Service Charges

You must pay a Year End Service charge for the services you receive, for repair and maintenance to the building and for the landlord's insurance and management costs. Your lease will give more details of what service charges you must pay.

If you have any questions about your service charge, please contact the Leasehold Management Department in writing.  Your query will then be investigated and a response given within 10 – 14 days.  If you still dispute the service charge, you are entitled to appeal to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide on the matter.

If you don't pay your service charges on time, we will contact you to remind you that payment is due.  If you cannot pay, please contact us so that we can find the best way for you to make the payment.  If we do not hear from you at all, we will have to contact the county court for a judgment order.  If we have to take legal action against you, you will also have legal costs and interest added to the debt. You must meet us to sort out any disputes you have, and let us know your current financial position.

Once the county court has made a judgment order we will have a range of options to recover the amount you owe including:

• Getting your mortgage lender to pay your service charges (they will add this payment to what you already owe)
• Asking your employer to make a regular deduction from your salary until the amount you owe has been cleared
• Employing a bailiff or county-court sheriff to seize goods to the value of your debts
• Freezing your bank or building society accounts

We may also register a legal charge against any property you own; to protect the money we are owed. If necessary, we will apply to the court for 'forfeiture'.  Under forfeiture you will not only lose your home but will still owe us the money.

We do not want to take legal action, especially as it would mean that you will have to pay legal costs and this will add to your financial problems. However, it is very important that you work with us to sort out the problem and let us know your current position.  If you do not, we will take legal action.

Leasehold Management Team

E-mail:

housing@thanet.gov.uk

Tel: 01843 577268

Fax: 01843 577340