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Circular 149 / 21.7.2006 / Holiday Letting and Options from 2007.
1. Gross income was reported monthly to the General Partner; - management and administration of the largest self catering complex
of its kind in Ireland; In setting up the original deal CDL was operating on a "Green Field"
basis. In practice, the deal was onerous on CDL. This issue was signaled
to the Partnerships in 2002 in advance of the conclusion of the original
arrangements in 2003. No agreement was reached and CDL decided to negotiate
with an intermediary for the sale of the assets of Clifden Glen. Amendment on 30th July 2006 Circular as originally posted 10.30 on 21st July 2006. This is an important and comprehensive circular which should be read by all owners at Clifden Glen. It is particularly important to those owners who are currently letting their properties or considering letting as an option for 2007. The circular is long but necessarily so. If you are letting in 2007 you MUST respond to this circular immediately to allow the marketing to commence immediately. Read on! Definitions CGM is Clifden Glen Management (2005) Plc. CGM is the site management company operated on a not-for-profit basis and controlled by shareholders who own 110 properties at Clifden Glen. CGM owns all common grounds (190 acres approx) and site service infrastructure such as reception and club house at Clifden Glen. CGS is Christine Folan trading as Clifden Glen Services. CGS carries out all site maintenance service activities under an exclusive contract with CGM. CGS also provides a changeover service for those owners who wish to let their holiday properties. SCI is SelfCatering Ireland, an independent self-catering property marketing company. SCI has marketed Lodges at Clifden Glen since 2004. [CDL was Clifden Developments Ltd - the former site management company that retired on 31.12.2004] Background CGM took over the running of the site from 1.1.2005 and completed the purchase of the site assets from the former site owners in May 2005. All rental income collected by SCI have been paid to the partnerships directly and not to CGM, which is why CGM has been billing the owners for their management charges directly since 2005. As properties "exit" the partnerships rents due in relation to those properties will be paid directly to the registered owners and not the partnerships. CGS collects all ESB charges from guests and these funds are now refunded directly to owners (by CGM). The funds collected only cover the period of the letting not the periods when the property is unoccupied. Hence there is a shortfall on annual ESB charges levied to each property. To increase the weekly charges so as to recover all ESB costs would appear as a "rip-off" and is not something CGM could allow to happen. All TV licences fees previously paid by CDL are also now directed to the owners. Since 2005, CGM has operated a holiday letting service for some of the one bedroom cottages so as to honour their aparthotel tax obligations. This service has been provided on an ad-hoc non-contractual basis and without precedent or obligation on the part of CGM. This service is marketed in national press and on CGM's second web site www.clifdenglen.com. This shareholder web site you are now reading is a .net domain. SCI Lodge Performance 2005/2006 Overall SCI 2005 bookings - from 12 March to 25 September - 517 bookings.
SCI had the use of 50 Lodges in 2005 and after much lobbying 32 Lodges in 2006. It is only fair to emphasise that SCI did not have as many Lodges to let in 2006 as it did in 2005 but on the other hand SCI has only filled the 32 that they have for one week in August of 2006. Forward bookings from now to September may increase the SCI figures but not materially. Holiday Letting Options from 2007 From January 2007 owners will have two options in relation to holiday letting their properties. 1. Avail of a new CGM "in-house" letting facility from January
2007. Please note that only properties that are upgraded to 4 Star standard will be made available for letting by CGM and SCI. A small number of owners let their properties on a long term "residential" basis but this is a matter for individual owners and CGM/CGS has no formal involvement in such arrangements. If you wish to avail of option 1 above and you are currently letting your property with SCI you must inform SCI that your house will not be available to them from 1st January 2007 and you must also advise CGM that you wish to avail of the in-house rental facility. Click
here to download a letter to appoint CGM to let your property from 2007
… Please print off the above downloadable letters and ensure that you respond by mail or fax to CGM at 097 827 87 or by mail to SCI as soon as possible as both SCI and CGM need to begin marketing the properties for the 2007 season immediately. Clifden Glen Services (Christine Folan) will be pleased to carry out "meet and greet" and "changeover" services for anyone marketing holiday lettings at Clifden Glen. The CGS fee per changeover in 2007 will be €125 plus VAT at 13.5% per Lodge and €75 plus VAT at 13.5% per Cottage changeover. Only CGS is insured to carry out these services at Clifden Glen. Both SCI and CGM will pay CGS these fees directly. CGS maintains a stock of towels, bed clothes, cutlery, pots and pans etc for each property and replacement and maintenance costs will be charged out pro rata before rent is distributed. It is estimated that €100 per annum per property would cover these costs unless a large item such as a cooker or dishwasher needed replacement. Owners are responsible for all internal maintenance of their properties. To see what is covered in the annual management fee please click here. CGM will concentrate selling effort on foreign tour operators and we are hopeful of achieving a return to Lodge owners of at least €3,000 after all letting costs. Based on the above it is anticipated that income will more than cover the annual management fee of €1,800 plus VAT per Lodge. However, to begin the process we need a critical mass of properties and so CGM encourages potential letting owners to appoint CGM as soon as possible. In order to meet the costs of providing this facility CGM will charge a marketing and administration fee of 15% of the gross rental income. Some of this fee will be shared with CGS. In CGM's deal all "shoulder" season income will be pooled and "high" season rentals will be applied to specific properties (which will allow owners to use "high" season weeks if that is their choice). It is, however, advisable that owners commit their properties for the maximum high season to ensure that CGM can meet demand during this period and maximise potential rental income. The advantages of taking letting activity in-house is that it will give your management company more control in terms of the services provided at Clifden Glen and its future development. An in-house facility will also mean that CGM/CGS can be more flexible with lettings and owner usage. CGM is offering the letting service on a not-for-profit basis. CGM is already seeking to let many "shareholder" Cottages operated under the "aparthotel" scheme and it may not be practical to let further cottage properties in 2007. It would be CGM's hope to offer a comprehensive letting service to all cottage owners. This matter will be addressed over coming months. It is important that owners understand that the provision of an in-house letting facility is a new initiative for CGM and whilst we will make every effort to achieve maximum rental potential we cannot enter into any cast iron guarantee in terms of rental income. CGM is a not-for-profit site management company owned exclusively by 110 property owners at Clifden Glen. The CGM holiday letting facility will be managed by our Administration Manager (Annette Lindsay) with all "on-the-ground" activity outsourced to Christine Folan trading as Clifden Glen Services (CGS). If you wish to address further questions to CGM on this matter you can email Annette Lindsay at annette.lindsay@clifdenglen.net. If you wish to address further questions to CGS you can email Christine Folan and clifdenglenservices@eircom.net. If you wish to address further questions to SCI you can email Niamh Radford at niamhr@selfcatering.ie. This circular will be updated as necessary over coming months. Management time:
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