Service Charges
Your service charge questions answered
We have listed the answers to the most frequently asked service charge questions below.
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Why are service charges recalculated each year?
Each year we calculate what we have spent on providing the services to your home. This is based on an actual costs from a previous year. We also regularly review our service costs to ensure that they deliver value for money. As a result, charges can vary each year. Where this results in an increase, we will ensure that any increase is reasonable.
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What’s on my service charge statement?
You will see your services listed and will see a weekly cost against the services you receive.
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Why do I pay a different service charge to my neighbour?
Even though you may receive the same services as your neighbour, the terms of your tenancy agreement can sometimes mean you pay a different amount depending on when your tenancy started.
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How does Pobl know what to charge for estate costs like cleaning services and grounds maintenance?
If the service is provided by our in-house staff, we will know how much this costs to deliver because we pay the wages, the vehicle costs, the materials and this budget is set each year. If the service is provided by an external contractor, they give us set costs for the period of the contract, usually increasing annually in line with inflation.
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What is the administration charge for?
This is what it costs us to manage and administer service charges, doing things like tendering for works, managing contracts, paying invoices, dealing with customer queries and preparing the statements.
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How do I query items on my service charge?
Please contact our Service Charge team by emailing Servicecharges@poblgroup.co.uk
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Are there any important changes to this year’s charges?
The changes to this years charges include:
Electricity – Communal and Personal
Although we base our service charges on actual costs from the previous year, there are times we need to estimate increases we expect to see in the current year. This is because we are coming to the end of our fixed rate electricity contract and expect to see increases during the year. For this reason, we have increased the electricity charge by 50%. At the end of the year, we will compare what we have collected to what we have charged and if you have paid more than the cost we will credit the difference reducing the following year charge.
Fire servicing
Legislation has changed around fire servicing and we now need to provide an increased service including a fire risk assessment on every block. To ensure the costs are apportioned fairly we have split the amount between every property this relates to rather than your other charges which are split by block. This ensures everyone pays the same proportion of the cost and receives the same service. Some will see their Fire servicing costs reduce while others will see an increase.
Most common service charges
The service charge covers communal facilities, estates costs and personal costs.
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Communal Facilities
TV Aerial – Communal TV Aerial shared between dwellings (repairs and replacement)
Communal Cleaning – Cleaning communal corridors, rooms and staircases
Communal Electric – Lighting and heating of communal areas
Communal Gas – Heating of communal areas
External/Street Lighting – Lighting surrounding the block/site (including street lighting on non adopted roads)
Communal Rates – Council Tax relating to communal rooms
Communal Water – Water costs metered or unmetered for communal kitchens or laundry facilities
Telephone – Lift or communal telephone
Laundry – Laundry equipment provided in communal areas for use
CCTV – In communal areas in or around blocks/sites
Fire Servicing – Fire risk assessments, servicing of communal safety equipment and alarm
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Estate Costs
Decoration – Communal area decoration
Car Park – Cost to maintain the area you park your vehicle including barriers and roller shutter doors
Grounds Maintenance – Cutting of grass and hedges, litter picking in and around block/site
External Cleaning – Cleaning of bin stores and recycling points
Window Cleaning – Communal window cleaning only
Refuse Collection – Collection of bins on sites with un adopted roads
External management fee – Charges as part of site management from a third party to Pobl
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Personal Costs
Personal Gas – When a scheme shares one meter the costs are apportioned between customers and the communal areas based on size of communal spaces
Personal Electricity – When a scheme shares one meter the costs are apportioned between customers and the communal areas based on size of communal spaces
