Our Story

We are residents like you. We have lived and breathed the challenge of securing control of our own development in South Oxfordshire.

We spent four years fighting to secure the outcome that we desired and we now have the scars to prove it.

As a community of 140+ homeowners, we established a Residents’ Association, clarified what we wanted to achieve and came up with a strategy to succeed.

Some examples of the issues we overcame along the way:

• Our Developer wanted to hand over part of the open space years before they were entitled to. We were able to push back against that and avoided incurring Service Charge Fees.
• Our Managing Agent started charging residents a Service Charge Fee when the Management Company had no responsibility for maintenance. We successfully claimed those Service Charge Fees back from our Developer.
• Our Local Planning Authority issued a Certificate of Practical Completion without any engagement with residents and without holding the Developer to account for infrastructure that was clearly not fit for purpose!

But it doesn’t need to be that way. That’s why we set up Residents First: to help others overcome the problems and issues that residents face, and to change the face of the residential property industry forever.

Experience and Expertise

We have experience in both Freehold and Leasehold developments. We have partners around the country that we call on to help provide local support or specialist advice.

Whatever issues our residents face, we can point them in the right direction.

Bespoke Service

Every resident site is different. We can provide meaningful advice only when we fully understand the site in the context of the legal agreements that are in place. It’s these legal agreements that drive the impact on residents.

We are a Community Interest Company (CIC)

CICs focus on a social objective and for those CICs which are limited by guarantee, do not allow their founders to make any money from the business. Any funds generated from providing services is reinvested back into the business.

Residents First C.I.C. is registered with Companies House under company number 15859477 and its application as a CIC was reviewed and approved by the CIC Regulator.

We are therefore supporting a good cause; it’s an opportunity for us to give something back to society, through the experience and expertise that we and our partners have to offer.

How are we Funded?

Our primary service in providing email support is free, but we also offer some valuable bespoke services at a nominal fee and we are happy to accept donations.

Luckily, we are currently incurring limited expenses – primarily in relation to technology services. We expect to start incurring limited employment costs in the near future.