Service Charges
Service charges are the amounts you pay for communal or shared services in your building and, if applicable, the surrounding area. Here you can find information on how these charges are calculated and what they cover.
What are Service Charges?
If your home has shared areas like an entrance hall, garden, or other communal spaces, your tenancy will include a service charge.
A service charge is the amount you pay towards the cost of providing a service, including heating, electricity, cleaning, grounds maintenance, and door entry systems. It may also cover the cost of a specific service like a lift or emergency call system.
If you pay service charges, your annual rent review letter will include a breakdown of these charges.
Here are some examples of common services that may be included in your service charge:
- Cleaning/caretaking: Cleaning and maintaining shared areas like halls, stairs, and rubbish chutes.
- Grounds maintenance: Tasks like mowing the grass, weeding and litter picking.
- Door entry system: Costs for maintaining and repairing the entry phone systems in buildings.
- Management/Admin fee: A flat fee to cover staff costs and overheads for preparing service charge estimates and accounts.
- Lighting: Costs for lighting in shared communal areas, including replacing lightbulbs.
- Lifts: Maintenance and repairs for lifts in the building.
- Concierge: Costs for staff providing support and services in the building.
If you live in one of our retirement or supported housing schemes, your service charge may include costs for staff, such as Retirement Housing Officers, Wellbeing Advisors, Activity Co-ordinators, and Youth Development Coaches, or for maintaining communal areas like laundry rooms, and shared lounges.
Service Charges FAQs
Service charges are based on service costs and you only pay for the services you receive.
We have put together some handy frequently asked questions and answers to help you understand more about your service charges, which can be viewed below.
If we deliver a service that is shared by several customers, your service charge is calculated by dividing the total cost between everyone who has use of or benefits from it.
A service charge is based on what it actually costs us to provide the service to you. Costs can go up or down depending on inflation and market conditions, and we work hard to get the best value for money from our contractors and manage services efficiently.
Each year we review service charges to make sure you only pay for the services you receive and that each service charge is accurate and fair.
If you pay for any service charges, they are listed the Service Charge section of your annual rent review letter.
If you are a tenant and are renting your home from us, the day-to-day repairs costs of your home are included in your rent. Communal repair costs are included in service charges.
If you claim Housing Benefit or Universal Credit some service charges are covered within your Housing Benefit or Universal Credit payment.
Ineligible service charges are not covered by Housing Benefit or Universal Credit, so you need to pay for these.
Which service charges are eligible or ineligible is determined by your local authority (for Housing Benefit) or Department of Work and Pensions (for Universal Credit).
Housing Benefit and Universal Credit are both designed to assist people with housing costs, but the eligibility for services under these benefits can vary depending on your personal situation, the type of housing you live in, and your specific lease or tenancy agreement.
For example, if your home has two bedrooms, your service charge could be higher than someone with one bedroom and Universal Credit doesn’t cover the cost of window cleaning for ground floor properties.
Which service charges are eligible or ineligible is determined by your local authority (for Housing Benefit) or Department of Work and Pensions (for Universal Credit).
If you have any queries or concerns about any of the services you receive, please call our Customer Hub on 0333 200 7304 or email info@platformhg.com.
Retirement villages and scheme enquiries
If you live in one of our retirement villages or retirement housing schemes, please contact your housing officer who will be able to help you.
Whether we provide your services or employ contractors to deliver them on our behalf, we always aim to deliver the very best that we can.
If you have any queries or concerns about any of the services you receive, please call our Customer Hub on 0333 200 7304 or email info@platformhg.com.
