Service charge: what you need to know
Service charges are charges for services you receive to the communal areas of your building or estate. All residents contribute to the cost of maintaining these spaces.
Service charge calendar
Most of the properties managed by Notting Hill Genesis follow the dates below. Your lease or tenancy agreement might mean the months are different so check your agreement so you know what to expect and when.
Service charge final accounts
If you pay variable service charges, we will send you a statement showing what we actually spent during the year. If the accounts are finished, this will include a request for extra payment if there is a deficit (we spent more than estimated), or details about money we owe you if there is a surplus (we spent less than estimated). If the accounts are not ready, we will complete them as soon as possible and send the final statement.
If you own your home through a lease or the freehold, the total surplus or deficit (refund or additional charge) will be added to your rent account.
If you rent your home from us, we will add this through a "prior year balance" charge or "PYB" (any refund or additional charge spread over the following year) to your regular rent payments.
Deciding and sharing service charge estimates
Before the start of the financial year, we will send eligible schemes a proposed service charge budget. This shows what your expected service charges will be and we welcome your feedback before we set the final amounts.
We will carry out early engagement where there is:
- An increase of more than 10% above September’s CPI.
- A new service has been added to the budget.
- Weekly charges are rising by more than £10 (or £43.33 per month).
- We recognise early engagement with a scheme would be valuable based on resident discussion.
We want you to feel informed and supported, so we welcome your feedback on these estimates before we finalise the charges. For schemes not selected for engagement, an explanation of the revised approach will be provided via email. All residents can access information about how service charges are set on our website.
We will take into account all feedback sent by residents and make any changes to the budget. We will also provide a response to all questions received during the engagement period.
We will send final service charge estimates to our residents. This will include any changes made following your feedback and shows the final charge for the new financial year along with a request for payment.
Your new service charge based on the final estimate starts.
News and updates
Read our latest news and updates on service charges to help provide you with further support and guidance.
Service charge Index and Report 2024
The TPI report provides averaged data on service charge expenditure across the estates different Housing associations in the UK manage, as well as a detailed analysis into the trends, and the factors causing rising bills.
Legal and regulatory
There are laws in place that protect you as a leaseholder and give you certain rights about your service charge.
Payment and Direct Debit
The easiest way for you to pay your rent and service charge is by Direct Debit. It might also be a condition of your lease to pay by Direct Debit.
Cost of living support
We appreciate that any rise is unwelcome, especially given ongoing cost-of-living pressures. To help you, we have a wide range of resources. You can find those on the cost-of-living support page.
