Service charge information for THCH customers

THCH applied the total annual estimate to your accounts in February 2026. This will change from April 2026, when we’ll be splitting the annual cost and charging you weekly. We feel this is a fairer way to apply the costs to your account and enables better budgeting.

However, if you want to continue paying annually in advance, please call our Income team on 0800 3 282 282 to confirm the dates you’d like to make your payments.

Your lease or tenancy agreement will tell you if you pay service charges and if they’re variable or fixed.

• Variable charges are set based on the estimates and costs for the upcoming year, but can change depending on the actual cost incurred. You’ll receive a statement each year confirming any changes, which includes whether you’ve overpaid or underpaid.
• Fixed charges are set every year based on our estimates and costs for the upcoming year and don’t change.

Service charge cycle

• In February, you’ll receive an estimate of expected costs for the upcoming financial year. The following September (after the financial year is over), we send a statement with the actual costs occurred. This may result in a credit or an extra charge on your account.

Your lease or tenancy agreement will tell you if you pay service charges.

• Fixed charges are set every year based on our estimates and costs for the upcoming year and don’t change.

Service charge cycle

• In February, you receive an estimate of expected costs for the upcoming financial year.

To make sure you’re charged for services that you benefit from, our hierarchy (or property groupings) for service charges provides a clear structure for identifying the services that fall under each group - estate, group, block, sub block and property. These will be clearly labelled on your new estimate and annual statement.

You may see the same services in the different groupings; this is not a duplication as services could be assigned to a number of groups. For example, responsive communal repairs could be completed for an estate, and for a block, delivering different services for different properties.

See more information on service charges - property groupings.

Almost all of the services that are delivered to you are carried out by contractors that we have appointed. Before we select a contractor, we carry out a competitive tendering process, which compares the qualities and costs of each provider.

We’re always looking for feedback from our customers on the services, which we do through the Section 20 process. We do this not just because it’s an obligation from the Regulator of Social Housing, but because we value customer consultation throughout our decision making.

For us, value for money means quality services delivered at a competitive market price. We have a wide range of contracts in place to help us deliver the services that our customers need.

Managing contracts

Once the contracts are in place, our Contract Managers and Property Managers carry out regular quality checks, ensuring service standards on things like cleaning, grounds maintenance, communal repairs or health and safety, are all high.

Throughout the duration of the contract, which is usually a few years, we make sure our suppliers have everything they need to do a good job. We also hold them to account if the service they deliver, doesn’t meet the standards we require.

For grounds maintenance and cleaning, our Property Managers will inspect the communal areas of every block between four and 12 times a year (depending on the complexity of the building) to make sure that the building is well looked after and safe.

What are management fees?

There are different types of management fees. You may be charged for management fees because of services and repairs provided by a third-party contractor. Or, it could be that we’re providing these services, as well as producing service charge estimates and statements, and all the associated overhead costs.

There is also a 5% administration fee on the management company costs to cover our admin costs in processing and billing.

What's included in a management fee?

Management fees are part of the cost of delivering services to your home and estate. These are defined by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Property Institute (TPI), and include (but aren’t limited to):

• Managing health and safety, fire and other risk assessments
• Managing building insurance
• Supervising colleagues including caretakers, gardeners and cleaners
• Managing contractors providing services such as cleaning, lift maintenance and boiler servicing
• Visiting buildings to carry out checks and dealing with minor repairs
• Managing service charges, including calculating charges, sending out statements and collecting payments (this includes office costs and salaries relating directly to managing service charges)
• Answering customers’ queries on service charges and communicating updates.

Managing agent fees are the costs for having a managing agent oversee your services. Our management fees cover overheads and administrative costs such as billing and producing your service charge estimates and statements.

Where there is a managing agent in place, they may be responsible for providing the service and then recharging us for this work. We’ll then include this as an item on your statement, as a managing agent cost.

The management fees we charge for most of the homes we own or manage are based on the size and type of building and estate, and the services we provide. This ensures you pay the correct amount each year and is in line with best practice from the RICS and TPI.

We’re a charity and don’t make a profit on the fees we charge; we simply pass on the costs of delivering services. We always aim to provide value for money and welcome feedback from customers on their services, so we can improve them.

A provision fund is a separate fund that’s paid into by the residents of a building. The money is used for large, costly works like lift replacements, window replacements, or major roof repairs. This helps spread the cost of these expensive repairs over the length of your tenancy, rather than you having to pay one large bill when work is needed.

Having a provision fund is often part of your lease or tenancy agreement, which means we’ll administer the fund and recharge you for your contributions. Some provision funds are set up by residents themselves.

Here are some examples that demonstrate the difference between what’s paid for using a provision fund and what’s paid for in regular service charges.

Please note that different items are paid for by tenants and leaseholders, and everyone’s statement is different.

Paid for in service charges	Paid for using a provision fund
Fixing a button in a lift	Replacing the entire lift
Fixing a light-bulb	Replacing all emergency lighting
Replacing a door hinge	Installing a new electronic entry system

Provision funds are built up over time, to help pay for large works in the future that could be years or decades away. We do yearly surveys to keep track of funds and make sure enough is paid in, without overpaying.

How has my provision fund been calculated?

We’ve taken a look at all the major works that we’re planning on your building and/or estate over the next 30 years and how much it will cost. We then compared this to the contributions you’re making. (Some customers will start to pay into a provision fund for the first time in the 2025/26 financial year, which started on 1 April 2025.)

For example, replacing a lift in a shared building:

• We know a new lift typically lasts about 25 years before it needs to be replaced
• We’ll estimate the cost of replacing a new lift in 25 years’ time (accounting for inflation)
• We divide the estimated cost by the number of households in a building, and then divide that by 25
• This gives us how much each household needs to pay each year, to cover the cost of replacing the lift when the time comes.

If contributions don’t cover the cost of the planned works, we’ll spread the costs over an even longer period of time.

We calculate the cost of general maintenance, like decorating communal areas and fixing things on the outside of the building, and add that to everyone’s contribution.

See more information, including FAQs about provision funds.