Delivering Value for Money

Managing service charges responsibly and transparently

In 2007 you said:

"The budgeting and communication about service charges is starting to improve. Presentation is better and we seem to be getting it through a bit quicker.”

“We would like more face-to-face meetings so that when they are sorting out the charges they can run through them with us."

"We need greater levels of transparency around how the service charge is communicated and what's driving the increase in cost."

So we will be doing more to:

  • Explore and identify ways to reduce service charge costs.
  • Monitor and manage our agents' performance in service charge management, assessing their ability to deliver within budget and to provide management information to you on a timely basis.
  • Benchmark our service charge costs against the market, through OSCAR.

In 2005 you said:

"I want a clear breakdown of the actual against the budget and an explanation of where the differences are and why they have occurred."

So we started providing you with…

  • A budget pack, including a three year forecast with key cost drivers, standardised line item cost categories and statements of policy.
  • A mid-year forecast, including a review of expenditure, forecast of expected costs to the year-end and an indicative budget for the following year.
  • An annual reconciled statement of the service charge account for the previous year.

27%

VALUE FOR MONEY


Only 27% of occupiers said that the service charges offer value for money and so we will be focusing on improving this.
View the information we provide occupiers within our standardised budget pack

Download the RICS Code of Practice In Service Charge Management 2007
Watch a summary presentation on service charge management, including plans for improvements.