Residents in Gloucester have raised concerns after receiving letters from Gloucester City Homes regarding estate service charges for freehold properties.
The letter states GCH is now ‘implementing a revised service charge policy to ensure that costs incurred by Gloucester City Homes in maintaining communal areas and providing essential services across the estate are fairly distributed’.
GCH said the proposed charges will include estate cleaning, rubbish removal and landscaping.
Surprised residents in areas across the city including Tredworth, Matson and Hucclecote have contacted Gloucester News Centre.
A community meeting will be held at the Redwell Centre in Matson tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:30pm.
Local councillors will be forming a group against the charges.
Anne Southern, Executive Director of Business Resources at GCH “GCH has sent letters to some freeholders across Gloucester, where we have identified that an estate service charge for the maintenance of nearby communal land has not been previously charged, relating to non-council land located near the properties.
Currently the costs associated with the delivery of services enjoyed by the occupants of all homes on a street or an estate, Including estate cleaning, landscaping, general maintenance, rubbish removal and management of fly-tipping, are funded solely by GCH tenants and leaseholders, in effect subsiding those services for homeowners. Our proposed approach, in line with common practice, looks at spreading the cost of services delivered across all households that benefit from them.
At this stage we have opened a consultation with affected homeowners to gather their feedback. More information and the full set of FAQs can be found at Consultation on Estate Service Charges For Freehold Properties – GCH“