Actual Service Charge Bill – 2023/2024 Docs & Queries

All leaseholders on our estate pay for their ground rent, heating and hot water, and their contribution to communal cleaning, lighting, and maintenance works for their block and for the estate through a bill called ‘service charge’. Some Freeholders also pay a service charge for estate cleaning, lighting, and maintenance works.

Catchup with our post from last year on the Actual Service Charge Bill 2023/2024 (received Sep. 2024).

PRERA are legally entitled to ask for more information about Actual Service Charge Bill. Our Secretary emailed a Section 21 request to Lambeth in the Autumn of 2024. All documentation received is available in this GDrive folder Actual Service Charge Bills 2023/2024 documentation from Lambeth.

Service charge bills are split into two sections – Charges specifically for your block, and charges that apply to the whole estate.

Estate charges

Volunteer Palace Road Estate Residents have gone through the estate charges and have submitted the following queries to Lambeth Homeowners. To date they are still awaiting a reply to the queries from Lambeth.

Estate Repairs and Maintenance

Palace Road – Estate Repairs and Maintenance – Breakdown – 2023-24

  1. Please can you provide information on where the 20 bollards that are referenced in these two works refs? Residents have not been able to identify anywhere on the estate where 20 new bollards have been installed in 2023. Please can photos of completion be provided? Any further information on the breakdown of what the costs include is also required e.g. works sign off reports.

3470253/1: LHM- install x10 bollards to edge of grass area along service road in gaps on the grass (rear of blocks) to stop residents parking on grass area. vary job if required. (Date: July 2023. Cost: £1,122.50)
3470253/2: LHM- install x10 bollards to edge of grass area along service road in gaps on the grass (rear of blocks) to stop residents parking on grass area. vary job if required. (Date: Nov 2023. Cost: £1,122.50)
Photos of 3470253/2 November 2023 here showing the bollards that were installed that all fell over and were re-installed by residents:

  1. Why are the following works references included as estate costs and not block costs when they relate to particular blocks?

3499308/1: DLO – REBED/RENEW PAVING SLABS TO THE FRONT OF DUCAVEL HOUSE (Date: Cost: £289.05)
3499311/1: DLO – REBED/RENEW PAVING SLABS TO THE FRONT OF PONTON HOUSE (Date: Cost: £157.05)
3499313/1: DLO – REBED/RENEW PAVING SLABS TO THE FRONT OF DESPARD HOUSE (Date: Cost: £421.11)
3536252/1: CW/WB: Please repair broken paving slab outside intercom door of block 27-38 Baly House. Trip Hazard has been sprayed (Date: October 2023 Cost: £108.92)
3536256/1: CW/WB: Please attend and replace x4 missing bricks to the ground outside the intercom door of block 27-38 Baly House (Date: Nov 2023 Cost: £1,774.80)

  1. Please can the costs of 3536256/1: CW/WB be justified. We note that the replacement of a whole wall (3573646/1LHM) came in at a lower cost than the replacement of 4 bricks. What was required that replacing 4 bricks costed almost £2000? Please provide all documentation on this work.

3536256/1: CW/WB: Please attend and replace x4 missing bricks to the ground outside the intercom door of block 27-38 Baly House (Date: Nov 2023 Cost: £1,774.80)
3573646/1LHM: LHM – Rebuild damaged wall and clear area remove trip hazard. located bushell close car park (Date: Nov 2023 Cost: 1,706.90)

  1. What evidence is there that the dumping of this asbestos is from an estate resident and not fly-tipping? If fly-tipping, why are residents being charged on service charge?

3394192/1: JS-Asbestos-AA Woods – Collection of dumped asbestos cement water tanks to car park and front of property. (Date: April 2023 Cost: £480.00)

Estate Cleaning

Palace Road Estate – Estate Cleaning – Breakdown – 2023-24
Palace Road Estate – Estate Cleaning – Cost Construction – 2023-24

  1. This is a more general question, but why are bin collection costs included in service charges for leaseholders when council tax also covers waste service provision?
  1. Are both items listed in this breakdown (‘Estate and External Block Cleaning’ and ‘Bins and Collection Costs’) services provided by Serco? 
  1. What services are provided under the ‘Estate and External block cleaning’?
  1. What is the total of £57,081.48 for? Is that the total for the whole of Palace Road Estate?
Estate Communal Electricity

Palace Road Estate – Communal Electricity – Breakdown – 2023-24
August 2023 Meter invoice from supplier

  1. What is included in these charges? Is it for example, communal electricity for lighting around the estate grounds rather than lighting within blocks?
  1. Does E next to a ‘read date’ mean it is an estimate? If not, please can you clarify what E means.  If it is estimated, please can you explain how the estimate is reached?
  1. What does ‘% allocated’ mean and why is this 20%?  How is the property cost calculated from the ‘cost allocated’ – is it split according to the rateable value of the total where the total is the ‘cost allocated’?
Estate Grounds Maintenance

Palace Road Estate – Estate Grounds Maintenance – Breakdown – 2023-24

  1. Are the costs provided block or estate level?
  2. What do the % in the white columns relate to?
  3. What is 21899 in the ‘Winter Works’ column? A size m2?
Estate Tree Maintenance

Palace Road Estate – Tree Maintenance – Breakdown – 2023-24
Palace Road Estate – Tree Maintenance – Cost Construction – 2023-24

  1. Please can you clarify the purpose of the tree inspection, and what it involves for each tree so that it amounts to a total of £48.31 per tree?
  1. The breakdown includes charges for 88 possible new planting locations, again at a cost of £48.31 for each location.  Please can you:
    A. Clarify what the assessment for a new planting location involves that amounts to a charge of £48.31?
    B. Explain why 88 locations needed to be considered when conversations between the residents association and tree maintenance and planting staff at Lambeth have revealed that the estate is not being considered for any new trees due to the pre-existing high levels of tree coverage? 
    C. Explain why no new trees have been planted despite 88 locations being considered
    D. Please can you provide maps 1 and 2 that are referenced in the table? 
    E.There are 6 tree works listed all at a cost of £535.03. Please can you provide details of what these works involved?

Block Charges

PRERA volunteers do not have the capacity to look through block charges from every block on the estate. Please connect with your block neighbours to pool resources if you wish to check and query your block charges.

Connect with fellow Leaseholders on PRE

Please join the Leaseholders chat group in the Palace Road Estate Residents WhatApp community, to connect with leaseholders in your block.

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