The service charge is your legal apportionment of the share of the costs incurred in maintaining, renewing, replacing and insuring the communal areas and structure of the building. This is set out in the terms of your Lease. Examples of the liabilities and responsibilities are communal cleaning; grounds maintenance; window cleaning; repairs (reactive and major works); lift, intercom and door entry systems; electronic gates or doors and providing for long term programmes such as redecoration cycles and replacement component parts.

The charges are set down within the lease or legal papers and Koti Property Management is bound to collect in line with these terms. Common formats for charges are equal split amongst leaseholders/freeholders, based on the number of bedrooms within a property (flats), or based on the square footage of a property (flats), or ground floor properties (flats) not contributing to, for example, lift costs.

If you have just purchased your property it is usual that the Solicitors will apportion charges to the date of legal transfer. Within your welcome pack we will advise you of the position along with any charges due for the remainder of the financial year. The charges are specified in the Lease.

Approximately 2 months before the start of a new financial year, we would write to you with a proposed budget and undertake a consultation to agree the charges for the coming year.

Once the consultation period has ended you would receive an agreed Budget and an invoice for the year’s service charge in line with the Lease term (annually, half yearly or quarterly tend to be most common). Koti Property Management allows you to spread the charges by way of 12 monthly instalments in advance by standing order. The bank details will be provided on the invoice. It is important that payments are not missed as failure to do so may result in further action.

After the end of each financial year, certified Service Charge Accounts are prepared by an independent Accountant. These set out the income and expenditure for your development for the year (the financial year will be in line with the Lease). The Accounts, once approved by the Directors, are circulated to all leaseholders.

It is not uncommon for a lease to contain a provision for the Landlord/Management Company to raise “anticipated service charge demands” in advance of the financial year end to meet the expected expenditure to be incurred during the financial year. Where a service charge is payable before the relevant costs are incurred, the amount must be reasonable.

Ground rent is a regular (usually annual) payment made by a leaseholder to the freeholder, or superior leaseholder, in association with the land on which their property sits. The terms would be set down in a Lease. If however you are both a leaseholder, and a member of the management company/freehold company, it is usual that this demand would no longer apply.

In simple terms your Lease will set down your responsibilities and liabilities. We would highly recommend you take the time to digest the respective sections of your Lease. Whilst a Lease may be unfamiliar to you, we are on hand to assist, but it should give you the answers on questions such as “can I keep a pet”, “am I or the management company responsible for my windows and doors”, or “how often will the building be decorated”.

If you are a member (or shareholder) of the management company (often called the freeholder) you will be given advance notice of an Annual General Meeting (AGM) or an Extra Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) and it is usual that you will be entitled to vote on company business. The management company is bound by the terms as defined in their “Memorandum & Articles of Association” which determines how the company must operate.

Simply drop us an email on contact@kotipm.co.uk or call us on 01208 510050.  Please note any changes by way of marriage or divorce, or through probate, may require sight of legal papers.

Koti PM favour communication being sent by email(s) and if you are a new leaseholder/freeholder you will be asked for an email address within our “welcome pack”. If you would prefer to have correspondence sent by post a nominal fee will apply. This is decided via the budget and/or an AGM. For fees not to apply, all leaseholders/freeholders have to unanimously agree for correspondence to only be sent via email.

If the issue relates to a communal matter please send us an email on contact@kotipm.co.uk or call us on 01208 510050.  We will obtain from you the necessary information in order to instruct a contractor, or action accordingly. There are times when reports can be made via your Board of Directors and we would advise if this applies. A matter related to your own property would most likely be your responsibility. If you are not sure, please call us and we would be happy to advise.

Usually your service charge will include a contribution for the buildings insurance premium. Aside from the building this insurance provides generally for fixed items such as kitchens, bathrooms and flooring within your flat. We strongly recommend you also have a contents insurance policy.

In the first instance contact Koti Property Management during office hours on 01208 510050 or out of hours contact WMS on 01209 314666 (which will divert to the on-call mobile). You are also entitled to contact your own contractor. We will provide you with the necessary insurance details and an overview of how to handle your claim. Please note most policies carry an excess, payable by the lessee.

Section 20 (S20) is a clause in the Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act 2002, introduced into the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985, intended to protect leaseholders from paying unnecessarily large amounts for work carried out to their building. The consultation is triggered when any programme of works is expected to total in excess of £250 including VAT per property. If charges differ per property, the consultation would apply if any one leaseholder would pay in excess of £250 including VAT.

In such instances, on behalf of the Landlord/Management Company, Koti Property Management would steer leaseholders through the full consultation process.

A “Qualifying Long Term Agreement” is a contract between a Landlord and a company, or an individual, to supply goods, a service, or works to a building or estate for a period of more than 12 months. Should this apply Koti Property Management would undertake a “Long Term Consultation”. It is however usual that any contract or service would stand for one year unless agreed with a client otherwise.

Koti Property Management is committed to providing a high quality service to all of our clients. However we appreciate that on occasion things may go awry. Should something go wrong, in the first instance we would ask you make contact with your dedicated Property Manager to look to resolve the matter. If within fourteen days you are not satisfied please write to our Managing Director, Natasha Stevens, either by email: natasha@kotipm.co.uk or via our office address of 71 Athelstan Park, Bodmin, Cornwall, PL31 1DT. We will do our very best to resolve the matter for you swiftly.