Service charge increase by Southwark C

[Harry73]

Hi,

Has anyone else just got their service charge 24/25 estimate on the East Dulwich Grove Estate? Ours has risen by 500%. The Council confirmed today that is correct. 

It’s to do with grounds maintenance which has almost ground to a halt.

Nowhere did it say it was raising by that much or explained why. Be interested if people have different figures or thinking of challenging.

[Esra]

Hi Harry,

We have the same here in Denmark Hill Estate too. It is unbelievably high, they estimated £3,368.77.

We are so frustrated. I am not sure we will be able to renew our mortgage as the banks don't want to take any risk on high service charged places.

I need advice from the Leaseholders' Associations as we don't have one here and I would like to register it asap to question bills.

Have you taken any actions already?

 

 

[Spartacus]

Do they give any breakdown for the increase ? 

Are they planning major or minor works over the next 12 months.

Sounds a large increase if there is no planned change to their maintenance for this year.

[spider69]

If there are any major works,minor works and the works cost more than £250 they have to issue notice of intention, S20, quotes etc and consult with leaseholders.

As the Service charge is just an estimate you need to know what the charges are for. 

As you are part of the Denmark Hill Estate I suspect you are being asked to contribute for any works on the estate. Not a good situation to be in.

Non leaseholders get off scott free.

[Harry73]

Thanks for your replies and sorry to hear that you are in the same situation Esra.

 

I’d recommend getting an appointment with the Leasholder Advisory Service so you know where you stand. I spoke to them at the weekend and they were great, however, they weren’t able to offer much hope, other than admitting that the set up is appallingly unfair and unreasonable. The only way to challenge is to pay the year and then ask for a review of the services re value.

 

I think we probably received a Section 20 in the post at some stage but we get 5-6 of these a year about different things and I’ve never been clear about what we are supposed to/can do with them. We don’t remember receiving the second part, that is suppose to lay out the estimates before a decision is made.

 

Re minor/major works - in the past, major works have been charged separately so I don’t think that’s what this is. I’m not sure about minor works.

 

We’ve asked the council for an explanation for the rise but have had no response yet as their reply time is 28 days, and trying to speak to anyone is impossible.

 

Esra, I’ll let you know if we learn anything new!

[sally buying]

Perhaps a more direct approach would be to email the head of leasehold management.

they are responsible for both major and service charges.

long ago Service Charges and Major works were 2 separate departments and the people involved knew in detail what was going on.  I was told long ago that both service charges and major works were combined. They then had to have knowledge about both even though they had no knowledge.

Got rid of those that knew and load everything on one person for a neighbour hood area.

What do you think could happen?

 

 

[Kaya snow 12]

My service  charge is almost £4,500 for a one bed how do they expect me to pay. I also had a separate  bill for £1,250 boiler repairs. I am still paying 

[Spartacus]

1 hour ago, Kaya snow 12 said:

My service  charge is almost £4,500 for a one bed how do they expect me to pay. I also had a separate  bill for £1,250 boiler repairs. I am still paying 

What does southwark provide for that amount of money? 

Does it include services like heating? Or is it basic only ? 

Sounds like motorists aren't the only cash cows being milked by councils 🤫

[marialeh]

Hi, we’ve also had an increase of about 30% with no explanation on why the council is incurring in these costs. 
no water, heating bills or works planned, just regular maintenance.

It would be great to share information here on how things develop because if this continues to happen each year, services charges will be impossible to keep up with. 

[Rockets]

It seems the council has identified a number of areas to increase revenue (according to Southwark news):

 

https://southwarknews.co.uk/area/southwark/budget-summary-key-points-from-southwark-councils-budget/

Southwark Council has found several ways of increasing income, including raising fees and charges and renting out council offices.

• Fee rises include the garden waste charge going from £60 to £80 per annum, raising planning fees, increasing the price of leisure services and commercial property rents.
• Southwark Council aims to raise over £1million by renting out its Tooley Street offices by 2026.
• The total budget proposals include additional income generation worth £7.6million.

I can't find the details of where that extra income generation of £7.6m is coming from...but you can probably bet it's from you and I and the residents of Southwark!

 

 

 

[Spartacus]

Forget phone thieves in East Dulwich, there are bigger thieves afoot (!) 

Who are they going to rent office space out to, due to flexible working a lot of firms are downsizing or moving out of London. 

Sounds like fantasy accounting there. 

[malumbu]

Interesting reading in the House of Lords Report on local authority funding and spending:

https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/local-government-finances-impact-on-communities/

Extracting some key parts of the report:

According to the NAO, total spending power for local authorities fell by 26% between 2010/11 and 2020/21.

In local authorities with social care responsibilities, their spending on social care rose from 52% to 80% of their spending power.

Services that saw spending reductions between 2010/11 and 2019/20 include:

• cultural and related services (–36.8%)
• planning and development services (–35.7%)
• non-schools education (–31.6%)
• housing services (general fund revenue account only) (–25.7%)
• highways and transport services (–23.6%)
• central services (–16.4%)
• environmental and regulatory services (–10.5%)

The report states that some efficiencies were gained and that up to 2018 general satisfaction remained high.

On the down side:

• he miles covered by bus routes fell 14% between 2009/10 and 2019/20, with deprived areas more likely to see reductions in routes.
• A third of England’s libraries closed between 2009/10 and 2019/20 with more closures in the most deprived areas.
• The timeliness of reviews for children on child protection plans declined. 91% of children on child protection plans had their reviews carried out within the required timescales in 2017/18, compared to 97% in 2009/10.

The Local Government Association (LGA) has also highlighted effects of reductions in funding. Writing about this in January 2024, it said:^[

• Spending is increasingly concentrated on fewer people, because councils have protected services such as social care (adult and children’s) where there are clearly defined statutory responsibilities and regulatory oversight.

Worth reading this report and the more alarmist paper from London Councils

https://www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/our-key-themes/local-government-finance/london’s-local-services-investing-future/decade-austerity

Over the decade to 2020, while overall public spending (Total Managed Expenditure) will have increased by 5 per cent, London local government will have seen the core funding it receives from government reduce by 63 per cent in real terms.

Even after allowing for grants from government and Council Tax, boroughs’ ‘spending power’ will have fallen by over a third (37 per cent in real terms per person, compared with 29 per cent across the rest of England).

 

Worth reading through both reports, the bigger picture is that there was a decade of unnecessary austerity (thanks  Osborne ) worsened by government ducking the issue of social care as we get older and creakier, with I expect the mental health of the younger generation affected by the pandemic with societal changes putting more stress on local authorities. 

Please do read and share your views, thanks

 

Edited March 20, 2024 by malumbu
Further change as I had omitted Chancellor's name. How could I forget George... Corrected HOC to HOL, thanks for the PM anonymous person!

[spider69]

• Southwark Council aims to raise over £1million by renting out its Tooley Street offices by 2026.

When Tooley Street was first purchased it was with the idea that Neighbourhood Housing offices would all be centralised in Tooley Street the surplus NHO offices sold off. It was was found that this building was too small so they then had to get another large office block around Queens Road/New Cross.   Tooley Street for the north of the Borough and the other for the south.

 

If they are thinking of renting out TS what happens to all the staff? Sacked or WFH

 

A good accountant could probably make a very rosy and believable spreadsheet including a vast income from Service Charges.

 

Where do all the diversity officers etc go.

 

 

[Rockets]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce7x901l8pko