Service charges explained

A Service Charge covers the cost of providing services to communal/shared spaces that are not covered by your rent. The amount that you pay will depend on the terms of your tenancy/lease agreement, and the level of service provided.

We don't make any profit from the service charge money that we collect from customers. Every penny that we receive goes towards the cost of the services that we provide.

Service charges pay for things such as:

Fire alarm and fire safety
Lift services
Caretaking and cleaning
Communal lighting
Grounds maintenance

Plus lots more. However, not all customers pay for all services.

Service charge estimated costs

At different times of the year, we send certain documents. This explains what you can expect and when.

February

We send you your service charge estimates for the next financial year. The year runs from April to the following March.

April

You start paying the estimated service charges for that year.

September

We send you the actual costs of your service charges for last financial year.

Service charge estimated costs

As we don't know exactly how much it will cost us to provide services to you, we first estimate the costs.

These are sent you in February each for the next financial year which runs from April to the following March.

You pay these estimated costs. We then work out the actual costs of providing the services and we let you know what the difference is.

Service charge actual costs

Once we've worked out how much it cost us to deliver the services for the previous year, we'll write to you and let you know if there's a difference between the estimated costs and the actual costs. This statement will be sent to you before the end of September.

If the actual costs are different from the estimated costs it won't affect what you pay immediately, the change will happen from the following April.

If we estimated the service charges too high.

This will show as a minus figure on your statement.

If we estimated your service charges too low.

You don't need to pay us anything immediately.

Our Board will decide in November if we will be adding the extra costs or giving the credits explained in the statement. We'll let you know this decision in your April statement. However, your service charge remains as set out in your tenancy or lease agreement.