Service charge dispute out of hand

killjoybandit

Hi, I've joined to see if I can get any advice for my parents as they've hit a brick wall with a simple problem that's gotten out of hand. Any help would be much appreciated. I'm sorry this is such a long plea for help.

They live in an ex caretaker's flat for a residential home and are completely independent of the services, barring the fact it is located just inside the block although separate from the residents. Since the day they moved in 14 years ago they paid little to no service charges. These were for communal electricity (two bulbs outside their flat as they are by the fire exit) their buzzer system (which isn't even connected) and cleaning for a 12 by 4 strip of carpet from their door to the exit. That's it. They pay their own water and internal electricity charges.

This new financial year they were given a bill for their rent PLUS £114 a week service charge, making their rent a total of £223 a week! They called immediately and asked for the bill to be revised accordingly like every year. They had a large amount of arrears, roughly £2500 which they were paying off at £100 a month for some time without hassle. In November they were sent a letter saying their arrears had risen to over 6k and could they please pay it.

They disputed this and again said they had requested the service charges be looked into and itemised every charge and why they disputed it. I told my mum, after giving them months to resolve the issue, to make a formal complaint but in the meantime the arrears are still increasing and alarmingly now stand at over 8k.

Understandably they are very worried about this. Their housing association are extremely slow at contacting them and even sent a revised bill, without even reading the complaint properly, saying they took charges off - but they replaced them with others! There are equipment and furniture replacement charges, intense housing management charges, staff wages and MEALS among the charges disputed. My parents are not elderly and do not receive any of these services. I know from working in housing myself that they cannot just be kicked out but my dad especially is very worried and already has bad heart problems. I don't know how to help them get this sorted any quicker or what route to go down next. They've even requested someone visit and actually see where they live and what the set up is as half the staff there don't even know where my parent's flat is but so far nobody has.

Thanks if you made it through that lot.

J

Kynthia

So they own a leasehold flat? What does their lease say about what services they should pay for and what their share should be?

shopbot

Hi, Welcome to the forums.

It does seem like a really high service charge..roughly the same cost as the rent.

Can you clarify what the arrears are? Are they on the rent or the service charge?

If they rent what does their paperwork say about the Service Charge - does it mention how changes to service charge occur?

There are other things that could be covered by the service charge that you haven't mentioned e.g Buildings Insurance, Grounds Maintenance, External Maintenance (Gutters, Painting External Woodwork, Window Cleaning). Who pays for that?

SB

killjoybandit

Thanks for the replies. Kynthia, no not leasehold, they rent. It's a weird set up which is where this problem has stemmed from I think. Basically, it's a sheltered accommodation block with on site carers and management but they used to have a live in caretaker. When they no longer needed that service they wanted a family in the flat because it was too big and separate to have an elderly/frail person in so my parents (and myself ) moved in.

And Shopbot, They were told from the start as they weren't part of "the scheme" that their service charges (cleaning/grounds keeping etc) would be minimal, about £12 I think. This did include general building maintenance, not window cleaning as they weren't included in that service, nor gardening as their garden is separate to the communal one for sheltered residents. Then all of a sudden they're getting billed as actual residents, for example £35 a week for meals (they shop for themselves lol), £40 staff wages-literally what it says however the staff have no interaction with them at all. Then a charge for intense housing management, which is what the elderly residents receive to check on them and help them live as independently as possible. I don't have the actual list to hand at the moment, but general building things they wouldn't bother quibbling, they live IN a block so some costs will come to them and that's fine but some of the charges they won't even explain like a "usage" charge. Usage of what we have no idea, lol. There are also charges for personal electric use (separate to the communal electric charge) which we thought would be obvious to take off as they have their own electric meter unlike the others in the block, but evidently not.

We even pointed out that the staff clearly don't manage my parents as they were asked to meet with them to discuss the arrears but the first thing they said was "I know what you're going to ask. You're going to ask what you owe, but I have to tell you I have no idea, I was just asked to ask you to pay". They had built up arrears of £2500 as I mentioned, which they are still continuing to pay £100 off each month and thankfully have never been harassed over (councils aren't that patient that's for sure) but the rest of the now 8k is due to their rent basically being doubled for the last 10 months now. My mum had tried to set up an online account to track her rent as she hadn't heard from them from March to around November, but was only just given access this week and it only goes back for 6 months. So before then she didn't realise they hadn't done anything with the charges as they didn't even send a reminder out until it hit 6k. In the notification it doesn't mention that the charges have changed, just that this is what they are. There was a service charge leaflet that explains what service are in general and that sometimes they will increase but not that you'll suddenly be charged for things you never had to pay before and definitely don't need like meals... They seem to owe my parents a lot of food!

J

Argghhh

i would be sat in their offices on monday with your parents and refuse to move until someone with half a brain speaks with you and sorts it out

orangeslimes

Its sounds like your parents haven't made a formal complaint. I would do so, and then if it still isn't resolved there is probably an ombudsman.

You could try that alongside the sitting outside looking for someone with half a brain thing

killjoybandit

Argghhh, I wish that was an option at the moment but my dad has bad heart problems and can barely make it to local shops without stopping for ten minutes, so I can't bring him to their local office and it would stress him out immensely. My mum works full time and is so busy with work she's scared to take time off at the moment. I say this is just as important but I guess that's easier to say than live. I'm very tempted to just go myself and see if they'll let me argue it for them, maybe depending on the person they might but I don't want to make things worse, I don't live with them anymore so it wouldn't be my home situation I'd be messing with. Trying to help them go by the book and quoting the HA's own policies at them in hopes they'll see they're not doing things the way they advertise they will.

killjoybandit

orangeslimes wrote: »

Its sounds like your parents haven't made a formal complaint. I would do so, and then if it still isn't resolved there is probably an ombudsman.

You could try that alongside the sitting outside looking for someone with half a brain thing

Finally convinced mum they'd had enough chances to fix it in early December and made a formal complaint but so far all they've done is not read the complaint properly and left her a voicemail saying they had already taken some charges off and she should be satisfied with the outcome (took of some charges and replaced them with others which make up the same cost! And that are still irrelevant - this is where staff wages entered the equation). At the same time she had an email saying it was passed to a service charge manager and would be looked into. Last contact from them was a week and a half ago. The most annoying thing is it seems so straightforward but it doesn't seem like anyone with common sense has actually looked at it.

xylophone

Have you tried CAB?

killjoybandit

Not as yet, no. Didn't want to try and take over the problem too much and mum has buried her head in the sand a bit thinking the HA will of course sort it if she asks nicely. I will make enquiries about it, wasn't sure it was something they'd take on so thanks for the suggestion.

Mickygg

Some things in life are just more important than work!! Get your mum down to the offices to make a complaint in person and don't leave until it's resolved.