Property Service Charges, the What's & How's

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Category: Non-Rent Monies

Service charges at properties can be a hidden time-tomb just waiting to go off if you don’t understand them right from the beginning.

The idea is simple – to share-out costs for running and maintaining the shared parts of a property.

But the practice is complicated, with sudden charges and unexpected issues.

Therefore, whether you’re a tenant left to pay a service charge, a landlord working out how to operate and raise one, or an advisor stuck in the middle trying to communicate them – here are five key questions answered about them.

CLICK HERE to immediately download a Fact Sheet summarising the 5 key factors to cost-effective service charges at any property interest.

1. What is a Service Charge at a Property?

In short...

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The Tenant Fees Act 2019 Changes

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Category: Non-Rent Monies

This piece of legislation has caused ripples through the residential property lettings sector in terms of trying to deal with the fair way that landlords and managing agents can pass on various types of payments to residential tenants.

Here’s a quick broad-brush summary of the three main types of changes that this has made:

1. Removed Fees

This is the hot topic, with landlords and agents no longer being allowed to pass on letting and administration fees to tenants.
It isn’t retrospective, but does apply to all tenancies both existing and new from 1st June 2020.

Even if a lease says a landlord can charge say a renewal fee, this legislation overrides this and prevents.

It also applies to wider licences to occupy within the residential...

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Make Sure Missing Service Charge Details Don’t Screw-Up a Property Deal

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Category: Non-Rent Monies

When you’re progressing an important property deal, whether a sale of a flat or a letting of commercial property, all can be ticking along nicely until the world of service charges are discovered.

This is usually through solicitors as they weed through legal information on the property. Still, it could be another party like a managing agent or even an on-the-ball purchaser or tenant.

They’re the sort of charges that appear straightforward at face value. Yet, much is paid every year towards communal running costs, maybe a shared entranceway in a block of flats or a rear yard at a parade of retail shops.

However, problems can appear when you discuss actual hard-fast accounts in detail. Suddenly these can be lagging, which means that...

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