When the estate was built in 1960-1961 all the land belonged to the development company, SPAN, and each house was owned leasehold.
The Plantation Company owned nothing - it simply did things specified by the ground landlord, financed by the maintenance contributions. The rights and obligations of all parties and 'do's and don'ts' about behaviour were specified in the lease and thus were binding. These provisions reflected SPAN’s aim to foster on each of its estates a collaborative community which would cherish its environment.
The Leasehold Reform Act 1967 made it easier for leaseholders to buy the freehold of their own property. It also tried to safeguard the integrity of managed leasehold estates, such as ours, by providing for Schemes of Management to be established which would bind every owner on an estate, whether leaseholder or freeholder, to its terms (Section 19 of the Act). Encouraged by SPAN, its estates set up such schemes.
Closely based on the existing leases, ours was approved by the High Court in 1980 and registered as a local land charge so that when a house is sold the purchaser is automatically bound into the scheme.
The next big step came when SPAN wanted to stop owning property. Span encouraged owners to buy freeholds and then, in our case, sold the common parts of the estate for £1 to The Plantation Lessees (Blackheath) Ltd., the original name of our company.
Each owner thus became a part owner of the common parts. This asset is shown in the Company's balance sheet at cost. In the future context of eventual redevelopment of the estate, each share has latent real value over and above the value of the individual property (house, garden, garage) to which it is attached.
The Plantation Ltd.
Each Plantation house, with its enclosed garden and garage, is a single freehold property. The individual freeholders collectively own the common parts of The Plantation, each owning a share in The Plantation (Blackheath) Ltd.
The Plantation (Blackheath) Ltd is a registered private company that owns the common parts of the Plantation estate. Under its constitution (its Memorandum, and Articles of Association) no one else can own a share.
As owner of the common parts, the Company has some inescapable functions such as maintaining and lighting roads and paths, and looking after gardens and trees. Each freeholder must pay the maintenance charge which pays for this. Beyond these basics, the exact division of functions between the Company (us collectively) and each freeholder (us individually) is for us to decide.
The Company has always been responsible for external decoration (but not repair) of houses, and for external window cleaning. The purpose was to keep the estate looking well-cared for and a unity.
The revised Scheme of Management (latest revision 2005) retains this arrangement and carries forward a necessary minimum of rights and obligations. The provisions rely more on a general duty of good neighbourliness and less on detailed prescription than did the original Scheme (and the lease it was derived from).
Aspects of good neighbourliness have objective benchmarks (e.g. council bye-laws about noise). Others remain a matter of judgement and consensus. At any one time it is important for each of us to be sympathetic to the prevailing consensus. The Scheme gives the Company the authority, in the last resort, to enforce the Scheme through civil courts.
The Scheme provides for the setting up of formal procedures to deal with contentious issues. The procedure for dealing with requests for external change to individual properties, agreed in 1992, is a case in point.
BCER Overview.
BCER owns these roads and we pay a proportion of our income to it as our share of the upkeep of the Cator Estate. In return each house is entitled to a Deed of Grant issued by the BCER that enables each Plantation resident to use BCER roads, paths and so on (Contact BCER for further information).
Unless a valid Vehicle Permit is displayed, parking on BCER roads at any time is prohibited and subject to a fine. The permit fee (2023) is £30 /car/year (1st March - 28th/29th February). See Vehicle Permits link below.
Residents not wishing to purchase a Vehicle Permit may apply for a free BCER Gate Pass, but these do not allow parking on BCER roads.
During the morning and evening rush hours, some gates are locked and some manned to discourage through traffic. Rush hour access (in or out) is only granted to vehicles displaying either a Gate or a Vehicle permit. The closest gate to The Plantation is on Morden Road.
Morden Road gate is closed every morning from 07.00 to 09.30
(Nearest access via Pond Road which is manned from 07.30 to 09.30)
Pond Road gate will be closed every evening from 17.00 to 19.00
(Nearest access via Morden Rd whch is manned for the same hours)