Service Charges

Consistency, Fairness and Transparency

Our mission is to ensure our clients are receiving best value for money from the service charges on their business premises.

Service charges are the costs of operating and maintaining multi-let properties such as paying for utilities in common areas and maintaining the outside of the building. It is generally the landlord’s responsibility to administer these services with the tenants obligated to pay for them. In any case service charges should result in a neutral financial position with neither party profiting – i.e. they should not be more or less than the cost of the services rendered.

Consistency, fairness and transparency should be the order of the day where service charges are concerned. However this is all too often not the case and they become a matter of dispute between many landlords and tenants. Disputes can arise from issues such as lack of transparency in the accounting practices of the managing agent through to whether an item should be repaired or replaced.

We are able to advise on all aspects of service charges including lease obligations, full analysis of historic, current and future costs, sinking and reserve funds, apportionment of charges and repair versus replacement disputes.

Helping our clients reduce these costs while maintaining an appropriate level of service is at the heart of this advice.