According to rental site Upad.co.uk, tenants should make an effort to check every leasehold bill they receive from their landlord to make sure that all the charges are legitimate.
They state that is not unheard of for landlord’s or even the letting agents representing them to slip unfair service charges onto the bill. Just like a bill in a restaurant tenants need to check each one over and make sure they agree with all the charges that are included. If they believe they are being charged for something they should not be they need raise the issue with the landlord straight away.
James Davis, chief executive officer of the site says,
“A lot of property holders know that people just pay it and don’t look at it. You should ask for supplementary evidence to support it
To say a lot seems to be a little unfair on the vast majority of us who would not even consider using this under hand practice but the point is taken. as in any business there is always going to be the odd few that try to get one over on the customer and it is as well that people protect themselves against this.
Tony Essien, chief executive of the Leasehold Advisory Service, stated that charges must be “reasonably incurred”.
If you think some of yours are not then by all means you should raise the issue with your landlord. And perhaps landlords may want to take this opportunity to make sure everything is above board, especially if you use a third party.
