This page will give you further information about how Service Charges work for Tenants of Cadwyn properties.

Service charges cover the costs of maintaining communal areas for your block or estate.

The landlord provides the services, while the tenant pays for them. Service charges include items such as cleaning of communal hallways, grounds maintenance, window cleaning, lifts, management costs and any other running expenses to the block or estate. The landlord will generally make no financial contribution for the services, but sometimes has to pay for the services before they can get the money back from the tenant.

Every year at the end of February we write out to you with details of your rent and service charge (where applicable).  This is to inform you of what charges will be made from April 1st.  Below you will find some frequently asked questions.

Tenants will only be charged if their home benefits from that service.

What are Cadwyn’s customer standards in relation to service charges?

We aim to:

  • deliver value for money on services
  • consult about any significant changes to services
  • give clear information about how services are managed

We are continuing to improve the way we manage service charges taking into account feedback we receive from our tenants. We hope the improvements have already been noticed. Over the next year or so we will continue to implement improvements at every opportunity.

How are Service Charges calculated?

Service charges are variable; we base them on the actual or estimated cost of the services provided to our properties. This means they vary from year to year.

At the end of February each year we send all our residents who pay a service charge an estimate for the forthcoming financial year, which starts on the 1st of April. This is our forecast of how much we think it will cost us to provide the services during the year from April to March.

This is based on:

  • spending in previous years,
  • estimating the increase due to inflation
  • adding in any increases or decreases in spending that we know about for the coming year

At the end of every financial year we compare how much it actually costs us to provide the services with the original estimate. If we have spent more than estimated there will be a deficit and this will be added to the service charge the next year. If we have spent less than estimated there will be a surplus and it will be taken off the following year’s charges.

What services are chargeable?

Here are some of the services provided to our residents. These are service chargeable:

  • Staff costs for providing the services
  • Communal Utilities
  • Communal grounds maintenance
  • Communal internal cleaning
  • Door entry-phone
  • Electronic gate
  • CCTV
  • Manual gate
  • Communal water/Communal water – Legionella testing
  • Communal fire safety
  • Communal car park maintenance
  • Communal repairs – estate
  • Management fee
  • Laundry facilities

What’s not included?

  • Council tax
  • Water rates
  • Gas bills
  • Electricity bills

You are responsible for paying all bills for utilities and Council Tax

How do I query items on my service charge schedule?

The letter we send out to you annually contains details of individual services and what each of them costs. If you require more detailed information of how your service charge is worked out then please contact Louise Kelly on 029 20434417 or email louise.kelly@cadwyn.co.uk.

What should I do if I am not satisfied with the level of service provided by Cadwyn (or their contractor)?

Please contact us as soon as you can to report any problems with the level of service. We want to ensure value for money for our tenants. We can clarify what services are being provided, how often and to what standard. We will address issues if standards are not being maintained, but we can’t do this if we don’t know there is a problem.

 

Contact your Neighbourhood Officer or email us at info@cadwyn.co.uk and we will look into your query and give you a response.