The booklets explain how much it costs to provide services where you live, such as grounds maintenance, door entry systems and communal electricity.
Following customer feedback, we’ve made a number of changes this year which means you’ll get:
- A more detailed explanations within your booklet if your service charge costs have increased from the estimate.
- a faster response to any queries about your actual service charge.
Kate Gascoigne, A2Dominion’s Chief Customer Officer, said: “We know that some customers have been frustrated with the lack of detail about service charge costs received in the past. We also know that we have taken too long to respond to your service charge queries.
“I want to apologise if this has been the case and thank you for your feedback. We have listened and I want to assure you that we will be seeking to continually improve this service for you.
“From this year we have set up a new dedicated service charge team that will be focusing on helping provide clearer information about costs for customers and provide a faster response when you contact us with a query.
“Whilst I hope these changes will improve the experience for our customers this year, please continue to provide feedback so that we can seek to continually improve. Thank you for your patience.”
You said we did
You said
You told us you wanted more clarity and detailed commentary about costs, specific to your building.
We did
This year, if you live in a building where the actual costs are higher than your estimate, you’ll get detailed commentary explaining the reasons for this difference.
You said
You’ve said you want a faster response to your service charge queries.
We did
We’ve now put a dedicated team in place which is responsible for managing service charge queries quickly and efficiently and providing you with a single point of contact. You’ll get a response to your queries within 20 days.
Cost increases at some buildings
Whilst we make every effort to get the estimates right, sometimes things happen in the year that we can’t predict which increases costs.
At some developments, some costs have been higher than originally estimated. The main reasons for this relate to fly-tipping, rubbish and recycling being put in the wrong bins and costs for communal repairs. If you are affected by this, we will provide detailed information in your service charge booklet.
In addition, we’ve also made improvements to how we manage our communal maintenance contractors. This has meant we’ve been able to identify and resolve more issues more quickly at some schemes, with the costs for this are covered through service charge.
We want to reassure you that we don’t make any profit from service charges; we simply recover the costs of providing the services to you.
In addition, to provide assurance about the accuracy of your service charge actuals, all costs are checked and verified by external accountants and verified again internally before being sent to you.
More information and support
For more information about service charge costs, you can visit our dedicated help pages.
If you're concerned about your ability to pay, please get in touch with us as soon as possible after you receive your booklet.
We also have lots of information on our money matters page on the website, providing helpful advice and tips on where you can get the support you need.