Service charge FAQs

What does my service charge cover?

Service charges are payable to the landlord to reimburse them for the cost of services, repairs, maintenance and insurance. The amount of the service charge will vary each year, depending on the cost of providing the services or carrying out works, and we will only ever recover the exact amounts spent on the relevant services, plus a reasonable management fee.

Here are some of the common services we provide 

The cost of the following services may be recovered from your service charge:

Service charge Description	What this charge covers
Cleaning Of Communal Areas	Regular cleaning of communal areas and other work when needed.
Communal Water Charge	Water and sewerage charges in supported housing. It doesn't include unmetered water charges.
Communal Window Cleaning	Regular cleaning of windows in communal areas and some windows in supported housing.
Door Entry Telephone Rental & Maintenance	Maintenance of door entry systems.
Electricity For Lighting Of Communal Areas	Electricity used in communal areas. If you live in independent living, a proportion of this charge will be for use of the facilities within the scheme.
External Estate Services	Charges raised by another management company delivering a service on our behalf.
Forestcare Services	Provision of out of hours repair callout service
Gas	Gas heating used in communal areas.
Lift Maintenance	Contract maintenance of communal lifts in blocks of flats.
Maintenance Of Fire Alarms	Maintenance and testing of fire alarms in blocks of flats and call-out charges for fault reports.
Maintenance Of Fire Equipments	Maintenance and testing of emergency lighting in blocks of flats. It doesn't include repairs.
Management Charge	This covers the costs of silva as landlord associated with providing services, managing properties, issuing and calculating service charges, managing service charge accounts, the collection of service charges, for investigating/ responding to enquiries and providing advice about service charges and your property.
Pesticides & Pest Control	Pest control in communal areas. It doesn't include pest infestations in an individual home or if it's caused by one household.
Refuse Collection/removal	Contractor rubbish collection, removal and other work when needed.
Repairs	Repair obligations as apportioned in your lease agreement.
Sinking Fund	Contribution to meet the cost of future capital expenditure.
Water Softening & Purification	Testing for Legionella as legally required. Includes risk management, testing and remedial work.
Landscaping	Regular gardening, hedge trimming, tree maintenance and other work when needed
Estate Services	Litter picking and Silva staff removing bulk rubbish
S125 adjustment	A 5-year cap to limit the service charge cost from the date you purchased your home.
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Service charge FAQs

What is the management fee?

The management fee is the fee recovered by Silva Homes and/or the management company to cover the administration costs associated with providing services. Costs generally include:

• The setting up and management of rent and service charge account payments
• Procuring estate and/or block works, making payments to contractors and keeping accounts
• The management and production of service charge accounts each year, including issuing and calculating charges
• Responding to customer enquiries and carrying out additional leasehold management such as dealing with breaches of the lease.

Our management fee is benchmarked within the lowest quartile for social housing providers in England and is well below the average cost of private managing agent fees.

How is my individual service charge contribution calculated?

Your service charge contribution is calculated according to the terms of your lease agreement. Costs are divided (or ‘apportioned’) among properties in a block or development. Depending on your lease terms, the division can be either by the number of properties in the block/development, relative floor areas, number of bedrooms, or rateable value. Your lease agreement will contain the details.

What is a service charge estimate?

We issue service charge estimates annually in April. The estimate is a breakdown of the anticipated overall cost of services over the next accounting period. Estimates are calculated based on costs in previous years while taking into account any upcoming one-off charges we are aware of.

Because it is an estimate, the balance of your account and the payments collected may need to be adjusted once actual service charges are calculated.

What is a service charge actual?

We issue service charge actuals in September. Unlike the estimates, which are a forecast of charges for the coming accounting period, actuals are a breakdown of the actual costs incurred over the previous accounting period.

How do the accounting periods work?

For leaseholders:

The accounting period at Silva Homes is one year, running in line with the financial year from 1 April to 31 March. An example service charge timeline on a rolling basis is:

• April 2023 – Silva Homes issues an estimate of what the service charge is likely to be for the accounting period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
• April 2023 – Silva Homes begins to calculate the actual service charges incurred between the accounting period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
• September 2023 – Silva Homes issues the actual service charges covering the accounting period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
• April 2024 – Silva Homes issues an estimate of what the service charge is likely to be for the accounting period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.
• April 2024 – Silva Homes begins to calculate the actual service charges incurred between the accounting period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

 

For shared owners:

The accounting period at Silva Homes is one year, running in line with the financial year 1 April to 31 March. An example service charge timeline on a rolling basis is:

• February 2023 – Silva Homes issues an estimate of what the service charge is likely to be for the accounting period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.
• April 2023 – Silva Homes begins to calculate the actual service charges incurred between the accounting period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
• September 2023 – Silva Homes issues the actual service charges covering the accounting period 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
• February 2024 – Silva Homes issues an estimate of what the service charge is likely to be for the accounting period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Why is there a difference between my estimated service charge and the actual service charge?

For leaseholders:

We do our best to calculate service charge estimates as accurately as possible, but we are not able to foresee every possible charge that might be incurred over a twelve-month period. When you receive your service charge actuals breakdown in September, any change in your account balance is in relation to costs already incurred during the previous accounting period and is not a reflection of the current accounting period.

If the actual service charges are lower than the estimate, a credit will be applied to your account. If the actual service charges are higher than the estimate, a further balance will be due.

If you pay your service charge by Direct Debit:

If the actual service charges are lower than the estimate, a credit will be issued and your direct debit for the current period will be adjusted to reflect the reduced balance.

If the actual service charges are higher than the estimate, then a new invoice is issued and an additional direct debit instruction is set up to collect over the next five months so that the full balance is repaid by the end of the following March.

If you do not pay your service charge by Direct Debit:

You will receive an invoice for any outstanding balance, payment of which is due within 30 days.

 

For shared owners

We do our best to calculate service charge estimates as accurately as possible, but we are not able to foresee every possible charge that might be incurred over a twelve-month period.

When you receive your service charge actuals breakdown, the figures include any adjustments to the balance of your account and the ongoing payments to be collected.

If the actual service charges are lower than the estimate, the difference is divided by six and deducted from your monthly payments for the next six months.

If the actual service charges are higher than the estimate, the difference is divided by six and added to your monthly payments for the next six months.

Any increase or decrease in monthly payments after receiving the service charge actuals in September are in relation to costs already incurred during the previous accounting period and are not a reflection of the current accounting period.

Why have I received a statement indicating I'm in arrears when I haven't missed any payments?

For leaseholders

If you pay service charges on a monthly rather than an annual basis, your account will show as in arrears. This is because when actual service charges are due, we must calculate your overall account balance by taking into account any additional monies owed. However, because any outstanding balance is being repaid on a monthly basis, we do not chase these arrears.

Your overall account is technically in arrears for the year, and your monthly statement will show any remaining annual balance. However, your regular payments will show the balance decreasing. If monthly payments are maintained, the balance should be cleared in advance of the next financial period.

If you have an arrears balance due to a missed invoice or payment or have any other concerns about the balance of your service charge account, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Why is my service charge different to that of my neighbour?

Some service charge elements may differ from property to property depending on whether the property is owned or tenanted and depending on the conditions of each individual lease. Monthly payments may also vary based on individual repayments, particularly in relation to repairs which may not affect all properties in a block/development.

How are communal bills such as for communal electricity divided up?

Unless your lease states otherwise, communal bills are apportioned via a calculation taking into account the floor area of each property in a given block or development. We use an industry-standard calculation because it is not possible to divide and apportion communal utility bills according to individual usage. However, if you have any further questions about communal bills and your service charge breakdown please don’t hesitate to ask.

Why is there an 'estate charge' on my service charge breakdown?

For shared owners

Estate charge is a technical term for the charge collected by the external management company to cover their operational costs. Silva Homes collects this charge on their behalf and passes the monies on to them. We do not set the estate charge as this is set by the management company.

If you staircase to 100% ownership of your property, you may need to sign a document called a deed of covenant. This means that you will begin paying the estate charge (and other service charges where applicable) directly to the management company.

Why am I being charged for refuse collection when this is done by the council?

Charges for refuse collection relate to the collection of additional refuse such as overspill or other illegal waste. Our estate services teams keep communal areas clean and safe and will remove any abandoned items such as furniture or other illegal waste.

If we are aware of which specific property is responsible for the waste, we will bill 100% of the incident cost to that service charge account. We do our best to investigate, but it is not always possible to identify which property/resident(s) are responsible. If we are unable to identify the responsible party, the cost is split between all properties.

If you observe abandoned items and illegal waste in communal areas, please contact us so we can investigate and make the area safe.

How are charges calculated for grass cutting and hedge clipping?

Our estate services team visit regularly throughout the year and their planned schedule is as follows:

Blocks of flats: 10 grass cuts between April and October, two hedge cuts between November and March, one weed spray.

Estates with houses: six grass cuts between April and October, two hedge cuts between November and March, one weed spray.

Fewer cuts than this may be required, and you will only be charged for actual cuts.

How are estimates for repairs calculated?

We estimate the next accounting period/financial year's repair charge by averaging the repair cost over the previous three years.

Why am I being charged for an FRA (Fire Risk Assessment)?

In line with government requirements, we are legally required to carry out FRAs on a regular basis. Depending on the property, the fire safety expert will recommend an updated assessment every one or two years.

Why am I being charged for fire fighting equipment when there is no obvious fire fighting equipment like fire extinguishers?

Maintenance of fire fighting equipment is a catch-all term for the upkeep of any equipment such as:

• Dry risers - compartments that carry wiring and other services between floors that must be checked regularly to ensure that fire cannot spread between floors
• AOVs - automatic opening vents, i.e. windows in communal areas that open automatically in the event of a fire to allow smoke to escape
• Fire risk compliance checks - carried out periodically by Estate Services or specialist contractors

I only recently purchased my property, what am I liable to pay?

We are legally only able to issue service charge demands to current leaseholders and cannot pursue former leaseholders for outstanding balances. We strongly advise customers to ensure that the balance of the service charge account including any pending charges is cleared prior to completion. It is also advisable to agree on a retention to cover any potential post-completion charges incurred by the previous leaseholder.

If you have recently completed and received a service charge demand covering a period during which you were not a leaseholder, we would recommend you contact your solicitor to enquire if any funds were held on retention to cover post-completion costs.

I am concerned about the status of my service charge account

If you are concerned about your ability to keep up with your service charge payments, please contact our team at service.charge@silvahomes.co.uk and we will be happy to talk through options with you.