Help with council service charge!

[Tim2706]

 I have an actual leaseholder service charge bill of £12,000 from Southwark council . I find this shocking , Does anyone else have such high bill and if so how did they deal with this ?

 

With such high service charge bill will be difficult to have a 3 square meal a day. Thinking of contesting this as the bulk of the cost is the heating and lighting of the estate. 

 

 

 

Edited August 29, 2024 by Tim2706

[Sue]

  On 29/08/2024 at 17:23, Tim2706 said:

 I have an actual leaseholder service charge bill of £12,000 from Southwark council . I find this shocking , Does anyone else have such high bill and if so how did they deal with this ?

 

With such high service charge bill will be difficult to have a 3 square meal a day. Thinking of contesting this as the bulk of the cost is the heating and lighting of the estate. 

😮😮😮

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😮😮😮

[Sally Eva]

Go to the Citizens Advice Bureau which has a specific worker dealing with this. Have you just bought the property?

Edited August 30, 2024 by Sally Eva
too many question marks

[Cyclemonkey]

That seems very high.  My service chsrge in a private block is about £3k a year and that includes a contribution to a sinking fund for future works.   Is that just your service charge for day to day running costs or does it include a contribution to major works?  

You are entitled to request a copy of the accounts and budget.

[first mate]

Look at the Council scrutiny sessions on housing. There has been huge mismanagement, possibly bordering on criminal, and I believe this sector of the council is under some sort of investigation.

I would seek legal advice as the sort of money you are being asked to pay is extraordinary. If you have only recently bought the property it might also be worth asking why charges of this nature did not come up in searches?

[hfoster]

I would personally check if that figure is actually correct and if they have an itemisation for the charges before seeking legal action. It's highly likely that someone has mucked up there.

The only way I can imagine charges are that high is if you had several issues that needed fixing like cladding, foundations, etc.

[Azalea]

  On 29/08/2024 at 17:23, Tim2706 said:

 I have an actual leaseholder service charge bill of £12,000 from Southwark council . I find this shocking , Does anyone else have such high bill and if so how did they deal with this ?

 

With such high service charge bill will be difficult to have a 3 square meal a day. Thinking of contesting this as the bulk of the cost is the heating and lighting of the estate. 

  

 

 

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Contact LEASE - The Leasehold Advisory Service, for advice. If you are in a block, then contact your (owner occupier or owner landlord) neighbours to see if they received a similar bill. You can then band together to fight it.  How big is the estate? Has recent work been done? When did you buy the property? Is there a residents association?  What did your sellers information form say about upcoming work and charges?

[rago123]

Thanks for your reply. The property is actually my mother in laws . They lived there 20 years ago and bought it from the council through right to buy 15 years ago. I requested for an itemised bill and it mentioned that £5,000 was for heating and similar amount for lighting of the estate . Which just seems ridiculous 

[Kathleen Olander]

  On 09/09/2024 at 20:46, rago123 said:

Thanks for your reply. The property is actually my mother in laws . They lived there 20 years ago and bought it from the council through right to buy 15 years ago. I requested for an itemised bill and it mentioned that £5,000 was for heating and similar amount for lighting of the estate . Which just seems ridiculous 

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The itemised bill is probably for the entire estate rather an individual flat,  You would need to look at the invoice for the property.

[Sue]

  On 09/09/2024 at 20:46, rago123 said:

Thanks for your reply. The property is actually my mother in laws . They lived there 20 years ago and bought it from the council through right to buy 15 years ago. I requested for an itemised bill and it mentioned that £5,000 was for heating and similar amount for lighting of the estate . Which just seems ridiculous 

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I'm confused. 

Have you changed your forum name, or are you a different person from Tim2706?

[sweetgirl]

A friend of mine bought a leasehold property a few years ago.

(biggest mistake ever they found out in due time!)

it was a block of four.

2 were council, 2 were privately owned.

i cant remember the figures but in the end they had to sell up as what the council were requesting was too much for unnecessary works which they had carried out!

they sold the 2 bed flat, paid off the council then moved to Yorkshire where they brought a 3 floor, 4 bed house.

this was about 6 years ago.

leasehold properties are not worth it when these big bills arise!

there are so many horror stories, you have no option but to pay up!