As we return to what is now the new normal after the Coronavirus pandemic the way that Local Authorities and housing associations has no doubt changed after having to make management decisions at a pace to keep business running as best they can whilst staff work from home.

Services such as housing needs registers and allocations continue to being affected as demand continued to outweigh the supply of new homes coming on line and the cost of building continued to rise as labour costs and materials go up and up.

With hundreds of thousands of social housing customers struggling to pay for essentials and government help with energy bills is likely to come to an end soon, as landlords you need to think how best can we help our customers.

One area that providers can help with is to be clear with their tenants how they intend to deal with the issue of service charges. Whilst new year estimates have only recently been issued to customers, tenants are beginning to ask “Why am I paying for services that your no longer providing or I need to reecieve?”.

My advice is be as clear as you can about how service charges work and that a reduced expenditure will result in surpluses carried forward and that government guidance may be issued later in the year.  Update your website to give assurance to your tenants & leaseholders that you have this in your sight, even if you are only focusing on essential and emergency services during the pandemic.

If you haven’t already done so consider Unpooling your service charges to add transparency and talk to your customers about their requirements, based on today and not what they thought they need some years ago.

Updated: February 2023