1004 Estates worries over invasion on facility, flays aggrieved resident’s allegations

The authorities of 1004 Estates Limited have expressed deep worry over the invasion and damage on its facilities by persons suspected to be agents of aggrieved residents who are bent on taking over the management and affairs of the estate.

1004 Estate, an upper middle class settlement in the heart of Victoria Island, Lagos, has been in the eye of the storm in the past couple of years with management of the estate and a few aggrieved residents disagreeing on some contractual obligations and privileges.

The two parties have been in and out of court  with the aggrieved residents under the aegis of 1004 Estates Homes Owners and Residents Association (1004HORA) making several allegations against the estate management known as 1004 Estates Limited which has Samuel Ukpong as managing director.

Ukpong , in an interview with journalists at the weekend, confirmed that they had been in dispute with some people who called themselves 1004HORA, adding that these people interfered with the management of the estate by asking  residents to under-pay service charge annually which has been declining gradually from N450,000; N350,000; N180,000 to N15,000 and now zero naira.

“We took this matter to the Lagos State High Court seeking interpretation of the sub-lease document and also to find out whether these people have the right to interfere with the management of the estate. The case has been running for about two years, but on December 2, 2015, the court ruled that  the operating document of the estate was the 1004 Estate sub-lease which states that 1004 Estates Limited is the sub-lessor and anybody that bought property from us is a sub-lessee”, Ukpong disclosed.

He disclosed further that the court also recognized the existence 1004HORA, premising the judgment on the fact that the estate management had been exchanging communication and correspondence with them, and that an account of the running of the estate be made known to the association.

Ukpong lamented however, that while the management was still awaiting the certified true copy of the court judgment with which to initiate conversation with the association, the estate was invaded by a truck-load of mobile police men who, he alleged, beat up their staff and chased them away.

“The police men told us they were from Mopol 15 in Ilorin and that they were sent to assist the residents’ association takeover the estate. So, they attacked our water treatment plant and beat up our staff and chased them out; they also attacked our security men; went to our power plant and did the same thing, stopped a truck from delivering diesel and entered the transmission room”, he alleged.

Ukpong said the management was all the more worried when they contacted police authorities in Lagos and they were told they did not know about the invading police officers, wondering how police officers from Ilorin could come into Lagos to carry out a ‘duty’ without due permission from the local authority.

However, the residents association had, in a letter to the AIG, Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos which was obtained by BusinessDay,  stated that  “Today we effect our right to determine who serves us as our facility manager”, adding  that “as homeowners and residents determined to take charge of the affairs in our estate, we hereby effect a takeover of all facilities in our estate”, and also prayed the AIG that “as an enforcer of the law and peace in the state, you will use your good offices to support our right to self-determination in our estate as we peacefully take over the control of facilities in our estate”.

In the letter, the residents also leveled many allegations against the estate management including  refusal to account for over N1.5 billion collected as service charge; misappropriation of the Asset Replacement Deposit of over N645 million; misappropriation of prepaid power tariff of N25 million; commercialisation and appropriation of the estate common areas; misappropriation of insurance premium of over N75 million among others.

Ukpong dismissed these allegations as  figments of the imagination of those who were out to make personal gains, explaining that the management had been providing yearly accounts by email to the residents having approached Ernst and Young, one of the four big accounting firms in the world,  to perform the audit of their accounts yearly from 2010.

“The report is available now that the court has adjudged that the association has a right to it but our argument in court was that  we give account only to individual sub-lessees who make payments  because, in our opinion, somebody who does not pay has no need for an account”, he reasoned.

He condemned the invasion of the estate by 1004HORA and their agents, referring them to the certified true copy of the judgment of the Lagos High Court which, on page 18 paragraph 1, confirms the 1004 Estate sublease and the management agreement as the title on the estate, just as 1004 Estates Limited remains the bonafide sublessor and manager of the estate.

“Nothing in the judgment, to all well meaning individuals, suggests the unilateral forcible invasion and takeover of the estate by 1004HORA without a court order; 1004 Estates has always had its service charge accounts independently reviewed by the international firm of Ernst and Young from 2010; kindly continue to make all your service charge and electricity payments to the designated 1004 Estates Limited accounts and we strongly advise that you seek proper legal advice on any other demand for payments”, Ukpong told the aggrieved residents.

CHUKA UROKO