Service Charge Estimate 2021

At the end of 2020 Phase 2 received the Service Charge Estimates from Chamonix Estates (soon to be FirstPort) for 2021. Not the most comfortable and easy reading particularly with the time of year, even more so with things as they are for many. The timing particularly is something we aim to tackle at some point in the future.

Unfortunately, until we can implement any changes, we are tied to Chamonix Estates. Therefore, it is beneficial to understand how the service charges are made up and what that means individually. The chart below is a duplicate of the on that accompanies their invoice which you should have seen. This covers the whole estate of 350 properties, then the 6 Apartments which Chamonix service (the other 12 are Flagship properties), and 8 properties which have a Courtyard they service. The Courtyard is attached to the 6 apartments and 2 houses that have a parking space in that courtyard.

To understand these charges from an individual properties point of view and how it relates to the bills we get, the charges need to be broken down per unit. This is shown in the table below. This is not officially supplied by Chamonix but was created from the estimate table above.

So, the estate charge per property is £167.88 based on this, 1p over the invoice amount due to rounding on the original. Every property on the estate has this charge applied. The two houses with car parking in the shared courtyard pay an additional £69.38 on top of this, £237.26. The 6 apartments pay all three charges £1,352.00 apartment plus £69.38 courtyard and £167.88 estate, a total of £1,589.26.

It is important to remember that these charges are estimates and some elements may not get charged onto the end of year accounts. This is dependant on what happens through the year and how much of the estate is complete and handed over. In many ways the accounts are the more important documents, currently we have only had one full year of accounts, these were for 2019. The 2020 account should arrive in June or July and that will tell us what has been actually charged for 2020.

As the estate is not complete, Chamonix have not been charging the full estimates for some elements at the end of the year. Most notably Management Fees and Garden Maintenance. The excesses of which have been put into general reserve for the accounts. For 2019 Chamonix charged 63% of the management fee, that was the percentage of the estate calculated to be complete and handed over to tenants. It has been confirmed by Chamonix that the management fee is a set calculated cost +vat per property. This is indicated on the individual chart above, £63.48 including Vat per property. Ground maintenance is calculated based on the number of hours and work deemed to be required to manage the site. In 2019 this was charged at 40% of the estimate for the year, the amount calculated to have been adopted by Chamonix at the time. Likewise, both of these charges will be less for 2020 than the estimate for the year.

None of this justifies the total charges applied by Chamonix to manage the estate. Or what they charge compared to the amount of work undertaken and completed. However, hopefully it helps show how the bills are made up from an individual’s point of view. Understanding this will allow us to better compare charges from others management companies as we move forward and by getting residents in place as directors to make decisions for Beckets Grove Phase 2 (Wymondham) Residents Management Company Ltd.

See more information on the 2019 account details here.

See the Residents Meeting notes from August 2020 for more information on question directed to Chamonix. In particularly what makes up the work done under their Management Fees.