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Service charges

As a leaseholder you will have to pay for some communal charges. These vary and not all leaseholders will have to pay all these service charges .

You need to look at your actual lease document to see which charges you will have to pay. They will be explained in the third or fourth schedule of your lease agreement depending on the age of your lease.

The service charge period runs from 1st April to 31st March each year. You will receive an estimated invoice in April of each year followed by an actual invoice in September of the next year.

For any service stated in your lease, you will have to pay a proportion of the cost. The amount of this will depend on how many flats are in your block and how expensive the total repair is. They may vary from year to year.

Example: Our electricity invoices for your block came to £200 between 1st April 2007 and 31st March 2008. There are four flats in a block. Therefore, the service charge for communal electricity would be £50 per leaseholder.

Service charge disputes

We aim to provide a fair and reasonable service charge and collection service. However, there may be times when you feel we have miscalculated or charged for work which may not have been done. This procedure aims to address and resolve these issues.

Please note this procedure is only for leasehold service charge issues. For other disputes such as repairs, please refer to the Nottingham City Homes Compliments, Comments and Complaints Procedure.

• Leaseholder Service Charge Dispute Procedure

Non-payment

If you do not pay or agree repayment terms on all your charges within the time stated on your invoice we may have to take legal action against you.

The measures we can take include:

• loss of your lease
• County Court Judgements (CCJs)
• your arrears registered your mortgage or property
• your arrears sent to a debt collection agency for recovery

Service charges 2009-10

At the end of September 2010 you will have received your Service Charge Actual Adjustment Invoice for the period 1st April 2009 to 31st March 2010. This invoice shows the difference between the estimated cost of maintaining your block, which you were invoiced for September 2009, and the actual cost of maintaining the block for the same period.

If we overestimated the cost of maintaining your block, you may receive a 'NIL' balance invoice or a credit on your account. If you receive a credit, this will stay on your account balance. To reclaim the credited amount you will need to put this in writing to us.

New ways to pay

Service charge invoices can now be paid at any PayPoint Shops or Post Offices across Nottingham using the barcode on the front of your invoice. You can pay the whole of the invoice in one go or in several instalments. A full explanation of how to use this service is included in your service charge pack.

You can also arrange payment by telephone. To do this, please contact the Rents Contact Centre on 0115 915 4920. If you would like to discuss a payment plan, please contact the Leaseholder and Rechargeable Repairs Team on 0115 915 7410.

• See a list of payPoint locations and maps

You can now you can pay all your service charges by direct debit.

• Download the direct debit form.

Go to the summary of charges.