Frequently Asked Questions

BNS is a managing agent that acts on behalf of the Residents Management Company or Freeholder. BNS charges an annual fee for our services in accordance with their agreement with the client. These services cover an all-encompassing management service covering administration and secretarial work, site visits and meetings, maintenance management, insurance management, accountancy management, compliance management and health & safety management. You will find details of how much this is within the annual budget you receive with your service charge invoice.

Most housing developments will have a Residents Management Company set up who are tasked with the management responsibility of the Company and communal areas. It is common for all owners to have membership to the Company and an equal share in some cases. Directors who act on behalf of the resident’s management company are appointed to make key decisions after due consideration to BNS’ advice and are involved in agreeing the annual service charge level and items of larger expenditure giving the owners control and security over the running of their development.

The annual budget you receive will detail what you are paying for by way of service charge. It will detail the area of cost e.g. gardening or maintenance, and the amount that has been estimated to be spent in that area in the year. You will be paying an apportioned amount of that annual cost in line with your Property Transfer, this is sometimes likely to be the same percentage as other owners benefitting from the same use of the open communal spaces.

The service charge budget outlines each element of works undertaken. Landscape maintenance in accordance with the Landscape Management Plan is usually the main element of work undertaken on your development and is crucial in upholding the condition of the development and ensuring its longevity in line with ecological requirements. Ad-hoc maintenance is also usually undertaken alongside any tree works to uphold the value of your development.

Many local authorities no longer adopt certain areas of private land with the legal responsibility of the maintenance, insurance and administrative aspects of these areas being given to the homeowners of the development.

Some areas of the estate such as the roads and street lamps are sometimes adopted depending on what development you reside in. Council tax would still be payable as well as a service charge to maintain the communal spaces.

The Service Charge Invoice you may have received will have been based on an estimate of what BNS and the Freeholder or Directors of the Management Company believed would be spent in that year. At the end of the year, service charge accounts will be completed which detail the exact amount that was actually spent compared to the estimate. If required by your Transfer Deed or TP1, a year end adjustment will be made so that the amount collected matches the amount spent. Therefore, if there has been an overspend you will receive an invoice to cover the shortfall. Similarly, if there has been an underspend, your service charge account will be credited. The amounts will be proportioned as per the contribution outlined in your Transfer Deed/TP1.

In many instances on a new build development, you will pay a proportion of service charge as part of your completion statement, typically to the end of the respective financial year. The communal areas may not be formally handed over by the developer when you have moved in and in these instances it is likely that a credit will be issued back to all owners once the service charge accounts have been finalised and show a surplus compared to the annual budget. Until this is undertaken the funds will sit within the Management Company’s account.

You can find our complaints procedure here.

You can read our unreasonable behaviour policy here.

A service charge is an amount payable in accordance with your Lease or Property Transfer towards the upkeep of the managed communal areas and associated administrative costs of the development.

The funds paid go towards the day-to-day running costs of your development and is used to cover items such as buildings insurance, maintenance, repairs, gardening and communal facilities and administrative costs. The amount is due in line with your Lease/Property Transfer with the dates applicable outlined within your invoice. Typical periods the service charge invoice covers are annually, half-yearly or quarterly. Please check your service charge invoice for confirmation.

The annual budget you receive will detail what you are paying for by way of your service charge. It will detail the area of cost e.g. gardening or cleaning, and the amount that has been estimated to be spent in that area in the year. You will be paying an apportioned amount of that annual cost in line with your Lease (if Leasehold) or Property Transfer document (if Freehold).

The service charge is considered in depth by BNS and their management, accounting and compliance teams with a proposal and supporting justification given to their client for their approval.

The costs consider future planned works, reserves needing to be saved towards planned larger items of expenditure, one off works for the financial period, maintenance contracts for the development and electrical and insurance costs for the industry. Financial trends are considered for all items of expenditure with a requirement to cover costs with a realistic and reasonable budget required at all times to uphold the value of your property.

The service charge monies are paid by using your unique reference number to properly allocate your payment to the interest-bearing client account held on trust for your development in accordance with the Landlord and Tenant Act. The funds are then expended where required in line with the Lease/Property Transfer and in accordance with any expenditure limit in accordance with the agreement BNS have with their Residential Management Company client or freehold client.

If permitted by your Lease or Transfer Deed money will be collected to be put aside into a reserve fund. This is a fund set up to pay for planned and cyclical larger works due on the development in the future such as roof replacement, external decoration, flooring replacements for Leasehold properties or  replenishments of equipment/surfaces, trees/hedgerows etc for estate managed properties.

BNS is a managing agent that acts on behalf of the Residents Management Company or Freeholder. BNS charges an annual fee for our services in accordance with their agreement with the client. These services cover an all-encompassing management service covering  administration and secretarial work, maintenance management, insurance management, accountancy management, compliance management and Health & Safety management. You will find details of how much this is within the annual budget you receive with your Application for Payment.

The Application for Payment you may have received will have been based on an estimate of what BNS and the Freeholder or Directors of the Management Company believed would be spent in that year. At the end of the year, service charge accounts will be completed which detail the exact amount that was actually spent compared to the estimate. If required by your Lease or Transfer Deed, a year end adjustment will be made so that the amount collected matches the amount spent. Therefore, if there has been an overspend you will receive an invoice to cover the shortfall. Similarly, if there has been an underspend, your service charge account will be credited. The amounts will be proportioned as per the contribution outlined in your lease/transfer deed.

If you do not pay your service charge we will start our debt collection procedure. This will incur further fees being added to your account and could lead to Solicitors being appointed to act in the recovery. All service charge monies are legally due and owners have entered into a legal agreement to pay them when purchasing their property. Failure to pay promptly could result in serious legal and financial implications for the respective debtor.

You are not legally permitted to withhold payment of service charge. If you believe the charges to be unfair, you will need to apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chambers) for them to make a decision on the reasonableness of these charges. Failure to pay your service charge may result in essential items not being able to be addressed at your property resulting in the development being devalued and higher risk placed upon yourself as the defaulting homeowner.

Payments you make may not show straight away as the bank account paid into will need to be reconciled by our accounts department. This may take up to four weeks. Should you require confirmation of receipt in the meantime, please let us know and we can check this for you.

BNS and the client look at the level of service charge on an annual basis. We look at whether the cost of any services such as cleaning or gardening is likely to change and what works are due to be carried out on the development of the next year and estimate their costs. Due to this the amount of service charge you are asked to pay can go up or down.

The budget is always approved by the Freeholder or Directors of the Management Company before being sent out to all homeowners.