Service Charges

Understanding Service Charges

At Westview Housing, we provide various additional services to enhance our tenants' living experience. To cover the costs of these services, we add service charges to the rent, which are billed together as part of the rent. Service charges are calculated to recover the full cost of providing and managing these services, ensuring transparency and fairness. Below, you'll find detailed information about specific service charges.

The Gardening/Grounds Maintenance service charge covers periodic visits from a gardener to maintain outdoor spaces, including grass cutting, weed clearance, hedge trimming, and tree maintenance, with visit frequency determined by garden size and maturity.

Our Window Cleaning service covers the external cleaning of communal windows that cannot be accessed by tenants, with visits scheduled either quarterly or monthly, while internal window cleaning remains the responsibility of the tenant(s).

We include waste removal costs as a service charge when we pay for services such as bulky waste collections or sanitary waste collection, ensuring a clean and hygienic living environment for our tenants.

To ensure your safety, our properties with interlinked fire alarm systems and emergency lighting receive regular servicing visits from a qualified engineer. This charge covers the cost of these essential maintenance checks, which guarantee the systems are functioning correctly.

We provide Pest Control services, including regular programmes at larger sites and responsive services at other sites, to ensure a safe and healthy living environment.
We provide Communal Cleaning services in shared housing and blocks of flats, ensuring common areas are regularly maintained, including sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, and wiping down surfaces, with some sites also receiving occasional deep cleans, oven cleaning, or carpet cleaning.
We provide Furniture and Household Equipment to some tenants, with this service charge covering the periodic replacement of items in communal areas, such as sofas and dining tables, to ensure a comfortable and well-maintained living environment.
We provide Laundry Equipment and White Goods, including washing machines, dryers, fridges, cookers, and other essential appliances, for the convenience of our tenants in select schemes.
We maintain the aesthetic appeal of communal areas in our shared housing and blocks of flats through our Periodic Redecoration service, which typically occurs every 3-5 years, covering repainting, replacement flooring, and other necessary refreshments.
This service charge covers the cost of heating, lighting, water, and sewerage for shared communal areas, including circulation spaces, kitchens, living rooms, and other shared facilities.
To ensure continuous service provision, we charge a Void and Bad Debt Cover fee on eligible service charges, covering situations where unoccupied units or unpaid charges impact our ability to maintain services, with this fee only applying to Housing Benefit-eligible components.
Where Westview Housing receives a single utility supply, a fixed contribution may be added to the rent to cover gas, water, electricity, and sewerage costs, which must be paid by the tenant and is not eligible for Housing Benefit.

When Westview Housing includes a designated support cost in the rent, it will be shown on the rent breakdown and must be paid by the tenant, as it is not eligible for Housing Benefit.

Connect with us to explore your options.

At Westview Housing Solutions CIC, we are committed to creating housing solutions that genuinely improve lives and communities across the United Kingdom.

Why choose us?
contact us today