Essex Block Management offers directors and flat owners in Essex a free, written service charge check. Send last year's service charge accounts and this year's budget, photographs are fine, and you get two pages back signed by Samuel Milne MTPI AssocRICS: your fee per flat beside fees other firms publish, every charge on top, the insurance, the reserve fund and three questions worth asking your agent.
01What you send
Last year's service charge accounts and this year's budget. Photographs of each page on your phone are fine. Tell us how many flats there are, who manages the building now, and whether you are a director.
02What you get back
Two pages in writing, signed by Samuel Milne MTPI AssocRICS. Here is an example, for an invented building:
- The fee: what the building pays to be managed, per flat, beside fees other firms publish.
- Charges on top: every other payment to the agent or a connected company, listed.
- Insurance: the premium per flat, the change on last year, and the questions to ask about commission and the rebuild valuation.
- The reserve fund: what is held, what goes in, and whether there is a plan behind it.
- What directors answer for: filings, accounts and budget timing, fire risk assessment, where the money is held.
- Three questions worth putting to your agent, whoever manages you next.
03Who it is for
Directors of residents' management companies and right to manage companies in Essex, and flat owners who want their board to see it. Estate agents, solicitors and surveyors are welcome to pass it on to their clients.
04The small print
It is free and there is no obligation. We tell you when to expect yours. It is general information written from the documents you send, not legal advice and not advice on what your lease allows, and we never promise savings.
05How to send
Email info@essexblockmanagement.co.uk, WhatsApp photographs to 07983 582589, or post copies to Essex Block Management, Unit 3, Kingsdale Business Centre, Regina Road, Chelmsford CM1 1PE.
06Questions
Is the service charge check really free?
Yes. There is no charge and no obligation to appoint us. It is yours to keep whoever manages your building.
What do I need to send for a service charge check?
Last year's service charge accounts and this year's budget, plus the number of flats and who manages the building now. Photographs of each page are fine.
Can I get a service charge check if I am not a director?
Yes. Flat owners can ask for one too, and it is written so you can put it in front of your board.
Who writes the service charge check?
Samuel Milne MTPI AssocRICS, a director of Essex Block Management, a RICS regulated managing agent in Chelmsford. He reads your documents and signs the note.
Is the check legal advice?
No. It is general information written from the documents you send. We have not seen your lease, so it does not advise on what your lease allows.
07Guides for directors
- Service charge estimate
- RICS regulated block managers in Essex
- The reserve fund
- Service charge arrears
- Service charge accounts
- Directors' duties in an RMC
- How to choose a managing agent
- A free service charge check
- Service charges explained
- Buildings insurance for blocks
- Fire safety in blocks of flats
- The Directors' Library
- What is block management?
- How to change managing agent
- Residents' management companies
- Right to manage
- Block management fees
- Section 20 major works
- New-build estate fees
- Estate management in Essex