New build service charges

NeilCr

AJ84 wrote: »

Hi all,

Following on from my parking thread, another pointer in the letter was service charges.

So those who do not know, new build with a fairly clear divide of private houses and social houses although behind our house (private) are a row of social housing which is not fun given how close the houses have been built!

Key issue here is in terms of vandalism - it seems on the social side there have been children damaging areas of the development such as gates to shared carpark, a playing area and so on.

The jist of the letter is if this keeps happening and keeps having to be repaired, the service charge simply goes up.
I don't know if social housing pay for service charges but assuming they do not, this should go through the wall for private houses if damage is constantly caused by residents who clearly are not controlling their kids.

Is there something we can raise in terms of almost dividing the development in regards to charges?
The private side have all looked after their side with no repairs / charges incurring in 2 years but essentially this penalises us all for something we are not responsible for.

With council tax being £2200 and service charge £500 per annum, this could very quickly spiral out of control

Curious to hear your thoughts

Thanks

A few thoughts

When you say a shared car park and play area are they for everyone on your development (social and private). If so then it is reasonable for there to be shared costs

In terms of the damage. You've said it seems like kids from the social side. I am not sure how you know this as it's on the "other side". We had some issues with one house where kids gathered outside and caused some damage. It turned out that only one of them was actually from our development (he is an okay kid). It was his mates and acquaintances from outside the estate that were causing the problems.

If we identify for certain that there is a problem emanating from a particular property then we write to them with an invoice (we wouldn't start with suing them). That quite often works

It is perfectly possible to have differing service charges for different parts of an estate. We have a common estate charge for all then this is added to for the blocks of flats etc. But, as has been stated, I think you might need all to agree to any change. In addition (see above re the car park and play area) if the facility is for everyone then you would have to bear your share