Statements go out in March. Within a fortnight the housing team is answering hundreds of versions of the same four questions. Why has it gone up. What is this line for. Who decided this. Why am I paying for something I do not use.
The information exists. It is in a spreadsheet nobody has published in a form a person can read.
A worked example
Say a block of forty flats with an annual service charge budget of 96,000, so 2,400 per flat before any variation for size or lease terms.
Cleaning and grounds, 18,000. Communal electricity, 9,000. Buildings insurance, 22,000. Lift maintenance and inspection, 11,000. Fire safety and equipment checks, 7,000. Repairs and general maintenance, 12,000. Management fee, 11,000. Reserve fund contribution, 6,000.
Last year it was 88,000. The increase is mostly insurance, up 5,000, and communal electricity, up 2,500.
Published like that, with two sentences explaining the insurance movement, most of the contact disappears. Published as a single figure of 2,400, all of it arrives.
Publish the breakdown by category
Every year, with the previous year alongside. Leaseholders comparing two numbers ask questions, and leaseholders comparing two breakdowns usually find their own answer.
Explain the largest movements
The two or three lines that changed most, and why. This is the single most effective piece of communication in the whole cycle.
Explain what the reserve fund is for
What it accumulates towards, how much is held and what draws on it. Leaseholders resent paying for something they cannot see until it is explained as a way of avoiding a large demand later.
Explain the management fee
What it covers, per unit, and what falls outside it as an additional charge. This is the line leaseholders scrutinise most and understand least.
Explain estimated versus actual
That budgets are estimates, that actual costs are reconciled afterwards and what happens to a surplus or a shortfall. Leaseholders assume the figure is a bill rather than an estimate.
Say who chose the contractors
Leaseholders paying for cleaning, grounds and maintenance want to know whether the work was tendered, how often contracts are reviewed and whether any contractor is connected to the landlord. Publishing that, and when each contract was last tested against the market, answers the suspicion that sits behind almost every service charge complaint.
Publish major works separately
Section notices, consultation, timescales and how costs are apportioned. Major works generate more anxiety than annual charges and need their own explanation.
Explain apportionment
Why flats pay different amounts, whether it is by floor area, by lease or by another method. Neighbours compare figures and assume an error.
Point to the challenge route
Where leaseholders can question charges, through the proper channels. Publishing it, rather than avoiding it, is both correct and reduces the sense of being stonewalled.
Route financial difficulty properly
Leaseholders unable to pay a large demand need a payment arrangement and a conversation, not an enforcement letter.
Tenants ask different things
They are covered in rent, moving and application questions tenants ask and repair request and tenancy questions for housing associations.
Repeated questions are worth publishing once
It is the same principle as the allergy question your staff answer every service and answering service area questions.
Getting started
Publish the breakdown, the year on year comparison and an explanation of the largest movements, then answer at any hour through the statement period. SpideyChat for property managers answers from your published pages, our plans are on the pricing page, and the chatbot ROI calculator works through the numbers.