We make money from your service charge
FALSE! Service charge is about recovering the cost of the services we provide to you across the year.
That means we only recover the actual costs contractors charge us to do the work required.
We make mistakes
TRUE! We strive to be as accurate as we possibly can be, but sometimes human error means we do make mistakes. Last year, we adjusted 111 queried service charges due to a mistake we made.
Now, bear in mind that we send service charge booklets to around 28,500 homes each year, so we are accurate 99.61% of the time!
You can query, or even dispute, your service charge
TRUE! If you are not happy with your service charge, unclear about what it covers or feel you are being charged for a service that isn’t or wasn’t provided, you can query it with us.
To query your service charge, simply fill in the online from within six months of receiving your service charge account. We will contact you within 20 working days with a response.
How to query your service charge
Everyone pays the same amount and some homes’ service charge subsidise other homes
FALSE! Your service charge is your service charge and can differ from home-to-home, because we calculate service charge in different ways depending on your agreement with us.
For some people, some of the services we provide may be covered by their rent, which is why there may be a difference in your service charge compared to your neighbour’s.
In some of our properties, we calculate service charge based on the square-footage of the properties. This means larger properties will pay more than smaller ones.
The new service charge booklets cost you more money
FALSE! Last February, we introduced our new, personalised service charge booklets. Your booklet is about your home, so you don’t have trawl through explanations and charges that aren’t relevant to you.
That means they are printed on fewer pages which is better for the environment and cost less to produce. We’ve worked hard to improve how we do service charge each year, and the booklets have made the process more accurate, transparent and accessible than ever.
More about your service charge
Find out more about your service charge
Worried about paying your service charge? We can help