Service charges

When you bought your lease, in effect you became a shareholder in the building your flat is in.  This means you have a responsibility to pay your share of the costs of maintaining and managing the building with ourselves and other leaseholders.

This payment is known as the service charge and every year we will send you an invoice for this charge for your property, as well as the things you are being charged for.

Service charges relate to a number of different items. Not all items will be charged to every property and you will only be charged if your home benefits from that service. These may include:

• Buildings insurance
• Communal electricity
• Grounds maintenance
• TV aerial rental, maintenance, electricity
• Window cleaning
• Lighting maintenance
• General repairs
• Caretaking
• District heating
• Lift servicing
• Management fee
• Any major or cyclical works carried out at the block throughout the year

The costs are shared equally among all the flats in the block (unless a cost belongs only to one flat or to part of a block).

How to pay your service charge bill

You can pay the full amount of your service charges bill within 28 days or by monthly instalments. You can pay by:

• Direct Debit - through your bank or building society. This is the most popular way to pay and a growing number of leaseholders prefer it 
• By Standing Order – if you wish to pay by standing order you will need to complete an instruction and pass it directly to your bank.

We have a legal duty to charge you your share of the service costs, and you have a legal duty to pay them. If you find you cannot pay your service charge bill straight away, don’t ignore it!

If you do not pay you are breaking your lease agreement and we could apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) to argue that the service charges are fair. If the tribunal agrees and you do not pay the charges, then we have the right to ask the courts to have your lease "forfeited". In these circumstances, you could lose your home.

If you are on a low income, you may be entitled to various benefits that can help you. As a leaseholder, you may be able to get help from:

• Income support
• Council tax benefit
• Council tax discounts (whether or not you are on a low income).

You can get a range of benefits, depending upon your circumstances. Contact South Gloucestershire Council or more information.