Service Charges - Will i see the benefit?

micky007

Hey,

I was thinking the other day about the service charge i pay on my property, my property is on a main road owned by the council and the pipework has been adopted by United Utilities.

My understanding of a Service charge is that the management company is to ensure repairs are made to things like Roads and Grounds Maintenance. But i live on a main road owned by the council, so surely its the Council/County Council that are supposed to do that anyway. There is no communal area here (like a kids play area) either incase you guys wondered.

So my question is... what is the point in me being charged a service charge of £90 every 6 months, will i actually see any benefit from this?

davidmcn

Well, we don't know. Why did you think you were paying a service charge? Presumably you were told about it when you bought your house? What do your title deeds say about it?

need_an_answer

Do you own a freehold property or a leasehold property?

if leasehold elements of the property may be covered by the service charge,less so if you own a freehold property

When you purchased the documentation from the management company should indicate what you pay the service charge towards.

lisyloo

Depends on what type of property it is.
For communal flats it often include building insurance, cleaning, decorating, gardening, internal repairs and sinking fund.

You need to give more details on what type of property it is and whether it's free or leasehold.
Do you have access to any communal facilities?

InterestedParty2018

A few questions:

1. Do you own a leasehold property in a shared block/building or a Freehold property with a Title stating you pay Estate Charges (also referred to as Service Charges). Either the lease document or the title document will explain what you are obligated to pay towards

2. Are these new charges to you? Where you not made aware of these charges and what exactly they pertain to when you purchased the property?

3. Have you received a budget from the managing agent for these service charge? Have you seen/reviewed any service charge accounts for previously completed financial years?

4. I know you mention there are no play areas (or obvious communal facilities), but are there any footpaths off the main road? Any land (grassed, river, tow path) which may be shared with other homes? Are these areas lit? Do they need to be covered by PI insurance?

Perhaps with more information we can help you further.

micky007

to answer some of your questions:

1) Its a detached house
2) Its a lease-hold property (but i also pay ground rent which is £125 every 6 months)
3) I was told when buying the house there would be a service charge but wasnt told what it was for at first
4) There is no communal facilities
5) @InterestedParty2018 there is 2 roads they built (different streets) which the other houses are built on, but i dont see why the houses that are built on the main road should be billed for that when we never use that road to access our property etc... since we are on the main road owned by the council. There was 7 houses built on the main road and around 33 houses built on the 2 roads they made off the main road.
6) You can view the sitemap of the build here, ive hidden the street name of the main road and also the development name. - https://screenshots.firefox.com/IjilgRaGa84AA3xI/www.redrow.co.uk

As you can see there is no need for the houses built on the main road to even access the 2 streets they made since we all have driveways and our properties are accessed via the main road.

micky007

oh and also this is what the money is being spent on:

https://screenshots.firefox.com/islzhJmJ1wQWTibc/null

So from that statement im paying them for doing nothing? Yet there charging a fee for them to do nothing. Its so stupid!

kirtondm

but you agreed to it when buying!

micky007

kirtondm wrote: »

but you agreed to it when buying!

You dont have a choice, you have to else they don't let you buy the house.

shirlgirl2004

I bought a freehold house with a service charge and it's to pay for green areas on the development. This was part of the planning agreement that small green spaces would be provided and maintained. It clearly says grounds maintenance is being charged for on your bill so that's your answer.

need_an_answer

You have every choice but you chose a house on a development that attracted ground rent and service charges.

Clearly you have a copy of the accounts and can see how the charges you pay are being spent so I assume your post was more of a vent rather than needing clarification of why you pay the charges.

When you next purchase a property in order to avoid the ground rent or service charge pick something freehold without the constraints.