Service charge descriptions

  Service Name

Service Description

Adaptations

Providing alterations to your home, including accounting for how these items have become less valuable over time.

Alarm & Equipment

Maintenance and testing of smoke and fire alarms, including those within Tunstall units. Plus, the cost of providing fire hydrants and extinguishers.

Administration Fees

Managing and monitoring contracts for services provided in shared areas, as well as in-house administration and income collection.

Asbestos Compliance

The annual cost of inspecting materials that contain asbestos to comply with UK legislation

Bin Contamination

If waste has been put in the wrong bin, the local authority won't collect the rubbish. We then remove the rubbish and clean the bin.

Block Cleaning

Cleaning shared areas, including washing stairs and floors, sweeping and dusting indoor spaces, and cleaning internal shared windows. It also covers cleaning materials and any extra costs for keeping the block clean, such as cleaning the outside of windows.

Building Safety

This is the cost associated with keeping your building safe and in compliance with the Building Safety Act 2022.

Bulk waste removal and dumped items

The cost of dealing with fly tipping or removing dumped bulky items, and bulk refuse left in bin storage areas and around estates.

CCTV

Servicing and maintaining CCTV cameras and monitoring systems in communal areas.

Car Parking

Any separate charges for the management and maintenance of car park areas on the estate, such as cleaning, line marking, and enforcing rules.

Catering

Providing catering services in certain sheltered and supported housing developments, particularly those providing Extra Care. 

Central Energy Plants

Charges for the service and maintenance of Central Energy Plant (CEP) and Distribution System up to and including the Heat Recovery Unit (HRU).

Communal Facilities

Providing laundry rooms, shared kitchens, and common rooms in sheltered developments or hostels, including any white goods, equipment and furniture used within these areas.

Communal Furniture

Providing, cleaning and maintaining furniture in the communal areas of your building. This is mainly relevant for people living in supported housing and retirement schemes.

Communal Gas

Utility providers' charges for any gas supplied to shared areas.

Communal Laundry Equipment

Charges for servicing, maintenance and planned replacement of shared laundry equipment.

Communal Repairs

Carrying out day-to-day responsive repairs in shared areas. This only applies to leaseholders. Tenants pay for communal repairs through their rent.

Communal area smoke detector repairs

Costs for completing day-to-day repairs in communal areas.

Communal area window cleaning

Costs of cleaning communal windows when they're not part of a cleaning contract.

Communal boilers service and maintenance & renewable energy systems

Costs for the servicing and/or maintenance of communal boilers and any work or parts needed to repair these.

Communal electricity

Costs from utility providers for any electricity supply in shared areas. Such as outside lighting for estates and blocks, and on estate roads. As well as lighting or electric heating. And includes the electricity costs of running all electrical equipment, such as lifts.

Council Tax

Council Tax charges for site offices within Supported Housing schemes.

Domestic Lifting Equipment

Charges for servicing, maintenance and planned replacement of equipment including baths, bath hoists, stair lifts, through floor lifts and track hoists.

Door entry system service and maintenance

Cost for servicing and maintaining any door entry systems, CCTV cameras, alarms and electrical doors. Servicing and maintaining any communal automatic gates, barriers or shutters.

Electrical & Lighting Testing

Testing and servicing electrical systems, including street lighting where this is not provided by the local council. This may also include costs for servicing any lightning protection in your building.

Emergency Lighting 

Service charge for communal services and maintenance.

Equipment replacement provision

For replacing furniture, appliances and equipment in sheltered and supported schemes.

External Managing Agents Charge

Managing agents' fees for providing services to our residential blocks and/or their area. This will usually appear when Incommunities is not the freeholder, or where the estate is shared with other blocks and the area is the responsibility of another party to manage.

Fire Safety

Testing and servicing fire systems and equipment in blocks, such as fire alarms, smoke vents, sprinklers, emergency lighting and fire extinguishers, as well as carrying out fire safety inspections.

Gas and Heating (Residential)

The cost of gas consumed by communal boiler or central energy plants for the supply of heat and/or hot water to individual flats. We pay the cost of the gas consumed and recover this through the service charge.

Grounds Maintenance

Cost to look after the outside areas of estates, such as gardening, mowing grassed areas, litter picking, shrub maintenance, tree maintenance and weed spraying.

Gutter Cleaning

Gutter clearances, as well as reactive works on communal guttering.

Lighting & Electrical (Residential)

Cost of lighting & electricity provided to individual properties.

Management Fee

All the internal costs for managing our estates and blocks, such as carrying out site visits, dealing with queries and requests, and arranging contracts for services. Including our internal costs for the preparation of your estimated and actual service charge accounts.

Mobile Warden Service

Carrying out patrols at blocks or estates. This service is mainly used outside office hours at estates where residents have told us extra support and resources are needed to deal with issues such as anti-social behaviour.

On Site Staff

Employing caretakers, handypersons, cleaners, concierges, residential managers, nighttime cover, intensive housing managers, sheltered scheme officers or any other staff based at estate, block or scheme.

Paladin Hire

The cost of hiring any large bins from the local council, or other costs associated with the removal of normal household waste from flats within blocks or on estates.

Passenger Lifts

Charges for servicing of passenger lifts, including telephone lines.

Pest Control

Pest removal in shared areas

Playgrounds

The cost of inspecting play equipment in shared areas, including H&S checks, and safety repairs.

Safe Working Systems

Inspecting and testing equipment including safe wires, anchor bolts and cradles.

Sewerage Plants and Pumps

Servicing equipment including sewage plants, dosing plants, surface water pumps and cesspools.

Communal TV aerials, Digibox, Sky box, estate aerials service, maintenance and electricity supply

Service providers' fees for any shared TV, digital, cable, or satellite system installed for the estate or block. This is separate to any fees residents pay to providers for subscriptions to services.

Telephone & Internet Services

For communal areas only.

Ventilation (MV, HR & AC)

Inspecting and servicing mechanical ventilation, including domestic systems; shared extractor fans; and heat recovery and air conditioning systems.

Warden Call Systems

Servicing Warden Call Systems.

Water Charges (Landlord)

The charge for the water supplied to the landlord to use for cleaning and washing shared areas at the estate or block. It is not the cost of water used by residents in their homes.

Water Hygiene

Charges for Legionella testing and monitoring, and risk assessments of water systems. Only charged if identified as required.

Water Pumps

Charges for cost of servicing water and sump pump systems.

Water Rates Residential

Utility providers' costs for any water supplied to individual flats, where we pay this on your behalf.

Water rates landlords supply

Costs from utility providers for the water supply to communal areas.

Water, drainage and sewerage repairs

Service charge for communal services and maintenance.