Helping customers understand their service charge
If you’re a Longhurst Group customer, you might have to make service charge payments to cover the costs of services provided to you. These payments will all be made in accordance with your tenancy agreement. Service charges only cover the costs we are charged by providers. We provide a full breakdown of service charges to customers each year.
We regularly receive questions relating to service charges and we’ve put together the following frequently asked questions and answers to help you understand more.
What is a service charge?
Your service charge is the money you pay towards the day-to-day running costs of the scheme or area where you live. Your charge covers many different services, depending on where you live.
A fixed service charge means that you pay the same amount every week or month during the financial year (April to March). This charge is based on how much we know or estimate it’ll cost to provide services in the scheme or area where you live.
If the service charges don’t cover the actual cost of the services provided, we’ll make up the shortfall, however, any surplus won’t be refunded.
How do we calculate a fixed service charge?
Your service charges are reviewed annually. We’ll make this review of your service charge as accurate as we can – and use information about what’s been spent in previous years and the contracts we’ve entered into for the coming year.
How will you inform me about my service charge?
If we send you information about changes to your rent, we’ll also send you a service charge schedule (this will usually be in February).
Your service charge schedule will be in a clear format, which details the services you receive and the costs of each service provided.
Can I choose not to use the services provided?
The total cost of the services provided are shared equally by everyone who benefits from them.
Customers can’t opt out of these services. For example, if the service charge contributes to maintaining a lift in a block of flats, you can’t opt out of the service charge by saying you always use the stairs.