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Our current grounds maintenance contract with idverde ends on 12 May 2024. You told us what changes you want to see in the new contract and, based on your feedback, we’re changing from one single provider to four local providers – one in each of the regions where we have homes. This will reduce the size of the contracts to allow a more flexible service that’s tailored to your community and easier to manage, keeping service standards high.
Working with our Customer Advocates, we’ve evaluated all bids for the new contracts, and we intend to award the contracts to:
We’ve also evaluated bids for tree surgery services on your estates and we intend to award these contracts to:
We’ll be completing some legal processes before we can confirm the award, including consulting with our leasehold customers through the Section 20 process. All customers who have received a Section 20 Notice will have until 6 February 2024 to give their feedback on the outcome of the tender, also known as ‘observations’.
The start of the contract
After the Section 20 consultation, we intend to start working closely with our successful suppliers in February 2024 to make sure everything is ready for the new contract to start on 13 May 2024. This will include introducing suppliers to the customers they’ll serve, setting up systems, training operatives, visiting estates to understand what work is needed, and setting up processes for how the service will be managed and monitored.
What the new contracts cover
Under the grounds maintenance contract, our new partners will maintain the communal gardens, landscaping, paths, verges and car parks that Moat owns. This includes cutting and collecting grass, tidying plant beds and borders, pruning hedges, collecting leaves, spraying weeds, and removing litter from car parks.
Under the tree surgery contract, our new partners will monitor trees on Moat-owned land and provide tree trimming and tree removal services when needed.
A Section 20 Notice is a formal document that we are legally obliged to send to customers, consulting with them about any changes that will be made to services, repairs, maintenance or improvements covered by their service charge. In this case, we are letting you know that our contract with the supplier who provides your estate services is coming to an end, and we are re-tendering the contract.
The consultation process is a straightforward process where we must send you a set of Notices that gives you details about the work or contract. These Notices are sent to the property address as well as the leaseholder, giving you an opportunity to let us know your view of the plans. You will be sent the following two notices:
Yes, you can ask for a copy of the proposal. Please email us at section20@moat.co.uk, with the subject ‘Estate Services: Outcome of tender’ along with your name and address. We will email or post you a copy of the proposal. You can also write to our head office at Moat, Mariner House, Galleon Boulevard, Crossways, Dartford, DA2 6QE, marking your letter ‘Estate Services: Outcome of tender’.
No, this does not mean that you will be receiving all the services under the new agreement. This will depend on what you currently contribute towards in your service charges.
Yes, you can give feedback on the outcome of the tender. This is known as an ‘observation’. You have 30 days from the date of the Notice to make your observations in writing which means all observations must be sent to us by 6 February 2024. We will reply to you within 21 days.
The law says you can only make observations in writing. If you have any observations, please send them via email to section20@moat.co.uk or via letter to Moat, Mariner House, Galleon Boulevard, Crossways, Dartford, Kent DA2 6QE.
All observations are recorded, and we will consider each observation individually. We will provide a response summarising all the comments received in one letter.
A tender exercise was carried out to determine who the best contractors would be to deliver Estate Services on our behalf. The tender for these services was advertised publicly via the ‘Find a Tender Service’ in line with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
The contractors were asked to submit proposals on the following areas of the contract:
Tree surgery services
Grounds maintenance services
Following a rigorous evaluation process carried out by Moat staff and our customers, the top ranked suppliers across lots have been established, so we intend to enter into contracts with the suppliers listed within the Section 20 Notice of Proposals.
Once the new contract begins, you will continue to pay for these services via your service charge.
Yes, we’ve made some improvements to the contract based on your feedback. With the help of our customers and staff, we’ve added extra requirements to the new contracts. There will be a greater focus on service delivery for customers, and we’ve included better performance management tools and higher service standards. We’ve also included new services which will improve the appearance of your outdoor spaces, such as the collection of lawn cuttings across all estates when your lawns are mowed.
If you are in the process of selling, you may still be legally named on the property. If this is the case, we still have to consult with you. We recommend you keep a copy of this Notice until you have legally completed the sale of your property.
We are still looking to re-tender this service in the future. Due to the scale of the estate services project and the need to get the right suppliers on board for our customers, we have staggered the tenders.
Once this Section 20 stage is complete, there are no further actions for you. Subject to observations made by customers, we intend to start the new contract in May 2024.