Service Charges
What is a service charge?
Service charges are monthly payments made by leaseholders for services that are provided by the landlord in respect of common parts of buildings and external communal areas of the development.
If you live in an apartment, you need to pay services for internal communal areas in the building that your apartment is situated in, as well as external communal areas, for example, hallway cleaning or tree pruning.
Your lease will detail more information on your services charge and may specify your individual percentage share of development/building costs.
What is a service charge?
Service charges are monthly payments made by leaseholders for services that are provided by the landlord in respect of common parts of buildings and external communal areas of the development.
If you live in an apartment, you need to pay services for internal communal areas in the building that your apartment is situated in, as well as external communal areas, for example, hallway cleaning or tree pruning.
Your lease will detail more information on your services charge and may specify your individual percentage share of development/building costs.
We work out the cost of service charges for the coming year by looking at previous costs, together with any changes in the price of a contract (for example, if cleaning costs have increased), the amount of VAT and the level of service required.
You will pay an equal share for the costs of your building unless your lease agreement says differently. For example, if there are 100 properties in your building and the cost of cleaning is £10,000, you will pay one-hundredth of the cleaning costs, which works out at £100 for the year.
We set up new service contracts through a competitive procurement process. We always aim to offer the best level of service and value for money.
Each building may have different costs. For example, one building may have more apartments than another, so the cost is lower per property, or another building may have more frequent cleaning or other services.
Some houses have to pay service charges as they form part of a development and receive a range of services that are not included in the rent (for example, tree pruning or gardening).
All of the charges are shared between all of the properties in your building and on your development receiving the service. For example, ground floor apartments share the cost of lift servicing, middle and upper floors contribute to the door entry system. All houses in the development will have to contribute to grounds maintenance contracts to keep the area clean and tidy.
The charges for maintenance and repair of the equipment shown on your service charge statement are there to make sure that there are regular maintenance checks and prompt repair service. With these contracts in place, we do not provide refunds if the equipment fails. We regularly monitor the contractor’s quality of service to make sure repairs are completed quickly.
Please contact our Customer Resolution Team by emailing enquiries@originhousing.org.uk .
The contractors we use may come at times when you are not in, so you may not see the service being provided. If you feel the service has not been provided, please contact us and we can get in touch with the contractor.
Initially, you should get in touch with us directly by emailing enquiries@originhousing.org.uk .
You have the right to appeal against any rent increase. To appeal, please write to the Residential Property Tribunal Service (RPTS), 10 Alfred Place, London, WC1E 7LR. They will review your rent charge and let you know their decision. There is more information on the appeals procedure here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/property-chamber-tribunal-procedure-rules
If you pay by Direct Debit, you do not need to do anything. The payment amount will change automatically.
If you pay by Standing Order, you will need to contact your bank immediately to arrange for the payment to be changed from April 2019.