Housing services
Leaseholder Service Charges
Your service charge
Service charges are contributions due from the leaseholder towards the costs of maintaining and providing services for the property in which you have your home. Each leaseholder has to pay a share of the overall cost for providing these services. The charges will include only the services that are provided at your home. The main services that we might provide are:
- Insurance
- Planned Maintenance
- Communal Lighting and Door Entry Systems
- Communal Aerials
- Grounds Maintenance
How are service charges calculated?
The service charge you pay is calculated in two stages. In February each year we estimate your service charge costs and send you a schedule document showing what is owed and how we worked it out. Please look at the service charge elements in your schedule to see how we have estimated your charges. At the end of the year we check the actual costs to compare the difference.
Costs like gardening and cleaning are unlikely to change as we agree costs for these services in advance, but other costs such as electricity are quite likely to change through the year. Although you might pay the same service charge each week or month, the final service charge amount for the financial year is not known until we have carried out a check of the accounts after the end of the service charge year.
Year end ‘actual’ service charges
Once the financial year has ended (in March each year), we will check the service charge amounts spent at your scheme. We will send you a written statement to show you the final service charge accounts by 30th September each year. Where we have spent less on providing the services than we charged you there will be a credit, which means we owe you money. Where we have spent more on providing the services than we charged you there will be a debit, which means you owe us money.
Paying your service charges
You can pay your charges in a number of ways:
2. By Debit Card over the telephone
3. By cheque by post or at any bank using the remittance slip provided
A copy of our Leaflet ‘Your rent and service charges explained’ explains more about rent and service charges for leaseholders and shared owners who part-rent and part-buy their homes.
