood. There is an office on Goldstraw Lane on the opposite side of the road to the Clock Tower.
Contact details are:
Estate maintenance: 07738738910
Customer services: 03333214080
Estate office answer phone: 01636 674279
All residents pay a charge calculated by FirstPort based upon the size of the property and whether a garage and or parking is additional to the property. The charge is set annually by FirstPort and billed half yearly in advance.
FirstPort maintain a hold on Freeholders through the charge on each property through the Land Registry Service. Any changes that affect the Land Registry must involve FirstPort and there will be a fee involved. The most common fees are for House Purchase, provision of information for House sales, change of Mortgage company and most recently a “Deed of Variation which can be needed when a purchasers solicitor requires a change to the conditions in the documentation involving FirstPort.
Residents are generally pleased with the standard of maintenance of the Village, the main concern being the what many feel is an unreasonably high management fee that is added to the actual cost of maintenance.
Technically, Fernwood residents may hold a referendum to change the maintenance company. This would require every home owner to change their deeds on an individual basis to reflect this change. In practice, insufficient residents have been sufficiently concerned to hold such a referendum.
