Paying for your home

Service Charges

If you are a leaseholder who owns a flat, the service charge you pay is your share of the costs of running and maintaining your building and estate. It may also include any planned major repairs. This charge may be collected at the same time as your rent, or separately.

Your lease will outline what services you receive and what you will have to pay for. You can find out more in Your Service Charge Account Explained . The law says the charge must be reasonable and the services provided must be carried out to a reasonable standard.

Sinking Funds

A sinking fund is a long-term savings account that home owners contribute to. Where the lease allows we collect sinking funds from our home owners. This builds up every year and should pay for any major works that are required over a period of time, such as painting the communal areas. If a sinking fund is not set up, payment for any major works is due from a home owner on completion of the works.

Summaries of rights and obligations

A demand for payment of service charge must be accompanied by our  Service charges rights and obligations .

Leaseholders also pay their share of buildings insurance.

Management Charges

This charge covers our costs in administering and providing a service to our home owners.

Administration charges

Administration charges are charges to be paid by you as part of your lease. Charges are reviewed annually and are benchmarked against similar organisations to ensure that costs are reasonable. You can read our leaflet about  Administration fees here.

Generally fees will relate to:

  • granting approval
  • provision of information or documents
  • failure to make any payment due under your lease
  • a breach of covenant or condition of your lease.

A summary of the rights and obligations in relation to administration charges is sent to accompany a demand for an administration charge.