Own my house but pay council tax and housing association charges - Help please

cazgarner80

Hello
I would be grateful for any advice given.
We purchased our property in August 2008, which is an ex Longhurst Housing Association property (freehold property). We were advised that we were to pay a quarterly service charge for:
2010/2011 charges: Per annum/Per property
Caretaker £896/£17.57
Grass cutting £4231/82.96
Street light repairs £150/2.94
Street light electricity £3872/75.92
Contribution to reserve funds £1500/29.41
40% management charge £83.52
- (calculated on the above fees) Some properties only pay a 20% management charge although I have no clarification as to why mine is more.

When we first moved in this charge was £46 per quarter. Last year this rose to £52.21 per quarter and my new invoice is for £73.08 per quarter. We pay full council tax (Band A) which has increased this year by £24.66 bringing my monthly payments £99 per month (over 10 months).

I am due to give birth to my first child in June and am worried about how we are going to manage financially and then we receive our new bill form Longhurst asking us to pay an extra £83.48 per year as well as our increase in council tax.

I am aware that my council tax pays for street lighting and grass cutting and feel that as a resident we should either be paying a reduced rate council tax or Longhurst should be claiming this back from the council and not the residents. Looking at the new council tax bands I was astonished to see that my joint contributions in Council Tax and Service Charges (£1279.80) were more than a Band B property (£1,152.06) and that I am only £36 away from paying Band C Council Tax charges.

I would be grateful for any advice as I am concerned that Longhurst have the ability to increase these charges every year and as a home owner I am unable to do anything about this except pay.

jennifernil

Is the grass cutting and street lighting you are being charged for not done on private part of the property? Like a car park for example? Or is it a grass verge that you would otherwise be responsible for?

I know that owners of houses near us that have grass verges out beyond the pavement have to cut them themselves.

Emmzi

my council tax has never paid for grass cutting. it also looks like the lights are not adopted by the council; I would check with the council tax people that this is the case, as everything else in the bill looks ok to me.

cazgarner80

We live on an ex housing association estate, some of the properties are privately owned and the others are still rented. I am responsible for everything on my propery ie cutting of lawns, maintain fences, cutting of trees etc. There are a few small areas of grass in our cul de sac which they cut near footpaths so not near houses but I don't mind this. I have contacted the council and they adopted all the street lights in our area except for 6. I'm just wondering from a legal point a view where I stand if I say I can't pay this increase in charge.

PlutoinCapricorn

I only have experience of Services Charges for leaseholder flats where the SC are determined by the local authority, so can't help much. Most of the helpful websites on MSE are for leaseholders too.

Apparently some freeholders do not need to pay SC, it depends on the transfer document. Another possibility is overcharging: can you check that the charges are reasonable?

cazgarner80

Thanks for the replies. How do I check if the charges are reasonable, it there a body that monitors this as its hard to believe my council tax can go up by £24 per year yet this service charge can increase by £80 per year. I think I would rather opt to be a band b council tax, at least you know roughly how much per year this will be increased.

PlutoinCapricorn

MSE often refers leasholders to an LVT, a tribunal where they can sometimes get a reduction. Apparently freeholders lost that option, but it came back:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/home/article-910647-freeholders-in-chains.do

cazgarner80

Your a star plutoinCapricorn. I'll be looking in to this asap. xx

Fire_Fox

cazgarner80 wrote: »

Hello
I would be grateful for any advice given.
We purchased our property in August 2008, which is an ex Longhurst Housing Association property (freehold property). We were advised that we were to pay a quarterly service charge for:
2010/2011 charges: Per annum/Per property
Caretaker £896/£17.57
Grass cutting £4231/82.96
Street light repairs £150/2.94
Street light electricity £3872/75.92
Contribution to reserve funds £1500/29.41
40% management charge £83.52
- (calculated on the above fees) Some properties only pay a 20% management charge although I have no clarification as to why mine is more.

When we first moved in this charge was £46 per quarter. Last year this rose to £52.21 per quarter and my new invoice is for £73.08 per quarter. We pay full council tax (Band A) which has increased this year by £24.66 bringing my monthly payments £99 per month (over 10 months).

I am due to give birth to my first child in June and am worried about how we are going to manage financially and then we receive our new bill form Longhurst asking us to pay an extra £83.48 per year as well as our increase in council tax.

I am aware that my council tax pays for street lighting and grass cutting and feel that as a resident we should either be paying a reduced rate council tax or Longhurst should be claiming this back from the council and not the residents. Looking at the new council tax bands I was astonished to see that my joint contributions in Council Tax and Service Charges (£1279.80) were more than a Band B property (£1,152.06) and that I am only £36 away from paying Band C Council Tax charges.

I would be grateful for any advice as I am concerned that Longhurst have the ability to increase these charges every year and as a home owner I am unable to do anything about this except pay.

IMO you should separate in your mind your service charges from your council tax as one has no bearing on the other. Everyone pays taxes which cover services they do not use, that is how society works. Council tax covers policing, the fire service, schooling and a huge array of departments - very very little goes towards street lighting and grass cutting. You may consider getting together with the other residents and asking the council to 'adopt' your private road.

I am concerned that you have not fully understood that you needed to pay service charges and that these are variable: did your solicitor not explain this? I agree the 40% management charge seems very high and you may wish to query why this is. I am not clear whether you mean the properties which pay 20% are on your estate or elsewhere in your city?

As Longhurst are a housing association I would expect they would be transparent with you about how the costs arise. Have you written to them to ask for more detail on any aspect of the charges? The grass cutting and electricity are the highest outgoings - perhaps ask if they are willing to re-tender the grass cutting or install low energy lighting on the estate?

Do you know where every last fiver of your household income goes? If not you may wish to work on this. If you still feel your budget is incredibly tight, you can apply for council tax benefits and/ or support for mortgage interest which also covers service charges:
http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/Customers/WorkingAgeBenefits/Dev_016128.xml.html

cazgarner80

Hi thanks for that. I have spoken to my local council and they have provided me with a map showing that they have adopted the street lights in my area. I have also checked my deed contract that states that I should only pay a 20% management charge so I will be raising this with them and ask for a refund.

If the council have adopted the lights, I assume that they also pay for the maintanence and electiricty for the lights?

PlutoinCapricorn

There must be other people like you, in your area and in the UK generally.
Is there a local Residents' Association? They are the best place to start. They could invite the management people to come and explain the costs and answer questions.