2026/2027 Service Charge Breakdown

Transparency starts with knowing exactly where our money goes. Based on the 2026/2027 estimates, each flat is billed £203.18 per month (£2438.16 annually).

Below is the exact breakdown of these costs, placed alongside Southern Housing's official definitions, and scored on a Pants-on-Fire (1-10) scale to highlight the worst offenders.

London Benchmarking & Reality Check

Our total annual block budget is roughly £36,572. For a basic 15-unit building with no concierge or luxury amenities, while this is 'average', recent legislation has been brought in specifically to counter inflated service charges for which this county has the highest in the EU. We can do better.

• Door Entry (£748 total): The Noralsy GSM intercom has been completely broken since August. Billing leaseholders for a maintenance contract on a dead system is a breach of Section 27A of the Landlord & Tenant Act (services must be of a "reasonable standard").
• Fire Systems & Repairs (£1,996 total): We are paying nearly £2k a year for fire safety, yet the Floor 2 fire door is sticky and has been wedged open for over a year. This is a severe post-Grenfell safety compliance failure.
• Grounds Maintenance (£1,753 total): We have roughly 100 sq/m of outside space (a 10x10m patch of grass and bushes). We are paying £146 a month for a space a local gardener would maintain for £40.
• In-House Cleaning (£3,913 total): 200 sq/m of corridor takes a professional 1.5 hours to clean. At £3.9k a year, we are overpaying by at least £1,300.
• Management Fee (£4,654 total): We pay a market rate (£310/unit), but we receive sub-market service when it comes to response times (fire door, intercom) and transparency (vague and inflated section 20 and 20B estimates). Management fees are effectively a 100% loss of capital if the agent fails to perform their core statutory duties.

Line-by-Line Breakdown

What These Services Actually Cost

Here is the result of my research into typical costs on the open market in London for a 15-unit, 4-floor building of our exact size. When you run your own RTM company, these are the kinds of numbers we will be aiming for. Please note that these are good-faith estimates. We cannot know the true cost of everything until we complete the Financial Review and actually tender the contracts.

Total RTM Savings Potential

When you take control of these line items and tender them to local, independent contractors, the result is significant. A low service charge freehold / commonhold means more money retained by the residents and a higher value on your property.

You are effectively paying a substantial premium per household purely to fund Southern Housing's inefficiencies and inflated mega-contractors. These savings don't even include potential reductions in insurance or other questionable charges.

Key Financial Takeaways for Right to Manage

When we execute our Right to Manage (RTM), we gain control over this entire budget.

1. The Reserve/Sinking Fund

Every year, each flat contributes £498.36 to the sinking fund. For the whole 15-unit building, that is £7475 collected annually. Under RTM legislation, Southern Housing is legally required to hand over all unspent reserve funds to our new resident-controlled RTM Company. We get to keep our savings.

2. The Management Fee

We are currently paying Southern Housing £4654.80 a year across our 15 units (£310.32/flat) just to "manage" our contracts and invoices.

SW17 Market Rate Comparison (2026)

By switching to a market-rate agent like CKD or Urang, we reduce management fees to £2,700/year (£180/flat), saving £1,955/year building-wide while ensuring the agent actually answers the phone when a door breaks.

Switching agents after RTM is easy: The first RTM switch is a statutory battle. Every subsequent agent switch is administrative—just like changing your broadband provider.

3. Contract Tendering

Items like Block repairs, Cleaning, and Grounds maintenance are heavily inflated. Under RTM, we will strip Southern Housing of these contracts and go to the open market, ensuring we only pay for contractors who deliver high-quality work at fair prices. Combined savings on these three items alone: ~£354/year per flat.

Council Services: Free Waste Collections

Wandsworth Council provides two free bulky waste collections per household every year—a valuable service many residents don't know about.

What You Get For Free

Each free collection includes:

• Up to 4 bulky items (furniture, appliances, mattresses, etc.)
• Or up to 12 refuse sacks (3 sacks = 1 item)
• Collection on your usual recycling day

If You Need More

Once you've used your two free collections:

• £24 for up to 4 items
• £10.70 per additional item beyond 4

Why This Matters

Many buildings include commercial waste removal in their service charges. If you're paying for bulky waste collection through your service charge but the council already provides this for free, that's money you could save under RTM by using the council service instead.

To book a collection, visit Wandsworth Council's bulky waste service or call 020 8871 8558.

RTM Setup Costs

The Right to Manage process has one-time setup costs. Here's the breakdown based on standard RTM application fees:

Is It Worth It?

The setup cost is a one-time investment that pays for itself in under 3 months. After that, you're saving money every single month while gaining full control over service quality, contractor selection, and budget allocation.