Paying £28 weekly service charge on a house expenditure seems unreasonable

Chrono36

My mum rents her house from a housing association in London (Peabody) and her service charge goes up annually. 

The housing association does own the block of flats next door as well. There is also a gym below the flats. The thing is my mum does not have access to the communal areas in the flat or the gym. There is literally just a pavement and council road in front of her house. 

I requested information on how her service charge is spent and I received the following:

“External Management agent fees - £25.70

Administration charge - £2.63”

It seems unreasonably high to me but what do I know. Is this normal?

tinytiddles

Are you sure that is the amount per week? That seems incredibly high for a management fee on a house - I’m also assuming it is social / affordable rent rather than open market rent? It is fairly unusual to have service charges on a socially rented house unless it’s a new build or receiving tangible services like grounds maintenance or bin store cleansing etc. Personally I would go back to Peabody and ask them what the remit of the managing agent is - general management of social housing should be covered in the rent and isn’t service chargeable as far as I know. 

Chrono36

Thank you for the reply. 

Yes, that is the weekly charge on top of rent. It was a new build when she moved in (~2013) and the rent itself is quite affordable. 

I’ve asked them to explain the external management fees in more detail but have not received a reply from them. I don’t know where to go next. The updated service charge letter does say we can dispute the amount that they charge.

dogshome

Ask for a breakdown of the Service Charges in writing and post it by mail.

There have been previous cases of a flat service charge being levied across developments, in which some tenants are denied access to all the facilities - On the one I have in mind, it took a complaint to the local MP to sort out .

Chandler85

The OP, says the next door "block", so I would assume that this is a block of flats.  Which would make more sense given it has a service charge.

I would still expect the breakdown to be more precise,  the external management line might include lines such as Communal Cleaning, Grounds Maintenance, Lift Maintenance etc.

Chrono36

I’ve requested detailed breakdown of the service charge, now I’ve just got to wait. I have a feeling they may not reply. 

Sorry for the confusion. My mum lives in a house but there is a block of flats next door. The housing association in question owns the houses and a certain number of flats and the rest is privately owned. 

MX5huggy

Not near the Olympic park is she? 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/apr/28/homeowners-london-olympic-park-criticise-unfair-estate-charge-chobham-manor

Chrono36

She isn’t no.
Sounds similar though.

HampshireH

Chrono36 said:

I’ve requested detailed breakdown of the service charge, now I’ve just got to wait. I have a feeling they may not reply. 

Sorry for the confusion. My mum lives in a house but there is a block of flats next door. The housing association in question owns the houses and a certain number of flats and the rest is privately owned. 

Why don't you think they will reply?

If they don't reply then follow their complaints procedure.

Chrono36

They’ve done so in the past when my mum raised another matter with them. Got in touch with the local MP which made them finally respond.

Also, may be wrong but I have a hunch based on their vague reply that they’re trying to avoid something.

Richard_Webster

Hsg Assn could be being lazy and including stuff related to the flats in the hservice charges for the hosues - which it shouldn't do.   You'll have to wait to see the breakdown before you can comment further.