Leaseholders

Actual Management Fees for 2007/8

The Management Charge is your share of our costs of managing leasehold properties and freehold properties on estates. It is made up of three elements:

• Home Ownership services costs
• Area Housing Office costs
• Central costs and overheads

Home Ownership element

Home Ownership services is responsible for the calculation and collection of service charges and the management and administration of leasehold and freehold properties on estates who are liable to pay service charges. This includes the staff costs and associated overheads (office running costs, printing, postage, stationery etc.) of:

• Issuing annual estimated service charge invoices
• Collating, processing and auditing annual service charge costs
• Calculating and producing annual service charge summaries
• Responding to enquiries and correspondence
• Collecting annual and major works service charges
• Carrying out consultation with leaseholders in advance of major works
• Calculating and collecting buildings insurance
• Responding to enquiries about alterations, selling-on, sub-letting
• Producing the leaseholders’ newsletter “Home Owner”
• Producing handbooks, leaflets and other literature

Area Housing Office element

The Area Housing offices manage or client many of the day to day services that are provided to residents in our buildings and estates, such as caretaking, grounds maintenance and repairs to the common parts and communal services. This element of the charge represents your share of the costs of this, including a proportion of the management team. We exclude the costs for services that relate to services that only benefit tenants, such as lettings, collecting rent arrears or managing empty properties.

The Area Housing Office costs included are for:

Estates Services and Quality Assurance: this includes:

• Carrying out regular estate inspections
• Monitoring and evaluating the quality of estate services
• Recording and ordering estate repairs
• Meeting with contractors and client officers to discuss and put right any problems
  

Anti Social Behaviour

Dedicated Anti Social Behaviour staff at the Area Housing Offices investigate and take action in cases of anti social behaviour (ASB) and provide support and advice to people who experience ASB.

Central Costs and overheads

This covers a proportion of the cost of the other services provided to leaseholders, as well as support and administrative services, including:

• Out of hours antisocial behaviour response team
• Bulk refuse
• HFID (our call centre)
• Income, accountancy and exchequer services
• Human Resources
• IT
• Performance and service development (monitoring and measuring performance, and reviewing and developing policies and procedures)
• Health and Safety
  

Your share of the management charge depends on the category of property you live in, according to the extent you benefit from the services described. There are four categories: leasehold estate properties, leasehold street properties, freehold estate properties and Tenant Management Organisation (TMO) or co-op managed properties’

Click on the property categories below to show how the management charge for 2007/8 is made up of the three elements described.

Breakdown of HFI's management fees - actual cost 2007/8 (pdf file 14.2Kb)