What are service charges?
As a lessee, your lease requires you to pay your share of the costs of managing the block and estate (this includes insuring, maintaining and repairing the exterior and communal parts of the building and providing any other service specified in the lease). You also contribute towards the management and maintenance of the communal estate areas.
Your lease also requires you to pay your share of the costs of any major repairs to your building or estate, and any improvements that benefit you or your flat.
The council is legally obliged to charge leaseholders for their share of its costs and to make sure the charges it sets are reasonable.
