Can housing association charge for window cleaning and not do it?

Dwayne_dibley77

I pay a service charge because I live in a flat. On my tenancy agreement it itemises what I pay for and one of the things is window cleaning.

I asked my neighbour when was the last time he had his windows done and he said never in two years. After I mentioned it he phoned the housing association to ask about window cleaning and they told him that they put that on all contracts and they don't do windows in this area.

Is this right? Can they put this in the tenancy agreement and not do it? 

Norman_Castle

They cannot charge you for work there is no intention of doing. Contact them yourself, email is often easier, and ask them to remove this charge as the work is not being done and there is no intention of doing it and if there was never an arrangement to clean your windows but you have paid for them to be cleaned ask for a refund.

kippers

My husband works for a housing association and used to deal with service charges in particular.  They can NOT charge you for something they haven't done or don't intend to do.  Service charges are for services they provide.  Ring the housing association and complain and get them to remove the charge for window cleaning and back date the charges to when you first started paying it.  If they refuse then go through their complaints procedure and if you still have no joy then go to the ‘housing ombudsman’.  Hope this helps

AlwaysWorking

You don’t actually know that you are paying for window cleaning, only that it is stated in your lease. Could you ask the housing association for a breakdown of the service charge you pay so you can see exactly what is included? 

HampshireH

Many window cleaning services charges are for communal windows only.

Residents flat windows are often their own responsibility and not covered in the HA service charge.

Are you saying the communal windows are not being cleaned also?

Also some agreements list a list of what the service charge may include as examples. Your service charge statement (not tenancy) will tell you what you pay for

tinytiddles

In a nutshell, no they can’t do that. The only exception to this is where a service gets withdrawn part way through the year but this has to be refunded in the following year (basically netted off the forthcoming year’s charges). I work for a HA and we had to suspend certain services during the lockdowns but have a lot of unravelling to do and refunding before we sent the 2022/23 rent charge letters out in February.

The best place for you to start looking is your annual rent increase letter, your HA must itemise all of the charges applicable for the coming year. If the window clean charge is on there, you need to tackle this with them. I would recommend going down the formal complaint route rather than making a general enquiry otherwise they may just skirt around the issue. 

Are there other neighbours you could ask as well perhaps?

Dwayne_dibley77

Thank you for your advice. I will call them myself on Monday and ask about the windows myself. The housing associations website lists the areas it does window cleaning and when they do it but my area isn't listed