Service Charges - Plymouth Community Homes

Service Charges

Rent covers the home you live in and some properties have
service charges
Rent
All tenancies are subject to a rent
charge. Your rent is based on the
value of your home, the number of
bedrooms, average local earnings
in Devon and takes into account
national average rents and property
values.
Plymouth Community Homes uses
the rent received to cover the costs of
repairs, maintenance and insurance
of the properties, as well as housing
management, e.g. your Housing
Officers.
Service charges
In addition to the rent charge, some
tenancies and lease agreements
have a charge for services. This
charge is for services not covered
by your rent, it covers communal
services that you receive. You may
also receive some individual
services.
For more information see the leaflet
on ʻPaying your rentʼ within your
Tenants Handbook.
2

What is communal?
All services you receive in the
shared areas of the block – once
you step out of your front door.
What is individual?
All services you receive in your
home – once you shut your front
door.
Communal charges
can include:
• Caretaking
• Cleaning of communal areas
• Laundries
• Door entry
• CCTV
• Fire alarms
• Grounds and gardens
• Heating and lighting in
communal areas
• Communal TV aerials
• Plant and specialist equipment
Housing Benefit covers
these if you are eligible
Charges for services to some
individual homes include:
• Heating and hot water
• Lighting and water charges
within your dwelling
• TV licences
• Individual garden maintenance
Housing Benefit does not
cover these
See pages 9-11 for more service
charges and definitions.
Our commitment to you:
We aim to provide services in the most reasonable and cost-effective way
and to a standard acceptable to you, our residents. We are moving towards a
fairer charge, which would reflect the real costs of providing the services.
3

Variable service charges
Plymouth Community Homes
operates a variable service charge
system. This means we will only
charge you the amount to cover the
full cost of the services you receive.
Plymouth City Council used to
charge tenants a fixed service
charge which simply increased year
on year. Sometimes this meant that
tenants were overcharged and
sometimes undercharged, but there
was never any adjustments to make
sure only the true costs of the
services were paid for.
4

How are variable service charges
calculated?
From the first Monday in April after
your tenancy is granted we may
increase your service charge (if it
applies) at any time. If we have to
do this we will give you at least one
monthʼs notice in writing and never
increase it more than once a year
unless there is a change in the
service provided.
Each year we will estimate the sum
we are likely to spend in providing
services to you over the coming
year. That will be the service charge
we will ask you to pay for the year.
So the estimate will run from
1st April - 31st March.
At the same time, we will work out
how much we have actually spent on
providing services for you in the
previous period. This previous
period we look back on covers 1st
October - 30th September. If there
is a difference between what you
have paid for this period and the
actual cost of the services we will
make an adjustment to what we
ask you to pay for the following
April - March. If we have
overcharged you we will reduce your
service charge for the coming year.
If we have undercharged you, we
will increase your service charge.
What happens if I am not happy
with the charges?
We will give you a statement showing
what makes up your service charge.
When you receive your statement you
have the right to contact us to ask to
examine the service charge accounts,
receipts and other documents related
to them and to take copies or extracts
from them. We may make a small
charge to cover the cost of copying.
The work we do must be of a
reasonable standard, if you believe
that your service charge is
unreasonable (in terms of the
amount charged or the standard of
work) please contact us. If you are
a tenant please speak to your local
housing office or if you are a
leaseholder please speak to our
Leasehold Team. If you are still not
happy you may be able to apply to
a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal for a
decision as to what is reasonable.
5

When will I receive these charges?
If you are a tenant when you receive
your rent letter you will also receive
a service charge statement, referred
to as a certificate in your tenancy
agreement, for the previous period
(October-September) and details of
your new charge. This will be an
estimate and covers April this year
to March next year.
If you are a leaseholder you will get
an annual bill but the process is the
same.
All annual charges will start in April
unless a new service is introduced
during the year.
Service charges – Flow chart for working out your
service charge and any adjustments
1
Oct - Nov
We ʻlook backʼ at the costs for the 12
months until September and compare
what was charged to what it actually
cost to deliver the services.
Then we know if thereʼs any
adjustment needed.
2
Dec - Jan
We now work out next yearʼs
estimate for the cost of the
services.
3
Feb/Mar this year
We add the difference from 1 to the
estimate at 2 to give a total charge. For
current tenants at March 2011 we
apply a cap which is the maximum we
will charge. Where the costs have
increased a lot this cap makes the
overall charge more affordable. We
then prepare your new rent letter and
service charge statement. You should
receive this at the end of February.
6

Consultation with residents
We like to consult with residents
about possible significant changes,
in particular where services are new
or are being changed. Plymouth
Community Homes will endeavour
to consult with all our residents
when the situation arises.
Also if there is a long term contract
to provide a service (e.g. grounds
maintenance) costing £100 or more
per year per flat we are required by
law to formally consult with you in a
specific way. If you are a leaseholder
we also have to do this for one-off
works costing more than £250 per
flat.
7

Charges for sheltered housing
support costs are dealt with
separately as they relate to services
to individuals rather than being
linked to the individual home. The
following activities are classified as
support costs:
• direct costs of supporting an
individual in their home; work
associated with allocating and
letting supported housing
relating to individualsʼ support
needs
• providing individuals with advice
and support to help them take
decisions about their
accommodation
• alarm call monitoring
• helping individuals claim
Housing Benefit
• other activities that can be
identified as related to the
provision of support rather than
housing management.
• providing individual assessments
8

Services charges are usually specific to a block or an individual home.
Core Services (as stated in your tenancy agreement or
provided under the terms of your lease)
Name of the
service charge
Caretaking and
Communal Cleaning
Communal Window
Cleaning
Bulk Bins
Communal Lighting
and Heating
Plant & Specialist
Equipment such as
Fire Alarms
Door Entry
CCTV (closed-circuit
television)
Laundries
TV aerials, cables,
satellite dishes or masts
Lifts
Water storage tank
testing
Definition
Cleaning and caretaking work to communal areas:
includes materials, equipment, staffing, contractors,
providing skips and removing rubbish from a site. This
does not include any bulky items (e.g. sofas) which can
be removed by calling the Council on 01752 304750.
Cleaning the communal area windows: includes materials,
equipment, staffing and contractors.
Cleaning bulk bins.
Providing lighting and/or heating and power to communal
areas: includes laundry facilities or lifts, as well as light
bulbs, tubes and setting time clocks.
Servicing, testing and repairing fire alarm systems or other
plant and specialist equipment. Also repairing, replacing and
servicing fire extinguishers.
Servicing, repairing and replacement of door entry system
or appliances, including keys. Lost keys will be charged for.
Providing, servicing and repairing any CCTV system and
appliances.
Maintenance, repair and depreciation of communal
laundry equipment.
Servicing and repairing any TV aerial, satellite dish or
mast (owned by PCH).
Running, maintaining and insuring the lifts: it includes
replacement, major repairs or one-off costs. Installation
but only when a new lift is put in for the first time.
This includes regular testing for the legionella bacteria,
risk assessment and any remedial works required.
9

Core Services (as stated in your tenancy agreement or
provided under the terms of your lease)
Name of the
service charge
Stairlifts
Communal Rooms
Grounds Maintenance
Playgrounds
Pest Control
Unadopted roads
Management
TV Licences
Individual home heating
and water rates
Definition
When we install new stairlifts we will charge for running,
maintaining and insuring these stairlifts.
Communal rooms, such as sheltered housing lounges.
The charge includes cleaning the lounge and any items
purchased for the lounge.
Maintenance of the landscape and communal areas
around blocks: includes grass, flower beds and shrubs
maintenance.
Maintenance of the playground area and equipment: it
includes insurance and replacement of equipment and
ground surface. This only applies when there is a
playground in the boundary of the block of flats.
We will not be charging for this service because we want to
ensure residents are not deterred from reporting issues.
Maintenance and repairs carried out on the road. For
leaseholders and owners this may include some repairs to
individual properties. Plymouth Community Homes does
not currently charge for this service.
Managing and administering activities related to service
charges, such as arranging contracts, attending meetings,
collecting charges and preparing accounts.
Providing concessionary license fees (such as over 75 or
disabled concession). This apples to Sheltered Housing
tenants only.
Where there is a communal meter we will charge for
water/heating usage.
10

Other possible services
Name of the
service charge
Scooter park plug-in
Individual garden
maintenance
Definition
Installing, maintaining and running scooter park plug-in
facilities, to include electricity and safety checks.
Maintenance of the landscape of individual gardens,
includes grass and tree cutting, flower beds and shrubs
maintenance.
Services below apply to Leaseholders only
Name of the
service charge
Heating Plant &
Equipment
Insurance
Improvements
Maintenance and
repairs
Definition
Running, maintaining and insuring heating plant and
equipment: includes the future cost of replacement or
major repairs such as one off costs.
Insurance for all the buildings within a block: it includes
communal property and leaseholdersʼ individual homes.
Residents are advised, however, to take out contents
insurance for their home.
Upgrades and improvements carried out in individual flats.
For leaseholders and owners this may include specific
works to an individual property. Offered as part of planned
maintenance cycle.
Maintenance and repairs carried out on a block. For
leaseholders and owners this may include some repairs to
communal areas.
11

Plymouth Community Homes
Princess Court
23 Princess Street
Plymouth PL1 2EX
Telephone: 0800 694 3101
Email: info@plymouthcommunityhomes.co.uk
Web: www.plymouthcommunityhomes.co.uk
Whitleigh Housing Office 0800 917 9498
Estover Housing Office 0800 917 9496
North Prospect Office 0800 917 9499
Devonport Housing Office 0800 917 9497
Leasehold Team 01752 388094
Resident Involvement Team 0800 917 9457
REPAIRS FREEPHONE 08082 306500
Registered Office: Ground Floor, Princess Court,
23 Princess Street, Plymouth, PL1 2EX
Charitable Industrial and Provident Society Registration No: 30637R