BLB Solicitors
  • +01225 755656
  • enquiries@blbsolicitors.co.uk
BLB Solicitors
  • +01225 755656
  • enquiries@blbsolicitors.co.uk
  • Home
  • Services for You
    • Conveyancing Solicitors
    • Leasehold Solicitors
    • Property Dispute Solicitors
    • Divorce, Family Law and Mediation
    • Lifetime Planning and Wills
    • Probate and Estate Administration
    • Equity Release Solicitors
    • Retirement Property Conveyancing
    • Personal Injury Compensation
    • Medical Negligence Solicitors
  • Services for Business
    • Commercial Property
    • Commercial Property Disputes
    • Corporate & Commercial Legal Advice
    • Estate Management Solicitors
  • BLB Solicitors Locations
    • Almondsbury Solicitors
    • Bath Solicitors
    • Bristol Solicitors
    • Bradford on Avon Solicitors
    • Swindon Solicitors
    • Trowbridge Solicitors
  • About Us
    • Our Team
    • Working for BLB
    • BLB Solicitors – How we work
    • Making Payments to BLB Solicitors
    • Instructing BLB Solicitors
    • Terms of Business
    • Complaints Policy
    • Interest Policy
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Home » What are service charges?

BLB News
Bath Western Riverside Apartments
Mar 1st, 2021

At BLB Solicitors, our goal is simple – to deliver you clear, practical legal advice and cost-effective solutions. We hope you enjoy exploring our Blog. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please do contact us.

What are service charges?

If you have a long lease of a flat or a house, you will probably be familiar with service charges. They are the sum paid annually by each leaseholder in a block or on a development, to fund the upkeep of areas or to pay for a particular service, which benefits all the contributing properties. The service charge will be your share, as defined in your lease, of the service costs incurred by your landlord or management company. Usually, you will be obliged to pay sums on account of the estimated service costs for the following year, with an accounting reconciliation process at the end of each year.

What can my landlord charge me for?

The services which can be charged for will be set out in your lease. You will not be responsible for charges unless they are specified in the lease. Typically, service charges include the cost of insuring the building, cleaning and lighting communal hallways and stairs, and tending to and maintaining external areas such as gardens and paths. If there are unadopted services such as drains or an estate road, their maintenance costs will almost certainly be included, as will management costs.

Often, a contribution is required to a reserve or sinking fund to spread the cost of more occasional but expensive work such as roofing works. If you sell your home before this fund has been spent, you will only receive a refund if that is provided for in your lease, which is unlikely, or your buyer agrees to reimburse you.

Average service charge for flats

While every block is different, service charges are typically in the region of £1,000 to £2,000 per year for most flats. However, for new-build flats and for those in London, you can expect the service charge to exceed £2,000.

Service charge disputes

You should not pay too much in service charges, and if you are a long leaseholder, there is a great deal of legislation in place designed to protect you. In principle, you should only pay service charges that are reasonable. This includes your share of service costs that are both reasonably incurred, and reasonable in amount.

Service costs would be unreasonably incurred if they relate to work that is not needed. For example, if the building’s windows could have been satisfactorily repaired, but were replaced at greater cost, you would not have to pay the extra cost associated with replacement.

Service costs would be unreasonable in amount if the work could have been completed at a significantly lower cost. This does not require the landlord or management company to procure the work at the lowest cost possible, but if it could have been done for, say, half or two-thirds of the actual cost, you may have grounds to succeed in avoiding paying the extra cost. An example would be where the work was initially done poorly, requiring repeat or remedial work at extra cost. In principle, your share of the resulting extra cost would not be payable.

In addition, leases are sometimes poorly drafted, which can lead to disputes, particularly when the parties have each been working on the basis of their own interpretation of what should be paid. The court or Tribunal will reach a decision based upon what they believe the parties have agreed in the lease, or intended to agree, which can differ from what the parties should have agreed, even where that appears unfair or even disastrous for one of the parties.

Mike Hansom
Request a Call Back

Recent Articles

  • Do I have to have a funeral?
  • Grandparents’ rights to see grandchildren
  • Is it legal to…?
  • BLB Swindon relocates to carbon neutral premises
  • Areas of England to be earmarked as low tax ‘investment zones’

Newsletter Sign-up

* indicates required

Share this article

You may also like...
  • Sep 1st, 2022
    Home working and data protection
    Read Article
  • Jul 12th, 2023
    BLB Swindon relocates to carbon neutral premises
    Read Article
View All Related Articles
Get in-touch today
Contact Form

Left Column

Right Column

Centre

 
Sending
  • Bristol Solicitors

    0117 905 5308
  • Bath Solicitors

    01225 462871
  • Bradford on Avon Solicitors

    01225 866541
  • Swindon Solicitors

    01793 615011
  • Trowbridge Solicitors

    01225 755656
  • Almondsbury Solicitors

    0117 905 5308
Authorised & Regulated by Solicitors Regulation Authority (No. 636644)
©2025 BLB Solicitors | Terms | Privacy | Legal