Service charge meanings
Service charge
What's included
Buildings
insurance
The cost of insuring your property and communal
Buildings insurance areas, plus public liability insurance. It doesn't include
the contents of your home.
Cleaning
Contractor costs for cleaning communal areas and
communal windows. This may also include cleaning
Communal cleaning
of stairs and floors, sweeping and dusting of indoor
areas and the cost of cleaning materials.
Communal area
window cleaning
The cost of cleaning communal windows when
they're not part of a cleaning contract.
Dwelling windows*
Costs of cleaning individual property windows.
The cost from utility providers for any gas supplied to
communal areas, which we pay to them on behalf of
residents.
The cost from utility providers for any oil supplied to
communal areas, which we pay to them on behalf of
residents.
The costs for the servicing and/or maintenance of
communal boilers and any work or parts needed to
make repairs.
Communal gas
supply
Communal
Communal oil
heating and water supply
Communal TV
systems
Communal
lighting and
electricity
Communal boilers
service and
maintenance
Communal - TV
aerials, digibox, sky
box, estate aerials
service,
maintenance and
electricity supply
Communal
electricity
Water rates
landlords supply
Water softeners
Communal
water supply
and drainage
Communal water
supply and
drainage
Description
Legionnaires
assessment
Costs for service, supply and maintenance of any
shared TV, digital, cable, or satellite system installed
for the estate or block. This is separate to any
chargesresidents pay to providers for subscriptions to
particular services.
Costs from utility providers for any electricity supply
to communal areas. May include parking or outside
lighting, as well as lighting or heating to communal
areas.
Costs from utility providers for the water supply to
communal areas.
Costs for servicing and maintaining water softeners
to communal supply.
Contractor costs for testing for and monitoring
legionella, as well as completing risk assessments
Calorifier blowdown,
and maintaining water systems. These costs only
clean and descale
apply where we provide communal water systems
that supply the water to your home.
Dechlorination
Sewerage/water
Communal water pumps service and
supply and
maintenance
drainage
Cess pits/septic
tanks service and
maintenance
Servicing and maintaining sewerage plants,
sewerage pumping stations, surface water pumps
and water and sump pump systems.
Costs for servicing and maintaining cess pits and
septic tanks.
Sewerage treatment Servicing and maintaining sewerage plants,
plants service and
sewerage pumping stations, surface water pumps
maintenance
and water and sump pump systems.
Door
entry/security
Hot and cold water
monitoring
Pumping station
service and
maintenance
Pumping station
electricity
Door entry system
service and
maintenance
CCTV
Automatic doors
service and
maintenance
Contractor costs for testing, completing risk
assessments and maintaining water systems.
Servicing and maintaining sewerage plants,
sewerage pumping stations, surface water pumps
and water and sump pump systems.
Utility costs for the supply of electricity required for
running a pumping station.
Servicing and maintaining any door entry systems,
CCTV cameras, alarms and electrical doors.
Refuse collection
Contractor costs for removing rubbish and bulk
refuse left in bin storage areas and around estates.
Pest control
Contractor costs for pest control in communal areas.
Bulk waste removal Contractor costs for removing rubbish and bulk
and dumped items refuse left in bin storage areas and around estates.
Estate works
Play equipment
Inspecting and maintaining play equipment.
Automatic gates and Servicing and maintaining any communal automatic
shutters
gates, barriers or shutters.
Parking
management
Costs for providing and maintaining parking areas for
residents and also for servicing and maintenance of
any petrol interceptor. A petrol interceptor is put in
place in car parks to capture surface water and filter
out any petrol or oil impurities from the water before
the water returns to the environment.
External
management
costs
External
management
company costs
Management agent costs for carrying out estate
services on our behalf.
Grounds
maintenance
Grounds
maintenance
Grounds
maintenance - tree
work
Contractors costs to look after outside areas of
estates and schemes, such as gardening,
maintaining paths and parking areas. Also carrying
out tree surveys, pruning and surgery.
Major ground works
Emergency lighting
testing, service and
maintenance
Fire panels testing,
service and
maintenance
Communal area
smoke detectors
testing, service and
maintenance
Fire ventilation
system service and
maintenance
Communal fire
Fire, health and
equipment service
safety equipment
and maintenance
Sprinkler systems
service and
maintenance
Dry risers service
and maintenance
Lightning conductor
service and
maintenance
Fall arrest systems
service and
maintenance
Contractor costs for testing, servicing and
maintaining fire systems and carrying out fire safety
inspections.
Contractor costs for testing, servicing and
maintaining lightning conductors on blocks.
Inspecting and maintaining safe wires, bolts and
cradles within various systems to ensure they're safe.
Electrical equipment Testing and maintenance of electrical installations in
testing
communal areas when it's needed.
Lifts
Communal
passenger lift
service and
maintenance
Communal stairlift
service and
maintenance
Lift - emergency
telephone
Communal area
electrical
maintenance (bulbs,
tubes, starter
motors)
Servicing and repairing lifts and stair lifts in
communal areas.
Costs of utility provider for emergency telephone line
in lifts.
Costs for replacing bulbs, tubes and starter motors in
communal area lights.
Water, drainage and
sewerage repairs
Repairs,
Maintenance &
Decoration
Electrical repairs
Emergency lighting
repairs
Fire panels repairs
Communal area
smoke detectors
repairs
Fire ventilation
system repairs
Communal fire
equipment repairs
Sprinkler systems
repairs
Fire extinguisher
Costs for completing day to day repairs in communal
repairs
areas.
Dry risers repairs
Lightning conductor
repairs
Fall arrest systems
repairs
Automatic gates and
shutters repairs
Lift repairs
Automatic doors
repairs
General repairs
Communal lighting
repairs
Communal area
maintenance
Communal area
redecoration
Guest room
expenditure
Costs of maintaining and redecorating communal
areas.
Costs of renewing and replacing items in guest
rooms in sheltered schemes.
The income received from the rental of guest rooms
Guest room income within sheltered schemes is used to offset the
services charges charged to that scheme.
Telephone
Utility providers costs for the telephone systems
installed in leasehold sheltered schemes.
Furniture/
equipment ††
Appliances
Costs for providing equipment and appliances, in
sheltered or supported schemes.
Laundry equipment
Special facilities
Laundry income
Income form laundry machines is offset against
service charges where applicable.
Central control
Costs for providing central control alarm monitoring in
alarm monitoring * † some sheltered or supported schemes.
Council tax * †
Council tax costs in some sheltered or supported
schemes.
Assisted bathrooms Costs for maintaining communal assisted bathrooms
service and
in sheltered or supported schemes.
maintenance
Caretaker/site
supervisor
Employing caretakers, cleaners or scheme managers
for a scheme.
Commercial kitchen Maintaining, servicing and replacing catering
equipment service equipment in some sheltered or supported schemes.
Reserves/
provisions
Equipment
replacement
provision ††
Pumping station
replacement
provision
Door entry system
replacement
provision
Lift replacement
provision
Reserve funds
Renewals
Fees
Audit fees
For replacing furniture, appliances and equipment in
sheltered and supported schemes.
For replacing either water or sewerage pumping
stations if needed.
For replacement of door entry systems.
For lift replacement.
Contributions from leasehold properties towards any
future items that need to be replaced. Typically this
will be things like communal windows and doors,
roofing and decoration in communal areas.
Contributions towards replacing items like communal
appliances, for example, an urn.
Only for leaseholders and shared owners. We
arrange for a percentage of our schemes to have
service charge statements independently audited, in
order to reassure residents our charges are fair and
accurate.
Management
charge
Private utilities *
Private resident
heating and hot
water *†
This covers the costs we incur for things like
managing contracts for the services we provide, the
cost of surveyor visits, undertaking risk assessments,
calculating and producing service charge statements.
For our general need residents and freeholders, this
is calculated as 15% of the cost of providing the
communal services. For leaseholders and shared
owners there is a scale of fixed management
charges.
Utility providers' charges for any gas, oil or electricity
supplied to property, where we pay this on behalf of
residents.
Utility providers' charges for any gas, oil or electricity
supplied to properties, where we pay this on behalf of
residents.
Private resident
water rates * †
Utility providers' charges for any water supplied to
properties, where we pay this on behalf of residents.
Sovereign
Management
Charge
Private resident
heating costs*†
Private sewerage
costs* †
Ground rent
Ground rent
* Ineligible for
Housing Benefit
† Ineligible for
Universal Credit
Costs for emptying and removing waste from cess
pits, septic tanks and pumping stations where
applicable.
Payment of any ground rent to a property's
freeholder.
††Certain items may be ineligible for Universal Credit