Leasehold Customer Service Standards

You can report leasehold issues to us by phone, email, letter, on our website
and in person at our housing offices click here for a list of all the ways you can contact Leasehold Services.

Service charges - we will:

• give you ten days notice if we are going to take any recovery action;
• provide the option for you to pay your annual service charge by 10 equal monthly instalments from the date that you receive your annual service charge bill or up to a year if you pay by direct debit; and
• offer you a confidential debt advice service if you are having difficulty with paying your annual service charge bills.

Please note, that you can now check your service charge statements online by visiting our website.

Major works - we will

• consult you about the scope of the works, proposed contractors and costs at least 12 weeks before the contract is due to be let unless the works are an emergency;
• notify you of any loans available from the Council for payment of major works bills within 10 working days of a written request; and
• consider your financial circumstances if you are having difficulty paying your major works charges and discuss payment options with you.

Alterations to your property - we will

• notify you (in writing within 10 working days of a written application to make an alteration) whether this is allowed and any conditions we have.

Information - we will

• keep you informed about services, improvements and performance information through newsletters, leaflets, texts, letters and our website;
• provide you with a copy of our Leasehold Handbook available here or in our housing office receptions and from libraries in Lewisham. If you would like a copy of our Leasehold Handbook sent out to you, please call the Leasehold Services team to request one;
• send you an estimated service charge bill by April each year, giving payment options and the balance of your service charge account;
• send you details of the actual service charges each October for the previous year;
• explain how our service charges are calculated and provide details of the costs; and
• consult and liaise with leaseholder groups including the Leasehold Improvement Group which has been set up specifically to enable leaseholders to influence policies and procedures that affect them.

Our Customer Service Standards for specific areas of our service such as Estate Services and Customer Care, can be found in our leaflet rack.

Getting it right

We aim to provide you with excellent customer service at all times, but if you feel we are not meeting these standards please tell us. If we fail to meet our standards and this causes a problem we will try to rectify this fairly.

We will deal positively with your comments and complaints, and of course we welcome compliments from you.