Under Section 20B of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a landlord has 18 months within which to notify you of service charge costs being incurred or demand payment from you.
If your accounts have not yet been finalised, you will have received a Section 20B letter informing you of the total draft service charges for your block or estate, please be aware that this notice is not the final account and is not a demand for payment.
This is a legal notice under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 as amended.
We are required to issue this notice if we are unable to produce the actual accounts within 18 months of incurring service chargeable costs.
A S20B Notice is a legal requirement notifying you that we require additional time to finalise the actual cost expenditure and notify you of the outcome.
The amount shown on the Section 20B letter is costs that have so far been associated to your home, however this expenditure is still subject to a validation process and may change as a result.
This is at present the best guide we can share with you.
This letter is NOT a demand for payment and does not include the estimates which you will have been paying towards in the year.
There are several reasons that have prevented the accounts being validated on time.
We have had staff changes which has slowed down the process.
Also, we are working with Third Party Managing Agents and other suppliers to gather the information we need.
We are working hard to try and resolve both these scenarios.
Year-end service charge accounts list the actual costs incurred in providing home and the difference between actual spend and what was estimated.
Year-end service charge accounts are calculated by comparing the actual costs of providing the services to your home, compared to what we estimated the charges would be for the same period.
If the actual costs are higher than the estimated costs, there will be an additional charge known as a deficit.
However, if actual costs are lower then you will receive a credit, which may result in a refund.
Service charges are costs for services such as but not limited to: cleaning, grounds maintenance and utilities that PA Housing provide to your home.
Depending on the type of property you live in, you may need to pay a service charge.
Service charges are payments made by you to cover the costs of providing communal services where you live.
If you rent your home, the service charge includes the cost of things like:
- grounds maintenance
- cleaning of communal areas
- cleaning of communal windows
- maintenance of lifts, door entry systems, fire alarm systems, and emergency lighting
- communal electricity, gas, and water
- other services that will be listed on your service charge estimate.
In some cases, there may also be staff costs, such as a caretaker.
The full list of services you receive will be included on the information we send you each year.
If you are a homeowner, you will also pay for day-to-day repairs to the building and communal areas.
We're sending out draft accounts
For the first time, we're sending out draft accounts ahead of your final accounts. As part of our ongoing commitment to help make sure your service charges are as easy to understand and as transparent as possible, we're sending these to give you more to time to ask questions before the accounts are finalised.
A draft service charge account is an early version of the year end summary of costs for your estate. It shows how much was spent on services for the estate and communal areas compared to what we estimated at the start of the year.
The draft helps you understand how your service charge money has been used and gives you a chance to ask questions. We’ll use this feedback to make any adjustments before issuing the final accounts.
Draft account: First version, figures may change. These do not show the amount for your home, just the estate as a whole.
Final account: Checked and confirmed version, showing the final balance you either owe or are owed. These accounts are also reviewed by independent auditors.
No, the variance is for the whole estate, not your home. The exact allocation of costs could vary according to services provided for individual blocks or groups of properties.
No payment is due now. We’ll let you know this when we send you the final accounts. Please continue to pay your normal service charge as usual.
The estimates are a budget of costs for the year ahead. The draft account shows the actual costs that we paid to suppliers and contractors. Differences happen because actual bills can be higher or lower than expected (for example, if energy prices rise, or if extra services were needed).
The word “draft” means it is not yet final – we share it with you so you can see the figures before they are confirmed.
If something looks wrong, or you don’t agree with a cost, you can raise a query. We’ll check and, if needed, correct it before the final version is issued.
Once any corrections or adjustments are made, the final account is issued.
The schedule of services is in the letter pack sent at the end of September.
You can ask for an invoice breakdown of your FINAL accounts only, but if something looks wrong, or you don’t agree with a cost, you can let us know now. . We’ll check and, if needed, correct it before the final version is issued.
If something looks wrong, or you don’t agree with a cost, please let us know. We’ll look into this and, if needed, correct it before the final version is issued.
We aim to issue the final accounts once we’ve done our final checks, apportioned the costs to your home and had sign off from our independent auditors We’ll send you the final accounts and will confirm if you have a balance to pay or if you’ll receive a credit. We know it’s important to you to be able to budget for any extra costs and we’re working hard to finalise the accounts as quickly as possible.
Before we issue final accounts, we:
- Check invoices: We make sure the bills we received match the services delivered.
- Review costs: We check that costs have been coded to the correct block or estate.
- Investigate unusual variances: If something looks higher or lower than expected, we check why.
- Review any feedback on the draft accounts.
- Balance accounts: We confirm whether you are due a credit or if we need to make a further charge to you.
- Approve the accounts through our independent auditors.
Only after this process do we issue the final accounts.
Credit: If we collected more than was needed, we’ll adjust this on your account. You may be able to claim a refund for this amount.
Charge: If we collected less than was needed to cover the actual costs, a charge will be applied to your account. You will need to pay this amount, we’ll let you know how to do this at the time.
These are draft accounts, and further work is still needed. We need to complete the validation of invoices and services at an individual level and calculate the amount due per resident in that estate. Once this is ready, the final accounts will have your share of the surplus, and the credit will be applied.
The draft accounts are subject to change and may result in costs changing when the final accounts are produced. There may be some additional costs, and/or costs removed when the final accounts are prepared.
The total estate variance is the maximum amount that can be recovered from the scheme. Service lines will vary within this balance.
If you have any questions about the draft accounts please contact please contact us at [email protected] using the subject “service charge draft query” or on 0300 123 2221 opt. 2 for housing.
