Service charges

Q: What’s a service charge?

A: A service charge is a charge for any services that are undertaken at the building and or estate where your home is situated. These charges purely relate to services undertaken to communal areas and equipment. You can see a list and descriptions of various service charges below.

Q: What do I do if I am unhappy with a service I’ve received?

A: If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received, you can let us know by visiting Communicate with us if you are a council tenant | Folkestone & Hythe District Council and following the guidance that best addresses your concern.

What do I do if I’m struggling to pay my rent and service charge?

We have a dedicated team of Benefits and Money Advisors available to support you. If you're finding it difficult to manage your rent, benefits, debts, or budgeting, we're here to help.

To speak with our advisors, just give us a call on 01303 853000 and we’ll arrange for them to get in touch with you. You can also find out more about the support we can offer on our website at: folkestone-hythe.gov.uk/help-support-cost-living.

It’s important to contact us as soon as possible. Being open about your situation helps us give you the right advice and can prevent things from getting more serious.

Service charge survey

We are currently looking to change the way that we calculate and apply the service charges that most tenants living in our blocks or schemes pay. Service charges are required to meet the cost of facilities such as grounds maintenance, communal area heating and cleaning.

Please take a little time to complete our survey and give us your feedback about possible changes to the charging structure. It should only take a few minutes and your responses will help shape the change we are looking to make.

If you need a paper copy of the survey, please call us on 01303 853300 and we will post one out to you.

Tenant service charge Management fee	This is the cost of the management of the services to the building (and estate) where your home is situated. This element includes the management and calculation of charges, and sundry items and equipment used in connection with the management of the buildings and leasehold properties, for example IT equipment and postal costs.
Health & Safety	This element of your service charge includes all health and safety related charges linked to the building (and estate). Items include fire risk assessments, asbestos reports, legionella testing, and electrical safety testing.
Communal electricity	This is the cost of the electricity for the communal parts of the building (and estate). For example, communal lighting and door entry systems.
Electrical maintenance	This covers all the weekly, fortnightly and monthly servicing of electrical systems within the building (and estate).
Grounds maintenance	Includes elements such as grass cutting, tree and other shrub/flower maintenance within your defined estate.
Cleaning	The housing service employs a specialist contractor to carry out the cleaning within the buildings. They work to a standard specification, but the number of times they visit each block per week varies according to the needs of the building. Independent living schemes, have daily cleaning. Whereas the cleaning in other buildings is generally once a week; some blocks are visited twice a week. In summary the cleaners sweep and wash all internal floors and stairs, dust and wipe clean all surfaces, handrails, windowsills and communal windows.
Caretaking	The housing service has a small team of caretakers who along with the cleaning contractor help us take care of our blocks. Their duties include litter picking, sweeping external courtyards and footpaths, taking care of shared bin areas, and removing or reporting dumped items. They also carry out some minor repairs in communal areas, and they carry out routine health and safety inspections of all blocks that have shared internal areas.
Communal heating	This covers the cost of heating to the communal parts of the building where a communal heating system is installed.
Communal water	This covers the cost of the incoming water supply used at the building (and estate).
Communal wastewater	This covers the cost of the wastewater supply used at the building (and estate).
Refuse services	Occasionally there’s a need to remove dumped items from the buildings and estates. This also includes bin replacement and other waste related costs.
Lift	This element covers the cost of the servicing and maintenance of the passenger lifts if you have one.
Laundry and leisure facilities	Some buildings have communal laundry and other facilities. This charge covers the cost of the servicing and replacement of items when required.