Service charges

Use the links below to find details of your service charges, including the support we offer if you're struggling to pay and how to query your service charge. 

About service charges

As a homeowner you have a responsibility to contribute towards the costs for providing services and maintenance to your building.

The proportion of the cost you pay is determined in your lease and is known as a service charge. By law, service charges should be reasonable. We follow regulations and do our best to ensure we deliver the best possible value for money for home owners in respect of any works we undertake or services we offer.

Your lease states that you pay variable service charges. This means that the amount you are charged is based on the actual costs that we incur (rather than a fixed, set cost) and the amount you contribute can be adjusted at the end of the year to reflect this.

A breakdown of elements included in the service charges is provided with your invoices and can be found here.

Please note we can only recover service charges when they are included within the lease.

If you're struggling to pay

If you are having difficulty paying your service charge please speak to us immediately. We are here to support you and may be able to arrange a repayment agreement for you, or refer you to another organisation that may be able to help you effectively manage any debts.

Querying a charge

If you have any queries, questions or disagree with any element of your service charge, please tell us in writing, setting out the part which you wish to query or dispute and the reason. We will then be able to investigate your concerns and inform you of our findings.

While we carry out our investigation, you still need to pay for all of the other elements of your service charge. If you do not pay these we may have to take action to recover the charges from you.

Refusal to pay

If you unreasonably withhold payment for service charges you will be breaching your lease. You should pay your service charges or set up a repayment agreement within 21 days of the invoice date.

If you do not let us know why you aren’t paying, we will have to take action to recover the debt. This may include contacting your mortgage lender or taking legal action and you will be charged an arrears administration fee.

First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)

If you are unhappy with your service charges after our investigation and wish to challenge them further, you can apply to a First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). Some of the matters the tribunal will consider include:

  • reasonableness of costs
  • reasonableness of services
  • whether the charges are recoverable and from whom
  • changes to your lease.

You may have to pay a fee to have your application dealt with. You can find more information on the First Tier Tribunal website.

For contact details of professionals who provide a tribunal representation service please contact the Leasehold Advisory Service.