Reply To: Major Works billed as Service Charges

#4059

Hi wendyh. The response you received could have been phrased more clearly. There are two very different parts to the answer you received and possibly they should not be connected by being in the same paragraph.

“The feedback we received from leaseholders (more often than not from the leaseholders’ forum) is that they want more regular updates about leaseholders’ liability for major works” This was us asking for more information – leaseholders regularly complain to us about bill shock.

It does not mean that we asked for major works to be billed in advance: we just asked for more information to be made available. Just because the two sentences sit side by side does not mean we asked for this, nor does the response you receive actually claim that we did (but as I as said, it certainly could have been phrased better). So, any decision over billing in advance is a different matter which we were not consulted over as far as I am aware.

That said, with major works I know that there is a new (permanent) scheme where people can get a 5% discount if they pay towards the beginning of the scheme right at the start or can pay in agreed instalments (but sadly cannot get both the discount and pay in instalments!). The guide for these payment options isn’t ready yet as they have only been recently approved by Camden Council’s Cabinet. The Forum has been promised to have input on the guide in due course (in terms of trying to make it as user friendly as possible).

Hope that clarifies.