Service Charges

jen34

I am renting a housing association property on a mixed development and the housing association own about 40% of the properties for rental and part buy. The other 60 % are privately owned. I have been here now for 7 years and the service charges are charged by a private management company for things such as repairs for block, cleaning, concierge service etc. My charges started at about £12 a week when I first moved in and have gone up every year and are charged depending on the size of the property. I got a statement in yesterday to say they are now going up from £23.93 a week to £36.89 for a 1 bed property.

I wrote to my housing association a few years ago to question why they were so high and at the time the charges where divided equally by all 50 flats in my block. They had started as being charged by the size and have now gone back to that again.

If I can prove that they have charged us wrong by one minute charging by the size then changing to charging equal amounts to going back to charging by size can I get money back from this.

I do not own the property so I find it bad that as me and neighbours are renting that we are charged for things such as communal boiler breakdown and intercom system problems every time the repairs people are called out. If I rented through council or housing association I would not have to pay every time I called out for a repair. These are problems from day one so dont see why we have to keep paying for call outs. I have no right to contact the property managers as I dont own the property and the concierge we have are rude and will refuse to tell me any information or will deny there is any problems. WE also have to cover the costs of an underground car park even though this is only used by those that own the flats and bought a space with it or disabled adapted properties that have space with it. These cost £30,000 each yet we still have to cover the costs of cleaning that never gets done properly here. Yesterday I was in concierge room and cleaned the window frames for them with a bit of bleach to show the cleaners how to clean properly. I said to person working at the time they will come in in morning and get a shock and I hope it embarrasses the day staff.

Can anyone tell me what my rights are on this? I have asked for a breakdown of what service charges are for but this is never a proper breakdown.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

Are you renting privately and is it a house or a flat?

jen34

I am a housing association tenant and it is a flat. It is a mixed development built 7 years ago and the HA own about 40% of the flats rented and part buy.

jen34

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/mortgages/dont-be-conned-by-excessive-service-charges-2023667.html

I was just having a read of this found quite interesting. I worked it out with just the cost of 1 bed charges that management company are raking in £552,464.64 per year from us min if they were all 1 bed flats.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

jen34 wrote: »

I am a housing association tenant and it is a flat. It is a mixed development built 7 years ago and the HA own about 40% of the flats rented and part buy.

Right, OK. This confused me

jen34 wrote: »

If I rented through council or housing association I would not have to pay every time I called out for a repair.

But you are renting through the HA.

In the first instance I would write, formally, and request a breakdown of the service charges and also how they are apportioned. If they don't respond you can escalate to a complaint.

Then, I'd do a FOI request going back over the seven years, asking for breakdowns and apportionment there.

There is no point in going to the Housing Ombudsman regarding this as they've no jurisdiction over service charges, but if you feel that the charges are unfair - and you can demonstrate this - then you might be able to being a case at the First Tier Tribunal. There is a charge for this.

I've had a similar case with my HA. They are charging for cleaning (they don't), tree trimming (we don't have any), maintainance of the playground (there isn't one) and so on. However, my charges are only about £2 a month and my rent's just gone down so I've not bothered challenging it.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

jen34 wrote: »

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/mortgages/dont-be-conned-by-excessive-service-charges-2023667.html

I was just having a read of this found quite interesting. I worked it out with just the cost of 1 bed charges that management company are raking in £552,464.64 per year from us min if they were all 1 bed flats.

A chunk of that should be a sinking fund for any major repairs that crop up

jen34

Thanks Lioness I do know that a number of part buy are looking into a first tier tribunal the charges are the same as mine I think but I do know in Jan this year they got a letter saying they had to pay an amount around £1000 in a month. We are getting fed up I will also check my tenancy agreement on the service charge as they change the way they charge when it suits them.
I have also heard some of the charges are for security as the development is on private land and not council owned. As we have Wembley Stadium next door we have the costs for this or some of it. As more flats are built I would of thought the costs for things like that would of gone down but it doesnt seem that way. I noticed a new security uniform all smart red ties maybe we are paying for that also:rotfl:

jen34

I have a copy of annual accounts for the year 2012 these where done by a different housing association so have no others since then to explain costs or changes.

management fees 10,721.99

communal services
cleaning and refuse 243.55
energy costs 1,126.14
entryphone 222.04
gardening and grounds 0.00
staff costs 0.00
tv and aerial 791.88
management agent 74,227.18
sub total 76,610.79


home ownership
repairs and maintenance -14.08
Audit fee 364.56
buildings insurance 0.00
contribution to sink fund 0.00
sub total 350.48

Totals 87,683.26

share for your property

actual cost estimates charged difference

517.46 571.48 54.02

surplus/ (-deficit) for year 2011-2012 54.02

Mokka

You are paying variable service charges, this gives you the same rights as leaseholders regarding info and challenging their amount.

To find out more Google
Service charge Dispute guide
And
Leasehold advisory service

sniggings

Lioness_Twinkletoes wrote: »

I've had a similar case with my HA. They are charging for cleaning (they don't), tree trimming (we don't have any), maintainance of the playground (there isn't one) and so on. However, my charges are only about £2 a month and my rent's just gone down so I've not bothered challenging it.

not sure what's more appropriate one of these :eek: or :rotfl: