Guides

Make sense of your service charges

Clear starting points for understanding the documents, rights, and questions behind your service charges.

What are service charge accounts?Learn what year-end service charge accounts contain and how they relate to your own bill.Service charge letters, accounts, budgets and invoices: what is the difference?Understand what each document is for, when it appears, and which figures it can evidence.What is a Section 21 service charge summary request?Understand the purpose of a Section 21 request and the information a service charge summary should provide.What is a Section 20 consultation?Learn when leaseholders should be consulted about major works and long-term agreements.Who can I complain to about service charges?See the main routes for raising concerns and the evidence worth keeping as you escalate.How to read your service charge invoicesKnow which invoice details to check and how to connect them to accounts, budgets, and your share of costs.What to ask your managing agent when costs increaseUse focused questions to understand what changed, why it changed, and what evidence supports the increase.What documents should I upload to Overcharged?Choose the documents that give Overcharged the best chance of producing a useful analysis.What Overcharged can and cannot doUnderstand the product's current capabilities, limitations, and the decisions that remain yours.