Annual rent review 2024

If you are a shared owner or a homeowner, in line with your lease or transfer document we will provide you with your estimated services charges before the beginning of the financial year (1 April).

We have to estimate how much we think it is likely to cost based on how much your services cost in previous years, and consideration is given to what services may need to be provided in the coming year. If you have any queries on your estimated service charges, please contact us on 0300 500 8000 to discuss further.

Within six months of the end of the financial year (31 March), we will send you a certificate of actual expenditure, which will tell you if there is any difference between what we estimated and what the actual cost has been. The difference will then be applied to your account on 30 September.

Some of our tenancies have fixed service charges. We will use our best endeavours to estimate the cost of services based on the services provided in the previous year. You will then be charged on the basis of this estimate.

If your tenancy agreement states you have variable services charges, we will provide you with estimated service charges, followed by a certificate of what was actually spent on services within six months of the end of the financial year, by 30 September. If you have paid too much, or not enough, the difference will be carried over into the following year’s charges and applied to your account.

Properties are grouped into blocks and/or estates for dividing service charges. Service charges are apportioned depending on what is specified in the lease or other legal document relevant to your home and based on the services being provided. If you would like further information as to how your service charges are apportioned, please contact us on 0300 500 8000.

If you are unhappy with the service provided, you can get in contact with us or call 0300 500 8000. We will be able to take details of why the service provided has not met your expectations and raise this with the relevant business teams to get in contact with you to discuss further. If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your enquiry, please follow our complaints process to escalate this further.

If you have a query about the amount you are being charged for services provided, you can also get in touch online or contact us on the number above. We will then be able to take details on the charge you are querying and ask our service charge team to look into the charge and offer an explanation as to why the charge has occurred and what the charge covers.

If you are unsatisfied with the outcome of your enquiry, please follow our complaints process to escalate this further.

If you remain dissatisfied with a charge, you have the right to request that a review is carried out by the First-Tier tribunal, a government body, who have the authority to determine whether a charge is payable. Further information on tribunals can be found in the Summary of tenant’s rights and obligations document.

If you are a variable service charge customer and you have overpaid service charges, based on estimates provided, the overpayment will be credited to your account. If you would like the credit to be refunded or used to lower ongoing payments, you can follow the options below and our teams will be able to arrange this for you.

1. If you would like a refund, please contact the Home Ownership Income Team on 0300 5008000, option 3, and then option 3 again, or email us. We may ask you to provide proof of your bank account but will provide further information on what this involves when you contact us. (NB: you must not send a copy of your bank card).
2. If you pay by direct debit, this should automatically adjust to use up the credit over the remainder of the year, but please do check and let us know if this doesn’t happen by contacting us on the details stated in point 1.
3. If you pay by any other means, then you can use the credit to reduce your ongoing payments. If you are unsure what to pay, please contact us on the details stated in point 1 and we can advise.

If you have any questions or queries regarding the above information, please get in touch. Alternatively, you can get in touch on 0300 500 8000.

This charge is for Building Insurance - under the terms of your lease (where it applies), we have an obligation to insure the building on behalf of the leaseholders against risks like fire and flood. Leaseholders and shared owners are recharged for the cost of this insurance. The building Insurance policy details are:

Building Insurance Provider – Igloo/Protector

Policy Number – Igloo / ASG002/2023 – 932838

Claims telephone number: 01245 34123

This charge is for electricity consumed within a property by an individual resident or owner.

In many leases, there is a provision for Clarion to collect payments in advance to create a ‘Sinking Fund’ (this is sometimes referred to as a Reserve Fund). The purpose of a Sinking Fund is to build up a pot of money to contribute to the cost of any work that may be needed, but that does not happen regularly. This would primarily be works deemed as major work, such as structural work or a lift replacement, or planned maintenance such as redecorations to a block.

Sinking Funds help to make the cost of major work more manageable. Leases may state how much is to be contributed each year, but usually they do not, and therefore Clarion decides how much the contributions should be. The level of contributions is assessed with reference to the age and condition of the building and likely future cost estimates, with an allowance for VAT and fees included.

Sinking Funds will earn interest and will be held in a special account. They are collected on behalf of the property, and any contributions to the Sinking Fund are not repayable when a flat is sold. Following the completion of works, the total costs will be calculated, and you will be charged for your individual proportion of the works, based on the terms of your lease. The fund is only accessed at the point works are charged to you – you will be informed of when your Sinking Fund will be used and kept advised of how much is in the fund on an annual basis.