What are Service Charges?

Service charges are payments by the leaseholder to the landlord for all the services the landlord provides. These will include:

maintenance and repairs, where specified in your lease
insurance of the building
and in some cases, lifts, lighting and cleaning of common areas, etc
the charges will also include the costs of South Cambridgeshire District Council's management of the building and administration

Service charges can vary from year to year; they can go up or down without any limit other than that they are reasonable.

Details of what can (and cannot) be charged by South Cambridgeshire District Council and the proportion of the charge to be paid by the individual leaseholder will all be set out in the lease.

South Cambridgeshire District Council arranges for the provision of the services and the leaseholder then pays for them via their service charge. All costs must be met by the leaseholders; and South Cambridgeshire District Council will generally make no financial contribution.

South Cambridgeshire District Council can only recover costs via your service charge, which are reasonable. Leaseholders have rights to challenge service charges they feel are unreasonable at the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT). For more information go to www.lease-advice.org. (This link will open in a new window)

South Cambridgeshire District Council will provide you with a yearly statement of your service charge account so that you may see exactly where and how your service charge money has been spent.

See our frequently asked questions for further information on service charges.