Help guides

What is service charge and how do I pay it?

2 min read

As a shared owner, you pay a service charge for the services we provide to everyone in your building. It covers things like maintaining lifts and door entry systems, cleaning the shared areas and maintaining shared garden spaces.

How to pay your service charge

You'll usually need to pay your service charge in 12 equal payments on the first day of each month. Your lease might say that you need to pay quarterly or annually in advance. But if you would like to pay monthly by Direct Debit you can.

We do charge an administration fee if you regularly miss payments.

How is service charge calculated?

We'll send you an estimated service charge statement each year, usually in February. This is how much we think it will cost to provide services over the coming year.

At the end of each financial year we compare the actual costs and the estimate. If the estimate was lower, you'll need to pay the difference. If the estimate was higher than the actual cost, we'll usually credit your customer account. We'll send you an income & expenditure account to explain all the actual costs.

You can check what your service charge is in My Account.

Read more information on what your service charge covers [pdf].

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