Service charges FAQs

Every March you will receive a set of estimated service charges for the financial year 1 April to 31 March. These are not the final costs, but a prediction of what your landlord expects to spend in managing and maintaining your property and block. The terms of your lease and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (as amended) allow for service charges to be collected in advance, though they may be paid in monthly instalments.

At the end of the financial year, your landlord will have a record of what was actually spent on service charges for the year, including the cost of repairs, any cleaning or gardening contracts, the cost of communal lighting etc. These are known as 'actual' costs or 'final accounts'. The difference between the estimated costs (the amount you have already paid) and the actual costs, is called your final account adjustment. If there are large differences we will explain the reasons in the final accounts letter.

For the service charges that are individual to your property, such as building insurance and heating (shown under the 'property costs' section of your service charge summary) the actual cost will not differ from what was estimated. These are called 'non-variable' service charges, because the actual cost will not vary, unlike the block-related service charges that may go up or down.