Service charge for maintenence of smoke alarms / emergency lights in common parts

[GreyArea]

Hello all,

 

I am looking for advice on the following:

 

In March of last year my next door neighbour noticed a new "service charge" had been added to his weekly service costs by our Housing Association. This charge was labelled as "Maintenence contract service charge" and was for £3 a week. He also noticed that a charge of £3 was also being levied as a deficit for the previous year. This meant his total service charge had increased by £6 a week. He queried this amount with the HA and was told that the charge was for the maintenence of the common parts hallway smoke alarms and for the emergency lighting that is installed on the hallway stairs.

 

Apparently sometime in 2014 our HA entered into a contract with an outside contractor to maintain these items and has now told him and the 2 other residents in his block that he will now have to pay these ongoing costs as a "service charge". As well as this because the contract was entered into in 2014 he is being charged an extra £3 retrospectively to cover the deficit. The contract was brought in with no consultation with the residents.

 

As he is a pensioner he is the only one who actually pays this amount (from his pension) because the other two residents have their housing benefit paid for by the state and they are not interested in fighting this because one is moving out and the other wears a tinfoil hat and believes that if he kicks uo a fuss he will have his tenancy revoked.

 

My neighbour has lived in his flat for over 19 years, during the whole of that period the smoke alarms and the emergency lights were maintained by the HA without a charge being made on the tenants. His property is part of a terrace of buildings which the HA also owns and none of the residents in those blocks (including me) have to pay this service charge despite the fact that we are all under the same maintenence contract (although that may change in March when next years service charges are published!).

 

Our position is this, in our tenancy agreements the landord is responsible for the maintenence of the fabric of the building and the common parts fixtures and fittings such as lighting, front door security intercom, decoration etc. and therefore we believe that the HA is responsible for the costs of maintenaing the installed smoke alarms and emergency lighting. We have a residents handbook that describes what the tenants are responsible for and nowhere in this booklet does it say anything about the tenants being responsible for the maintenence costs.

 

My neighbour has started a dispute process with the HA and has witheld the disputed amount from his weekly rent and service charge payment as per his right according o our Tenant's Charter, this was the only way he could get them to address his concerns but it has taken over 10 months and the threat of his tenancy being repossessed (now fotunately held in abeyance after we appealled the decision) before they have acknowledged his complaint. He feels that because of budget cuts the HA is bringing in "stealth" maintenence charges for what had previously been its responsibility and he wishes to have an adjudication into if they can actually charge this cost to the residents. Unfortunately he has to exhaust the HA's own complaints procedure before he can exercise this option.

 

He and I (as concerned neighbour and spokesperson for other residents in the neighbouring properties) had a recent meeting with the HA as the first stage of the complaints procedure (although we were not aware of this fact at the time - we thought it was just an informal chat at which we could get the charge dismissed amicably). At this meeting we were suposed to discuss the matter with the HA's own Housing Manager however because she cried off sick at the last moment the man who we actually met with was the one responsible for imposing the so called "service charge" (the Rent Services Manager) and he was the only person that we were allowed to talk to, needless to say after 90 minutes of him parroting his own decision we said we would have to take our complaint further which means we either get "lawyered up" with all that means about costs or we can get evidence that the HA is abusing its position and applying the law incorrectly.

 

Researching on his behalf I have been told that the fire regulations for common parts hallways in houses of MMO come under "The Housing Act" (2004) and "Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order" (2005) (although there is a school of thought that states that as all common parts hallways come under the description of places of employment for employees of the HA they are therefore also covered by "The Health and Safety at Work Act" (1974) and thus their employer (the HA) is responsible for the costs of providing and maintaining any safety equipment like fire alarms, extinguishers, emergency lighting etc. in their places of work)

 

Because these pieces of legislation are quite complex could anybody point myself and my neighbour to the actual parts of the legislation covering our situation or indeed help with their own experiences as we believe that the Rent Services Manager (who has previous form for trying this sort of stuff on (and failing) is trying to impose these charges illegally, but if we don't challenge him by helping our neighbour he will impose the charges on us all.

 

Thanks for any help and advice in advance.

[stu007]

Hi

 

First please tell your neighbour to pay the charge while in dispute with the Housing Association otherwise them withholding this money may work in the Housing Associations favor against them even though its may seem a small amount.

 

As for your neighbour what we need to know is if they are a Housing Association Tenant with a Tenancy Agreement or are they a Shared Owner or Home Owner?

 

As from now tell them to only correspond with the Housing Association in writing (always keep a copy and get free proof of posting from the post office)

 

What they also need is copies of the policies concerning this and the Board minute approving this, so you could ask for the following:

 

I also require copies of the following Documents:

 

1. Complaint Procedure.

2. Customer Care Policy.

3. Cyclical Maintenance Policy.

4. Estate Management Policy.

5. Procurement Strategy/Policy.

6. Rent & Service Charge Policy.

7. Openness and Confidentiality Policy

 

If they are a Shared Owner also ask for this:

 

8. Shared Ownership Policy.

 

Also ask for copies of the Board minutes on the appointment of this contractor

[GreyArea]

My neighbour and myself are both long term tenants of the Housing Association with a tenancy agreement, his tenancy is an assured shorthold tenanacy (post 15 jan 1989), my own is a regulated tenancy (pre 15 Jan 1989)

 

It took them 10 months before they finally acknowledged that he had made a complaint and that was only because he had was witholding the disputed service charge (which he is allowed to do according to our HAs Tenant's Charte) and after I wrote a second formal letter on his behalf (prior to that he had just spoken to various HA officers either via email or via telephone). I was lucky to be able to retrieve most of his emails from his email account and the replies of the HA officials however he did not record many of his telephone conversations as he believed that it would all be worked out if he just "had a word with the right person" (he is 70). I now help him with all his letters and hand deliver them to the HA's office in order to get a signature (they have already pulled the "Sorry we didn't get that letter" routine with him on a couple of occasions, the last of which led to the HA serving him the initial papers for repossession).

 

We have already applied for a subject access request for all the relevent documentation that we thought we had a right to but we have received nothing yet. I can see form your list that we have missed others which I did not know we could ask for. Thanks

[45002]

My neighbour and myself are both long term tenants of the Housing Association with a tenancy agreement, his tenancy is an assured shorthold tenanacy (post 15 jan 1989), my own is a regulated tenancy (pre 15 Jan 1989)

It took them 10 months before they finally acknowledged that he had made a complaint and that was only because he had was witholding the disputed service charge (which he is allowed to do according to our HAs Tenant's Charte) and after I wrote a second formal letter on his behalf (prior to that he had just spoken to various HA officers either via email or via telephone). I was lucky to be able to retrieve most of his emails from his email account and the replies of the HA officials however he did not record many of his telephone conversations as he believed that it would all be worked out if he just "had a word with the right person" (he is 70). I now help him with all his letters and hand deliver them to the HA's office in order to get a signature (they have already pulled the "Sorry we didn't get that letter" routine with him on a couple of occasions, the last of which led to the HA serving him the initial papers for repossession).

 

We have already applied for a subject access request for all the relevent documentation that we thought we had a right to but we have received nothing yet. I can see form your list that we have missed others which I did not know we could ask for. Thanks

 

Are you in dispute with the HA with theses charges.

 

Regulated Tenancy moved in before 15th January 1989, which part of the UK are you living in and is your rent registered as a fair rent with the rent service ?

[GreyArea]

As stated my neighbour is in dispute with the HA, he holds an assured shorthold tenancy.

 

If at a later date (as we suspect) the charges are going to be applied to his neighbours in adjoining blocks (ie myself and others) then we will also be appealing the same decision. The majority of us hold regulated tenancies.

 

If we fight the decision for him and win then the HA will not be able to apply the same charge to the other tenants in adjoining properties.

[unclebulgaria67]

If these safety items are not maintained, then people living in these properties will be affected. Who holds the legal responsibility for these communal areas and is there anything in the leases of individual flats stating anything in regard to communal areas ?

 

In an Aunts private flat, her electricity was paying for a few outside lights which lit up a small passage and entry to car park. When she went into a care home, we turned off the electric and other residents moaned about it being dark. They did not realise who had been paying for them to have outside lights. This happens with many blocks of flats. Turn off your electric and see if any outside lights go out.

[45002]

As stated my neighbour is in dispute with the HA, he holds an assured shorthold tenancy.

 

If at a later date (as we suspect) the charges are going to be applied to his neighbours in adjoining blocks (ie myself and others) then we will also be appealing the same decision. The majority of us hold regulated tenancies.

 

If we fight the decision for him and win then the HA will not be able to apply the same charge to the other tenants in adjoining properties.

 

Your neighbour may have a Assured Tenancy and not a AST, need to know the exact date they moved in ..

 

As for Regulated tenancies they can only charge what is set on on the Rent register and not what's on a TA, that's assuming the rents are registered ?

 

Are you in England/Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, the law may be different in the part of the UK you are living !

[GreyArea]

To explain further;

 

We live in England

 

My neighbour's tenancy is an Assured Tenancy which he took up in Feb 97

 

My tenancy is a regulated tenancy taken up in March 88 (the other neighbours in adjoining blocks & flats will be a mixture of both depending on if they moved in prior to Jan 89).

 

Both my neighbour's and my own gross rent is split into 2 parts consisting of the actual rent and a service charge.

 

He has no problem with the actual rent charged for his flat, his dispute is with a specific item on his service charges.

 

His rent is regulated by the HA, my rent is a registered rent set by the Fair Rent Tribunal.

 

Both our service charges are dependent upon the services used, for instance, we both pay a proportion of the costs for the cleaning of the common parts hallway and the cleaning of our own property's windows. These are discretionary services and can be discontinued if all the tenants in the block take a vote to do so and choose to do it themselves.

 

We both have to pay a proportion of the costs for the electricity used to power the common parts hallway/stairway lighting (basically used every time we switch the hallway lights on via the switches outside our flats). We can ask to change the actual supplier if we feel the cost of the electricity is too much but we have to pay for the electricity we use.

 

We both have to pay a management allowance of 15% on top of the actual cost for each service which is paid to the HA for their "management" of the services. We cannot change this (despite the HA's continued refusal to explain what it is they actually "do" to be paid the extra 15%).

 

He has now been charged for a new "Service" listed on his service charge sheet as "Maintenence Contract Service Charge". I and other neighbours in adjacent blocks do not have to pay this despite being under the same maintenence contract as his block.

 

This "Maintenence Contract Service Charge" is £3 per week per flat (there are 3 flats in his building so £9 a week) and it is being levied to pay for the "maintenence" of the common parts hallway/stairway statutory emergency lighting and smoke alarms. From what we have observed this "maintenence" is the once yearly statutory check on whether the alarms and lights work - basically a man comes around and switches off the mains power to the common parts hallway/stairway, the battery powered emergency lights then cut in and he allows the battery to run flat before restoring the power which recharges the batteries in the emergency light fitting. he then presses the test button on the smoke alarm to see if it beeps. The man does the same in my own and adjacent blocks.

 

This yearly statutory check was previously done by the HA without cost to the tenants (my neighbour has been there 19 years, myself I have been in my property for 28 years and we have the service charge sheets for all of those periods, none of them have any reference to costs for upkeep of emergency light/smoke alarms).

 

We believe the HA is now attempting to charge the tenants for the cost of the maintenece it has a statutory duty to do. It states in our tenancy agreements that the HA is responsible for the upkeep and maintenence of all common parts hallway/stairway lighting fixtures and fittings, we believe that includes the smoke alarms and the emergency lighting. The Rent Services Manager says that the statutory emergency lighting and the smoke alarms are now a "service" and he believes the HA can charge for this as a "service" charge.

[45002]

To explain further;

 

We live in England

 

My neighbour's tenancy is an Assured Tenancy which he took up in Feb 97

 

My tenancy is a regulated tenancy taken up in March 88 (the other neighbours in adjoining blocks & flats will be a mixture of both depending on if they moved in prior to Jan 89).

 

Both my neighbour's and my own gross rent is split into 2 parts consisting of the actual rent and a service charge.

 

He has no problem with the actual rent charged for his flat, his dispute is with a specific item on his service charges.

 

His rent is regulated by the HA, my rent is a registered rent set by the Fair Rent Tribunal.

 

Both our service charges are dependent upon the services used, for instance, we both pay a proportion of the costs for the cleaning of the common parts hallway and the cleaning of our own property's windows. These are discretionary services and can be discontinued if all the tenants in the block take a vote to do so and choose to do it themselves.

 

We both have to pay a proportion of the costs for the electricity used to power the common parts hallway/stairway lighting (basically used every time we switch the hallway lights on via the switches outside our flats). We can ask to change the actual supplier if we feel the cost of the electricity is too much but we have to pay for the electricity we use.

 

We both have to pay a management allowance of 15% on top of the actual cost for each service which is paid to the HA for their "management" of the services. We cannot change this (despite the HA's continued refusal to explain what it is they actually "do" to be paid the extra 15%).

 

He has now been charged for a new "Service" listed on his service charge sheet as "Maintenence Contract Service Charge". I and other neighbours in adjacent blocks do not have to pay this despite being under the same maintenence contract as his block.

 

This "Maintenence Contract Service Charge" is £3 per week per flat (there are 3 flats in his building so £9 a week) and it is being levied to pay for the "maintenence" of the common parts hallway/stairway statutory emergency lighting and smoke alarms. From what we have observed this "maintenence" is the once yearly statutory check on whether the alarms and lights work - basically a man comes around and switches off the mains power to the common parts hallway/stairway, the battery powered emergency lights then cut in and he allows the battery to run flat before restoring the power which recharges the batteries in the emergency light fitting. he then presses the test button on the smoke alarm to see if it beeps. The man does the same in my own and adjacent blocks.

 

This yearly statutory check was previously done by the HA without cost to the tenants (my neighbour has been there 19 years, myself I have been in my property for 28 years and we have the service charge sheets for all of those periods, none of them have any reference to costs for upkeep of emergency light/smoke alarms).

 

We believe the HA is now attempting to charge the tenants for the cost of the maintenece it has a statutory duty to do. It states in our tenancy agreements that the HA is responsible for the upkeep and maintenence of all common parts hallway/stairway lighting fixtures and fittings, we believe that includes the smoke alarms and the emergency lighting. The Rent Services Manager says that the statutory emergency lighting and the smoke alarms are now a "service" and he believes the HA can charge for this as a "service" charge.

 

In regards to a regulated tenancy that's assuming the rents are registered here https://ebusiness.voa.gov.uk/err/ enter your full postcode and click Find (do not post any personal details) boxes A to H should show All the charges "services and rent" you should pay.

 

If your paying more than is set out on the register something is serious wrong !

 

As for you neighbours Assured tenancy was it before or after 27 February 1997 they 1st moved in.

 

What does it say in your neighbour tenancy agreement about All service charges and any increases.

 

It does sound like the HA are trying it on ....

 

GreyArea

 

If this is any help to you I have a Regulated Tenancy myself, rent registered as a fair rent, been through two sales of the property I live in and both LL's have tried to bring in service charges and failed as there where No service charges showing on the rent register in the 1st place ...

 

Just to point out your under no obligation to expect or sign any tenancy agreement, they cant evict you for not doing so.

[Rexroth]

My HA tried this on a few years ago. I simply emailed back stating that I was happy to pay the charge if they would kindly explain to me why they considered I was liable. They didn't and I didn't pay and I heard no more about it. Curious to know why advice was given to pay the charge and then argue afterwards.

[andydd]

Advice is always pay and question later as falling into arrears both on ast and leasehold properties can have serious consequences of losing your home.

[Rexroth]

Thanks ast is presumably assured shorthold tenancy and I have an assured tenancy with my HA. So it would depend on which sort of tenancy it is. Thank for clarification.

[stu007]

Hi

 

Have you Also asked your Housing Association why you and those affected with this Service Charge were never consulted on this before its introduction?

 

Also have you asked them for the documents I mentioned in Post#2 ?

[Rexroth]

Strongly suggest you follow the advice above. When I was in a similar position I had no reply and then a verbal "What business is it of yours" from the housing officer.

 

It is important that you ask in writing.