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Service Charges - Will i see the benefit?

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  • AnotherJoe
    AnotherJoe Posts: 19,622 Forumite
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    micky007 wrote: »
    You dont have a choice, you have to else they don't let you buy the house.

    So don't buy the house. Not seeing the problem here.
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    micky007 wrote: »
    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.
    So I'm guessing the common areas are the private roads and at least some of the landscaped areas/verges? There's nothing particularly uncommon about having to contribute towards communal parts which you don't see/use.
  • micky007
    micky007 Posts: 140 Forumite
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    shirlgirl2004 wrote: »
    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.

    Yes but all the green area you see on the siteplan I showed you are in people's gardens or is part of their garden so it's the property owner that's maintaining it. The only bits that arnt are the ones you see at the bottom and to the right. All the green circles you see a tiny small trees that are all new and don't need any maintenance as most houses on this development have them.

    There not spending any money on maintenance as there's nothing for them to do here, it's the property owners that are maintaining the green areas. That's why nothing is being spent as shown in the statement. Instead they are paying themselves and charging us the fee for them to pay themselves for doing nothing.
  • micky007
    micky007 Posts: 140 Forumite
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    need_an_answer wrote: »
    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.

    I'm not venting about paying it as I knew about it when I purchased it. My issue is will I ever see any benefit from paying the service charge. I don't think I will, so my question is why should I have to pay, yes I knew about it but can they charge you for basically doing nothing? Like it shows in the statement, they are just charging us for them to pay themselves.
  • micky007
    micky007 Posts: 140 Forumite
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    AnotherJoe wrote: »
    So don't buy the house. Not seeing the problem here.

    :T :T :T

    Thanks for the advice..... :T
  • Fosterdog
    Fosterdog Posts: 4,948 Forumite
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    What about the areas of green beyond the garden boundaries? There looks like there is a footpath looping around the bottom of the development with a water feature of some sort possibly in some sort of park/communal green space. Are they part of the development? If so then they will need maintaining. If it is a newish development they may not have needed to do much maintenance yet but as the years go on, more work will be needed.
  • NeilCr
    NeilCr Posts: 4,430 Forumite
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    Good information on service charges here

    https://www.lease-advice.org/fact-sheet/service-charges/#

    It includes how to challenge them if you consider that they are unfair
  • micky007
    micky007 Posts: 140 Forumite
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    So the green spaces you see near the houses are the front gardens of the houses. That long dark green you see going along the gardens at the top if the sitemap is a big brush, it runs along a number of properties all of which is either maintained by the property owner themselves or not at all as the only way to access it is by going into the gardens of every property the Bush runs along.

    The bit you described at the bottom is just a little ditch/pong that's been there for hundreds of years, even before RedRow bought the land. I don't think they had permission to fill it in/build over it. So all that is is a ditch with water in it. Not really a communal area.Again the footpath was there before the development had bought the land, it's a public footpath.

    The development is 2 and a half years old. I moved into mine Jan 2016 but others had already moved into before me.
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    Fosterdog wrote: »
    There looks like there is a footpath looping around the bottom of the development with a water feature of some sort possibly in some sort of park/communal green space.
    Looks like a SUDS pond to me, so a necessary part of the drainage system for the development.
  • BorisThomson
    BorisThomson Posts: 1,721 Forumite
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    Looking at your service charge breakdown they did no actual work last year, your fees are solely for their management fee and associated administration costs. That doesn't surprise me in the slightest, I pay £700 a year for nothing more than buildings insurance (leasehold property, but no maintenance needed and no communal areas).

    Service charges are becoming more and more common. They can be necessary for larger developments or leasehold properties, but the additional charges on them can be ridiculous. With leasehold flats you can apply for the right to manage the property, but that right unfortunately does not apply to houses.
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