Basildon: Service charges are doubled

Sid Taberman, 70, of Lorrimore Close, Billericay, claims he has previously paid £296 per year, but the council are now demanding £545.

Basildon Council has stated that service charges are automatically generated depending on the previous year’s maintenance cost and predicted costs for the year ahead and that the council will review the costs.

But this is little consolation to Sid, who relies on his pension and claims he will struggle to pay the amount.

Mr Taberman claims that the service charge has increased because of work needed to repair a shed in the communal garden.

Basildon Council said officers attended to repair the roof damaged by rot, but Sid disputes this, insisting that council officers actually caused further damage to the roof.

He said: “The increase is ridiculous, how can you double our service charge for no apparent reason?

“I cannot afford it, quite simply, £545 is a lot to me and it is a lot to come out of my pension.

“And what’s worse, is we are paying out for damage caused by council officers.

“I saw with my own eyes that the council employee was damaging the roof when he was cutting trees and hedges, so now we are being charged for damage caused by the council?

“I can’t get my head around it, and when you try to speak to the council you get nowhere.”

Mr Taberman claims there has never been a mention of rot in the shed roof.

A Basildon Council spokesman insisted the service charge will be reviewed when it next reviews samples from the auto-generated system.

The spokesman said, “Officers attended a property in Lorrimore Close, Billericay, to complete remedial works to shed roofs in the communal garden which had become damaged by rot. Our system auto-generates annual service charge estimates, based on a number of factors including the previous year’s actual maintenance costs and predicted maintenance for the year ahead.

“We regularly review samples from this and will ensure that this charge gets looked at in the next round of reviews.”