Service charge FAQs

A service charge is your share towards the cost of arranging and carrying out services and maintenance to your building and/or estate for items including:

• buildings insurance
• maintenance and repairs
• cleaning & grounds maintenance
• fire safety services
• other facilities such as door entry systems
• and any management

The service charge cycle runs each financial year from the 1 April to 31 of March.

Your lease will outline how your service charges are paid. Most of our customers are variable service charge payers. This means you pay the cost for the services that are carried out to your block or estate only, instead of paying a fixed price which could be higher or lower than the actual cost.

We’ve put together a short video explaining the process. You can view it at thrivehomes.org.uk/servicecharges

Your estimates letter will show your charges for the full financial year. This must be paid in line with the instalments detailed in your lease or tenancy. For example, if your agreement specifies that you must pay weekly, monthly or annually, you must pay this in line with this. 

Each February, you’ll receive a letter detailing what we estimate your service charges to be for the coming year. This is calculated based on what it has cost to run and maintain your block or estate in previous years as well as any contractual uplifts and inflation.

On the 1 April each year, you will start paying your new estimated service charge amount until the end of the service cycle on the 31 March.

Variable service charge payers

Once the service charge period ends on 31 March, we will write to you in the following September with your actuals statement. This will detail the actual cost for services received in the previous financial year.

We will credit your account if we have overestimated the cost of the services. If we have underestimated the costs, the following will happen:

• if you are a tenant, then the amount you owe will be added to your payments in the next financial year
• all leaseholders and shared owners will need to pay the outstanding balance within 28 days as advised on the invoice.

For Fixed Service Charge Payers

We will estimate your charges in the same way each year. As you pay a fixed rate, there will be no refunds or additional charges requested at the end of the financial year.

This year, you will notice an increase in costs for the cleaning & ground maintenance of your block. Following on from your feedback about the poor level of service you’ve received, we have recently reprocured our cleaning and grounds maintenance contracts with members of Thrive Customer Voice. Read more about how we’ve listened and acted on your feedback here.

Following feedback about the poor level of service you’ve received, we have recently reprocured our cleaning and grounds maintenance contracts with members of Thrive Customer Voice.

We have included an estimate for the cost of the new services based on the standard specification in the tender. As the previous contracts were procured many years ago, the prices have not increased in line with market rates for some time, which is why you will see a rise this year. Now the procurement standstill period has ended we are now able to meet with the new contractors to tailor the service required for your block and this may mean the estimate is subject to change. We will write to you as soon as we know what the cost will be to keep you updated but you won’t need to pay any more (or less) until the actuals are sent at the end of September 2026.

If you have any feedback on your service or would like to be a block representative while the new contractors get up and running, please get in touch.

All blocks have meters that measure how much energy is used. The energy companies charge Thrive based on meter readings, and we charge this back to residents in the block through your service charge. Even though we have found a cheaper price per unit, your cost may not go down if your building uses a lot of communal energy. So, please let us know if you see any problems (like lights that are on when they should not be) so we can save energy and money where possible. 

There has been a volatile gas and electricity market in recent years. The variations in these costs have led to similar variations to the communal heating and building lighting invoices for your block. As these costs have fluctuated a lot in the past few years, we have taken an extra step and based our estimate for gas and electricity on actual invoices received in the 2023/24 financial year.

Insurance products continued to rise through 2024, with GoCompare reporting that costs in 2024 were “32% higher than the previous year and 56% higher than the same time two years ago”.

Our insurance brokers review our premiums on an annual basis to ensure we are seeking the best rates for our customers. This year, the total annual insurance premium has been increased by 20% based on their guidance.

As you may be aware, we carry out routine and essential tree work for safety and maintenance purposes. As we have a new grounds maintenance contractor starting, their primary focus will be to get the service up and running and ensure the quality is meeting our standards. They will continue to carry out essential tree work but there will not be any planned works for 2025/26. They will however undertake new tree surveys through the year and will re-start routine and maintenance tree works in 2026. 

If you need it, we’ve got support on hand to help you manage your money. From advice on budgeting and benefits to support services you can contact for your wellbeing – simply head to: thrivehomes.org.uk/money-energy-help or speak to us confidentially on 0800 917 6077.

Please contact us immediately if you are having difficulty managing your payments or need additional support, and we will do all we can to help.

We have produced the Thrive Deal, which sets out what you can expect from us as your landlord (our ‘offer’) and what we expect from you as our customer (our ‘ask’). It’s available online and can help you understand your service charges and rent (if applicable) at: thrivehomes.org.uk/thrivedeal or contact us for a printed copy.

We understand that rising service charges can be a concern, and we’re committed to helping you understand how these charges are calculated. Each year, we estimate the cost of providing services such as cleaning, gardening, and maintenance. These estimates are based on factors like inflation, contractual uplift clauses, and previous years’ actual costs at your block or estate. We do our best to keep these estimates affordable and in line with industry standards. 

If you have questions about a charge—such as why it has increased or whether it’s payable under your lease—the first step is to contact us. We will work to clarify or resolve any issues with you. However, please note that we cannot investigate the amount or legality of a charge through our formal complaints process. 

What we can look into are concerns about the quality of the services provided or how we’ve handled the charges—for example, the way we’ve communicated changes with customers. 

If you are not satisfied with our final response and wish to formally challenge the charge itself, including whether it’s reasonable or payable under your lease, you may need to refer the matter to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). This is the independent body responsible for resolving disputes about service charge reasonableness. 

For more information on our complaint's procedure click here 

If your complaint is about something that happened over 12 months ago, we may not be able to accept it. You can find out more about what is and isn’t considered a complaint at thrivehomes.org.uk/complaints.