Service Charges: Greater London

(asked on 30th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment his Department has made of the the effect of landlord practices in (a) calculation, (b) charging and (c) administering service charges on leaseholders in (a) Poplar and Limehouse constituency and (b) London.


Answered by
Christopher Pincher Portrait
Christopher Pincher
This question was answered on 4th November 2020

The Government believes very strongly that service charges should be transparent and communicated effectively, and that there should be a clear route to challenge or redress if things go wrong.??The law is clear that service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to work or services, the work or services must be of a reasonable standard.

Disputes may be resolved informally between leaseholders and the freeholder, or leaseholders may make an application to the First-tier Tribunal to make a determination on the reasonableness of their service charges. There are two service charge codes of practice approved by the Secretary of State for the residential leasehold sector and private retirement housing published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Association of Retirement Housing Managers, which can be taken into account at court or tribunal proceedings where relevant.

The department does not hold information about service charge calculation and administration in Poplar and Limehouse or London, nor trends in disputes over service charges, how they are challenged or resolved. Service charges are the most common subject for enquiries to the Leasehold Advisory Service. Free initial advice regarding service charges as well as other leasehold matters may be obtained via the Leasehold Advisory Service, the specialist advisory body funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to provide assistance to leaseholders.

The Government established an independent?working group, chaired by Lord?Best,?to raise standards across the property sector, which?also considered?how fees such as service charges should be presented to consumers.?The working group published its final report to Government (see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/regulation-of-property-agents-working-group-report ) and we are considering?the report’s?recommendations and will announce next?steps in due course.

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