Service charges

Your service charge covers the day-to-day running costs of services at your building or estate, like cleaning communal areas, maintaining the lawn in shared gardens, running CCTV and testing fire alarms.

The amount you need to pay for your service charge can change each year depending on how much work is needed. We’ll write to you and let you know how much your service charge will cost each year.

If your service charges changes, and you pay your service charge automatically by Direct Debit, this will update automatically.

You can see how much your service charge is in your tenancy agreement, which you can find in My Account.

Most service charges are either fixed or variable.

Occasionally a service charge will have elements of fixed and variable which is called a hybrid charge.

Leaseholders and freeholders on a variable service charge will be told how much they have to pay by annual statement, which we’ll send out within six months of the end of the financial year, usually April. The statement will also include any payment needed for major repairs completed during the year.

• If the amount you’ve paid is more than the actual cost of services, you’ll be refunded.
• If the amount you’ve paid is less than the actual cost of services, you’ll need to pay the deficit.

Leaseholders also have to pay fees, including the independent audit of scheme costs where it is required by the lease.

Find out more on our Leaseholder information page

What your service charge pays for depends on where you live. Some of these services include:

• cleaning communal areas like entrance halls, corridors, stairs and lifts
• heating and lighting costs for communal areas
• maintaining your block’s TV, digital, cable or satellite systems
• gardening and outdoor maintenance
• door entry systems, CCTV and lifts
• fire alarms and emergency lighting

Electric, gas and energy costs in your service charge

Even though you already pay for bills to cover the cost of energy use in your home, you must also pay the energy bill costs in your service charge. This is to ensure we can run things like lights inside your block, external lighting for pathways and car parks, and heat communal areas.

Gardening maintenance costs in your service charge

The gardening costs in your service charge relate to the maintenance of the communal outdoor spaces where you live, like cutting the grass on shared lawns or maintaining paved areas. This doesn’t include your garden.

We review our service charges every year and use this information to estimate how much we think your services will cost in the coming year.

We then divide up the cost fairly between the homes that benefit from these services and apply a service charge according to the terms in your tenancy agreement or lease.

It’s normal to pay a different service charge, even if you live in the same building.

Some of the reasons for this might be:

• your neighbour gets different services that aren’t available to you
• you have different obligations to pay for services
• whether you’re a leaseholder or a tenant
• whether you pay a fixed, variable or hybrid service charge

Management charges or administration fees are a necessary part of your service charge. They help us:

• recruit new contractors to help deliver your services
• cover the cost of staff to manage your contracts, bills
• deal with your enquiries, questions and complaints
• pay for account service costs and annual reviews
• prepare and issue service charge statements

If your service charge changes, you need to let the right authority know so they can reassess your claim.

• If you receive Universal Credit and your service charge changes, you need to send a copy of your rent review letter to the Department of Work and Pensions (within your monthly assessment period).
• If you receive Housing Benefit, you’ll need to send the letter to the Housing Benefit team.