Leaseholders and Homeowners

In the current circumstances, we understand that any increase to your service charges isn’t good news. However to enable us to keep up with rising costs, we need to increase service charges for the year ahead. Increasing our charges is essential to making sure that we can continue to fulfil our responsibilities in accordance with your lease or transfer.

In accordance with your lease or transfer, you may be required to pay ground rent and/or service charge payments for the costs of services provided to you.

Each service is independently reviewed based on market trends, expected inflationary changes and changes in prices for contracts. For responsive services it is based on the previous year’s actual costs.

We’ve provided a full explanation of different services later in this booklet. As a not-for-profit organisation, every penny we receive from you is spent on services you receive.

We’re committed to using the money we receive in the best possible way and work hard to deliver value for money by spending efficiently.

If you pay by Direct Debit, you don’t need to do anything; we’ll adjust your payments for you. You’ll receive a separate letter from us in March confirming the change. Please check this letter to ensure your Direct Debit has been adjusted accordingly.

If you pay by standing order, you’ll need to contact your bank to arrange to pay the new amount. Please ensure you use the master agreement reference number as the payment reference. If you need to check this, please log into the portal or contact us. If you’d like to set up a Direct Debit instead of making payments by standing order, please get in touch.

You can access a statement by logging into MyGUHG. If you don’t have a MyGUHG account, you can register here.

If you receive Universal Credit (UC), you’ll need to inform the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of your new charge by updating your UC journal after 1 April 2026. It’s important that you don’t report the change before it’s come into effect because this may delay your payments. If you’re eligible for Housing Benefit, whether payments are made direct to us or to you, it’s your responsibility to contact your local council directly to inform them of the change. If you need support with this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

If your entitlement doesn’t cover your payments, you’ll need to increase your payments to cover the difference. If you’re unable to do this, or think your entitlement is incorrect, please get in touch as soon as possible to discuss your situation.

If you’re struggling to pay your service charge, please get in touch with us at the earliest opportunity.

We understand that you might be unhappy with these increases and consider refusing to pay. If you take this decision, it will result in arrears building up on your account and we’ll then have to take action to recover the money that’s due. This can affect your credit rating and even put you at risk of losing your home. We want to avoid this unnecessary situation as it may mean you face more debt and possibly legal fees, which would only make your financial circumstances more difficult. If you miss a payment or fall into arrears, you must get in touch with us as early as possible to discuss any difficulties and what options are available to you. We’re here to help you.

We’ll send you a copy of the new property insurance certificate in April and we’ll also explain any changes to the previous insurance policy, if any.

The property insurance charge included in your letter is an estimated charge for the year and we’ll write to you when we send the certificate to let you know your actual property insurance cost for the year. Any adjustment will be made in your annual accounts.

Your service charge is the money you pay towards the day-to-day running costs of the scheme or area where you live. Your charge covers many different services depending on your lease or transfer.

A variable service charge means that you pay the same amount every week, month or quarter during the financial year (April to March). This charge is based on how much we know or estimate it’ll cost to provide services in the scheme or area where you live.

Within six months of the end of the financial year, annual accounts will be produced to show your income and expenditure for the year. If the service charge collected doesn’t cover the actual cost of the services provided, we’ll request a payment for the shortfall, or include the recovery in the following year’s service charge, depending on your lease. Any surplus will be credited to your individual customer account or included in your following year’s service charge, depending on your lease.

Your service charges are reviewed annually. We’ll make this review of your service charge as accurate as we can – and use information about what’s been spent in previous years and the contracts we’ve entered into for the coming year.

We’ll send you a service charge schedule with your annual charge review notification letter (this is usually in February). Your service charge schedule will be in a clear format, which details the services you receive, and the costs of each service provided.

The total costs of the services provided are shared equally by everyone who benefits from them, or in line with the apportionments set out in your lease agreement.

Customers can’t opt out of these services if they are being provided in line with your lease or transfer agreement. For example, if the service charge contributes to maintaining a lift in a block of flats, you can’t opt out of the service charge by saying you always use the stairs.

Service charge items explained

This is the cost of fixing or maintaining the security camera monitoring system.

This usually covers the costs of cleaning communal areas and floors within a block of flats.

You may have to contribute towards communal electricity charges. These are for items such as communal internal and external lighting. You’re normally responsible for all utility supplies that directly service your property and any charges from external suppliers intended for your own personal domestic use.

This covers the cost of the maintenance of communal areas that aren’t maintained by the local authority.

The cost of maintaining a communal TV aerial system.

This is the cost of repairs which we’re responsible for arranging under the terms of your lease or transfer.

You may have to contribute towards communal water charges. These are for services such as a water supply to communal gardens. You’re normally responsible for all utility supplies that directly serve your property and any charges from external suppliers intended for your own personal domestic use.

This covers the service and maintenance of communal door entry systems.

This includes the cost of servicing fire appliances, emergency lighting, servicing and maintenance of communal alarm systems and communal smoke alarms.

Some leases allow for a nominal ground rent. If applicable, this cost will be detailed on your review letter.

This covers the cost of maintaining a lift, including specific lift insurance.

This is a cost you’ll pay when a third party/agent has been appointed to provide additional services to a scheme, block or estate.

In accordance with your lease or transfer, you’re required to pay a fee to us for items such as managing and implementing service charges, setting up contracts where required, managing rent and service charge accounts and administration costs.

This covers the structure of your property and communal buildings – where applicable on schemes – against insurable risks. Please note, you’re still required to source your own contents insurance to protect your own belongings.

This covers the costs of waste disposal which the local council isn’t responsible for. This includes fly-tipping or any personal items left in communal areas that pose a fire risk and need to be disposed of.

If your lease or transfer permits the collection of sinking funds, we’ll collect a contribution based on the estimated expenditure of replacing, repairing or renewing large communal items that we’re responsible for. This can include a new roof or replacement doors. The contributions are held in trust in a separate account until required.

This service is provided to communal windows and/or property windows, where applicable.