Insights

UK Government advises “Check your service charge statement”

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 in Landlord, News, Residential

Residential tenants are reminded by the COI (Central Office of Information) that they have a right to challenge service charges.

• check your service charge demands
• understand the law relating to challenges to service charges
• read your lease
• you can still challenge if you have paid your bill
• challenges are often based on charges been unreasonably high or workmanship being unacceptable

The Leasehold Advisory Service is a free service run by the government giving free legal advice for Landlords and Tenant leaseholders.

Read the full article.

Tags: Central Office of Information, coi, Housing, leasehold advisory

Derbyshire rents to rise

Thursday, January 21st, 2010 in News, Residential

The local council in Derby is trying to increase council housing rents to align with other social housing landlords.

Vice-chairman of the panel John Newbold said: “We know as tenants we can’t change it, but we want to discuss it in view of the financial insecurity a lot of tenants are facing. In my view, the rise of 2.5% to 3% is looking good but there are other things we need to discuss, such as service charges.”

The Government wants local authorities and housing organisations to work towards similar rents to those of social landlords, which are traditionally higher than local authority charges.

Tags: Council house, Derby, Housing, Public housing