Introduction
The Sinking Fund for Great Cliff is a fund that has been established by Great Cliff (Dawlish) Ltd by setting aside revenue from the Annual Service Charge Fee, in order to finance future major repairs such as waterproofing, lift repairs, external & internal painting.
Traditionally, the Sinking Fund for Great Cliff (Dawlish) Ltd was kept at minimal levels for many years but reached just £3,450 by 2017. Since then, the Sinking Fund was built up to £30k during 2022, until the Company had to finance major balcony waterproofing repairs (£29.3k) and external painting works for the front elevation (£13k) during the same year. As a result, the Sinking Fund reduced to £8k, which included further repairs such as a sink hole in driveway (£4k) and lift repairs/improvements (£5.7k) during 2023.
During 2024, most of the budget will be mainly financing waterproofing repairs at the front of the buidling (£19.3k), plus internal decoration (£3.5k).
Sinking Fund Strategy
A review of the Sinking Fund took place by the Directors in February 2024 and it was agreed that a Strategy was needed to help build this up over the next few years. For the short-term future, it was agreed to retain the present balance of £8k and place a further £2k into the fund as soon as possible, to bring this up to £10k. This would now be regarded as the “acceptable minimum amount” in the fund, which would provide a bare minimum amount of cover for an unforeseen emergency. The objective would be to increase the fund each year from now on by at least £10k p.a. to around £60k which would be reasonable, for a building the size of Great Cliff.
Current Sinking Fund
The current Sinking Fund is £10k, as at April 2024.