Invoicing of Service Charges
The budgeted costs for your Lodge/Development are divided in accordance with
the terms of the Lease, which specifies a percentage charge of the
annual service cost.
Payment can be made via a cheque to your Lodge Manager, by direct
debit or by sending a cheque direct to the Millstream Management
Services Ltd offices.
Ground Rent
Ground rent is collected by Millstream on behalf of the Landlord in accordance with the terms of the Lease.
Service Charge
The service charge is the amount you pay for the upkeep of the building structure, the communal areas and the external areas together with the cost of any services provided in accordance with the terms of your Lease. The usual costs which make up the service charge are:
Lodge Manager Apartment Rental
The service charge includes a cost for Lodge Manager Apartment Rental where applicable. Please note that the rental is subject to a valuation review by the Landlord which will be based on any increase in RPI applied to the previous year’s rental. The review/valuation is upward only.
Lodge Manager costs, including:
- Salary
- Employer’s National Insurance Contribution
- Pension Contribution
Emergency Alarm System costs, including:
- Careline monitoring charge
- Telephone link from your Lodge/Development to Careline Central Control
- Emergency Call Equipment
General Communal Expenses:
- Insurance of building and common parts:
Lift (engineering)
Public and employers liability
Professional indemnity
Communal equipment including furniture and carpets, etc. - Lighting, power and heating - including laundry, guest suite, lounge etc.
- Water (calculated from a meter) and sewerage charges collected on behalf of the water authorities, where applicable. These water and sewerage costs are usually, but not always, paid as part of the service charge costs and not calculated separately for each apartment. You may, however, have to pay a separate charge for environmental services
- Window cleaning of communal areas and exterior of Owners’ windows (where applicable)
- Maintenance of gardens/grounds
- Cleaning of communal parts
Contribution to Funds:
- Redecoration Fund:
This is an amount which is set aside each year from your service charges and is used to cover the cost of internal and external redecoration of communal areas. All proposed expenditure from this fund will be discussed with Owners prior to any outlay being made
Maintenance & Repairs:
- Lift servicing
- General Maintenance – day to day repairs
General Expenses:
- Lodge Manager’s telephone rental and cost of business calls
- Sundries – to cover the cost of postage, supplies for the communal kitchen and office sundries
- Management Fee – the fee payable to Millstream for the management of your Lodge/Development
- Audit Fee – payable to independent qualified accountants to audit the Lodge/Development accounts and ensure that all monies are dealt with correctly
- Bank Charges – your service charges are held in a specified trust fund account but because this is classed as a business account it does attract bank charges
Income:
Where we receive income from the Guest Suite and Owners’ Lounge, this will be credited to your Lodge/Development’s service charge account, although the Landlord is legally entitled to keep this income at his discretion.