As well as paying your rent, as a Tuntum resident you will also pay a service charge.
The size of the service charge depends on where you live and is reviewed every year to make sure you’re paying enough to cover the cost of the services provided, and no more.
What does my service charge pay for?
Service charges pay for a range of communal services provided at Tuntum schemes and estates. We are committed to providing attractive and pleasant places to live and maintaining our estates to a high standard. This means providing high-quality, cost-effective communal services such as lighting, caretaking, cleaning and grounds maintenance. Service charges also cover the cost of providing and servicing fire alarms, emergency lighting and door entry systems. Your charge will depend on the services we provide to the building or estate you live in.
How is my service charge set?
The Association operates a Fixed service Charge method. This means that once the service charge is set, it is not varied or changes during the year. You have certainty of the charge that you will pay for that year.
We calculate service charges for each financial year using a combination of factors including:
- The known cost of contracts, such as, cleaning and grounds maintenance, lighting, security, fire services and lift servicing.
- The cost of replacing large items such as floor covering, fire alarms, and emergency lighting systems
- The level of inflation and any known increases that we have been made aware of
What if my service charge changes?
We review service charges every April, and we will write to you, normally in early March, to let you know what the service charge will be for the coming year.
If during the year our estimated costs are not correct, we will not charge you any extra costs in the following year and similarly if the costs are lower than what we have charged, we are not obliged to refund you any charges. Where this is substantial, the Board may decide to reduce your service charges for the year after the following year by the that amount e.g. If we have a savings in the financial year 2025-26 we shall reduce the amount of service charges for 2027-28 by the amount of the savings from 2025-26 as we will only be able to identify the saving in 2026-27.
