Argh! Did someone say service charges

The scale of the problem

For many years, service charges have been a challenge for housing providers. Grappling with the changing demands of customers, interpreting leases, meeting legislative requirements, and maximising recovery all require very different skills. Understandably, organisations have struggled to tackle the problem, often being put in the ‘too hard to do’ box.

In social rented stock, the service charge shortfall for 20/21 across all Private Registered Providers with over 1,000 units was 21%. In leasehold and shared ownership, the issue is often far worse, where data, lease and legislation challenges are amplified, and customers increasingly challenge costs through enquiries, complaints, and First-tier Tribunals.

With many providers continuing to utilise spreadsheets as a solution at some point in the process, there’s a risk that calculation errors can occur, and few controls are in place to intervene. When you consider that across housing providers, on average 78% of their turnover comes from Rent and Service Charge Income, you can see how a lack of controls can have a significant impact on your ability to deliver your purpose.

Simplify your service charges

Ad Esse has been working in the housing sector supporting service charge improvement projects for over a decade. However, we recognise that the challenge continues to grow and the sector needs a more comprehensive solution to the service charges problem. Enter Dan.

Dan is our service charge lead.* He will take responsibility for your organisation’s service charges over a period of 6-12+ months. He will stabilise your team, train your current staff across the organisation in the necessary details of service charges, develop and embed a comprehensive service charge strategy, redesign and embed new effective and efficient processes, and then rather than just making a swift exit, he will continue to coach and mentor your service charge leaders.

(*Due to demand for service charge support we are hiring more service charge leads who will be in post after the summer 2022).

In a nutshell

In a nutshell, we’ll sort it out for you, ensuring you maximise your income opportunities, improve the customer experience, make certain you manage risks effectively, and are compliant with legislation. 

With the cost of living crisis growing and more problems with service charges highlighted in the media each week, understanding your costs, and having ultimate control of your service is essential for survival. 

Take our free online service charges self-assessment.

Need help now? Email hello@ad-esse.com.