If you live on an estate, a private road, or in a block of flats, you will probably be paying a service charge in addition to your rent. A service charge is a charge connected to facilities or services that are related to your home, but do not form a part of your actual property. We organise and pay for these services, then pass the charge on to all residents affected via the service charge. You can also read our Service Charge Policy.
Some examples of the sorts of things that are part of the service charge:
Outside
- Gardening in communal gardens, or planted areas in-between homes.
- Keeping clean and tidy car parking areas and roads not maintained by the Council.
- Looking after the lighting in car parking areas.
- Communal gates, parking barriers or car parking schemes.
- Refuse collection, including dumped rubbish or abandoned cars.
Inside (in blocks of flats)
- Keeping the stairways clean.
- Looking after fire alarm systems.
- Maintaining the lift.
- Providing a door entry system.
- Maintaining the TV aerial system.
For certain items of equipment (a lift, for example) there are two separate charges – maintenance to pay for the running of the equipment, and depreciation, where we collect money and hold it for the eventual replacement of the item.
Electricity in the shared hallway of house conversions
If you live in a flat in a converted house there will usually be a small hallway that you share with your neighbour. Occasionally, there is a separate meter for the electricity supply for this hallway, which we will arrange to pay for, but more often the supply is run off the meter of one of the flats – usually the ground floor flat. Your Neighbourhood Officer should be able to advise you if the supply is from your meter and if so you can claim a set sum each year as reimbursement for the expense. Read our full Reimbursement of Communal Utilities Policy for more information, or contact your Neighbourhood Officer.
Information for residents
Every year, when your rent is reviewed, we will produce a schedule that sets out your service charge for the forthcoming year. We calculate the charge based on what we have spent in the previous year. You can get details of your service charge, or a copy of the latest schedule, at any time, on request to the Customer Services Centre. You can also get details of the particular services provided where you live – who the cleaners are, for example, and on what day they visit your estate. Please contact the Customer Services Centre for more information.
Quality control
All our estates are visited regularly by Housing staff and Technical Services staff. If we see any problems with the estate services, we will take it up with the contractor. If you are not happy with the estate services where you live, for whatever reason, please contact our Customer Services Centre.
Frequently Asked Questions
A fixed service charge is an amount residents pay to cover the cost of providing communal or shared services to a building and, if applicable, the surrounding estate. Under the terms of your agreement, you must contribute towards the costs incurred by Hexagon for any services or works to the building your home is in and the grounds or estate around it. You do this by paying service charges. How much you pay depends on the services you receive. We are committed to providing all our residents with value for money and a good quality service.
Each July, we will send you a demand for the day-to-day service charge for the forthcoming year. The service charge is how much you need to pay towards the total cost of managing and maintain your block building and the estate and the charge is dependent on the size, location, and age of the building. The block buildings and estates, we own and manage are all different, so too are the amounts that residents in different buildings are charged and as a tenant you are liable to pay towards the service charges. Where your property is a home within a block/estate, you will be required to pay a share of the overall charge for the block/estate covers the scheme charges such as communal gardening & estate management costs.
The income from our service charges is essential for us to continue to provide the services we are required to provide to you. This income pays to keep your homes safe, covers cleaning and grounds maintenance and the costs of managing your home (e.g., collecting rent, dealing with anti-social behaviour, and providing support to vulnerable people to enable them to stay in their home). It is also the income that allows us to borrow to build new homes which are so desperately needed.
The service charges you pay depend on where you live and the cost of the services you receive.
Each year, we assess how much we expect to spend on providing services to your property. This is based on an estimated cost, including inflation and the costs charged by our contractors.
These costs are then divided by:
- those customers who receive the service or
- the number of properties in each block.
The percentage you contribute is calculated according to the terms of your tenancy agreement. Costs are divided (or ‘apportioned’) among homes based on the cost of maintaining the block & estate of your property.
We recognise that many people are facing financial pressures, at the moment, but we have a range of assistance available to support customers to sustain their tenancies. If you are struggling to pay your rent & service charge, please call us on 020 8778 6699 to find out what support is available to you.
What is a service charge?
Here below are some of the common services we provide the cost of which may be recovered from your service charge.
The cost of cleaning different areas in and around your property. A checklist, listing all the specific tasks and frequency of visits, has been placed on your noticeboard or is being sent to you.
The cost of maintaining the communal grounds, including car parks. A checklist, listing all the specific tasks and frequency of visits, has been placed on your noticeboard or is being sent to you.
We remove bulk rubbish, external fly-tipping or dumped furniture and white goods. We also remove any items left in communal areas as they pose a fire risk and we will charge you for this.
To reduce future service charge costs, you are encouraged to dispose of rubbish responsibly and to keep communal areas clear of items.
Cleaning of the communal windows of the building your property forms a part of. Also, if you live in a block of flats where it is difficult to clean windows to individual flats then this service is provided by Hexagon and this cost is also recovered.
The cost of providing and repairing CCTV in your building and/or development/estate.
Supply of electricity to all communal electrical installations eg. lights, lifts, door entry systems.
Supply of water to all communal facilities eg. cleaning cupboards, external taps, as well as the removal of any waste water.
The provision of signs within your building and/or development/estate.
The statutory servicing of the Automatic Opening Vent (AOV). This controls the ventilation of smoke in the event of a fire.
Servicing, maintenance and repair of automatic car parking gates.
Servicing, maintenance and repairs for the water pumps in your building and/or development/estate.
Servicing, maintenance and repair of any communal door entry system.
The statutory servicing and inspection of communal fire alarm systems, emergency lighting, communal smoke detectors and fire equipment.
Servicing, maintenance and repairs to the lift/s in your building.
The costs of providing phone and/or broadband lines for communal systems such as lifts, door entry and other access control systems etc.
Maintenance and repairs to the communal television aerial in your building and/or development/estate.
Servicing, maintenance and repairs for the water booster pumps in your building and/or development/estate.
In the case of communal closed water systems there are periodic legionella tests carried out in addition to risk assessments of water supplies and regular maintenance flushing of water systems.
The maintenance and repairs to the communal areas and structure of the building that your property forms a part of and/or development/estate.
Replacement of lightbulbs in your building and/or development/estate.
The removal and/or the prevention of pests from communal areas of the building or development/estate.
Works carried out to trees somewhere within your communal area. Some of this is planned works following a survey to determine if a tree is or could be a hazard
Replacement floor coverings in your building.
The cost of carrying out decorations to external and internal communal areas of the building that your property forms a part of and/or development/estate.
