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Bottomley meets Joseph Gurvits and Israel Moskovitz over leasehold right to manage disputes at Plymouth retirement developments – but residents are determined to fight it out

February 1, 2013 by

BottomleySir Peter Bottomley MP (right) held a meeting yesterday at his Westminster offices with the freeholder and managing agent who are locked in right to manage disputes with leaseholders at two Plymouth retirement developments.

The meeting was an informal exchange of views between freeholder Israel Moskovitz, property manager Joseph Gurvits and Sebastian O’Kelly and Martin Boyd of the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership. The meeting was also attended by Sophie Hutchinson, parliamentary research assistant of Oliver Colvile, the pensioners’ MP, and Elena Andreadis, property manager for the sites.

Earlier this month Elim Court lost its third attempt at exercising its right to manage against Mr Moskovitz’s Avon Freeholds at the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal owing to errors in the paperwork. Regent Court obtained right to manage in February last year, but the issue is being appealed at the Land Tribunal in April.

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Managing agent Joseph Gurvits named in Commons – an hour after MP attends ARMA round-table conference on tougher ethical standards

January 24, 2013 by
Regent Court in Plymouth, where pensioners are fighting London freeholder and managing agent Joseph Gurvits in a right to manage action

Regent Court in Plymouth, where pensioners are fighting London freeholder and managing agent Joseph Gurvits in a right to manage action

The behind-the-scenes concern of senior politicians over managing agent Joseph Gurvits broke into the open yesterday when he was named in the House of Commons.

Gurvits was named – without comment and together with Peverel and Tchenguiz – in a brief intervention in the rental housing sector debate yesterday by Sir Peter Bottomley, MP for Worthing West, who is concerned about the treatment of pensioners at two retirement developments in Plymouth.

Residents at Elim Court and Regent Court are locked in Leasehold Valuation Tribunal disputes with Gurvits, who is deploying the legal means available to frustrate their attempts to exercise their right to manage.

Housing Minister Mark Prisk replied: “I will look into those cases very carefully—I am aware of them—” but he would not intervene in the judicial process in LVTs.

Sir Peter made his intervention in the House immediately after attending a meeting of the Association of Residential Managing Agents at the British Property Federation. The meeting was to discuss ARMA-Q, the new more rigorous regulatory scheme for the association.

Curiously, Gurvits’ Y and Y Management company, which manages the Plymouth sites, is a member of ARMA, while Eagerstates, his property management company familiar to London leaseholders, is not. The freeholds of the Plymouth sites are owned by Avon Freeholds, which shares the same offices as Gurvits in Edgware, North London. It is owned by his associate Israel Moskovitz.

Local Tory MP Oliver Colvile is also poised to raise issues surrounding Elim Court and Regent Court in the Commons, and will be meeting residents at the sites on February 2.

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Pensioners lose leasehold right to manage application for the third time

January 12, 2013 by
Elim Court, in Plymouth has been asking for right to manage since June 2011. Several pensioners who began the action have since died

Elim Court, in Plymouth has been asking for right to manage since June 2011. Several pensioners who began the action have since died

Leasehold pensioners in Plymouth have failed for the third time to break free from London managing agent Joseph Gurvits, LKP was informed yesterday.

Elim Court’s third right to manage application in the past 18 months was thrown out at the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal owing to a mistake in the application.

The decision is a bitterly disappointing set-back for the pensioners, who have been struggling to achieve right to manage since June 2011. Within months of Gurvits’s associate Israel Moskovitz buying the freehold through Avon Freeholds, and Gurvits being appointed the property’s managing agent through Y and Y Management, Elim Court residents have sought to exercise their right to manage themselves.

Gurvits is better known to London leaseholders as the proprietor of the managing agents Eagerstates, which figures in numerous LVT rulings.

To achieve right to manage, the residents engaged the Right to Manage Federation, an RTM facilitator whose fees are paid for in the event of a successful RTM by commissions from the new incoming managing agent.

Justin Bates, landlord barrister

Justin Bates, landlord’s barrister

The case was heard on December 11, and Gurvits employed for the task barrister Justin Bates, who unsuccessfully represented the freeholder against pensioners in the controversial Oakland Court case in Worthing last April. In the House of Commons, Sir Peter Bottomley condemned the legal stratagems involved as “legal torture”.

The Elim Court case illustrates the considerable difficulties pensioners in retirement developments face when trying to exercise their right to manage in the face of a freeholder determined to resist it.

Some of the original members of the RTM company have died, others have gone into care, and some have changed their minds and withdrawn from the application.

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Pensioners in third escape attempt from Gurvits

November 25, 2012 by

Elim Court, in Plymouth has been asking for right to manage since June 2011. Several pensioners who began the action have since died

UPDATED WHERE INDICATED JANUARY 12 2013

Two retirement developments in Plymouth are engulfed in right to manage actions against London landlord and managing agent Joseph Gurvits.

It is the third attempt for residents at Elim Court, many in their mid to late eighties, when they face a contested RTM action at the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal on December 11. Nearby Regent’s Court has won RTM, but the issue is being appealed to the Land Tribunal for a hearing in March.

Some of the original applicants at Elim Court, who began demanding RTM in June 2011, have since died. It is understood Gurvits is deploying a solicitor and has instructed counsel to fight the action.

Gurvits and his associate Israel Moskovitz, who operate out of the same address in north London, picked up the freehold of Elim Court nearly two years ago and added it to the portfolio within Avon Freeholds (of which Moskovitz is a director). It was decided to appoint Gurvits as the managing agent in the form of Y and Y Management, even though he is based 240 miles from Plymouth. Gurvits is better known to many London leaseholders as the owner of Eagerstates.

Since the arrival of Gurvits/ Moskovitz, Elim Court has been beset with controversy and 29 out of 34 residents, many of whom are infirm, are demanding the right to manage.

A recent source of acrimony has been a £20,000 electronic door entry system that Y and Y declared was necessary. Two weeks ago the proposal was halted and property manager Elena Andreadis came down from London “to launch a charm offensive at a meeting to persuade the residents to drop their right to manage action”.

“Amusingly, nobody turned up,” added Keith Phillips, OBE, a former Whitehall fire and anti-terrorism expert, who is a director of the RTM company. [Read more...]

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