Frequently Asked Questions
Honest, reliable block & estate management, done well.
FAQs
- The money you pay is held in your estates Designated Client Bank Account.
- Each estate we manage has it’s own Designated Client Bank Account, which means each estates funds are financial segregated. This approach is standard practice for Block & Estate Managers, and is in accordance with Section 42 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1987.
- Service charge: A variable fee paid to maintain the physical building and shared services.
- Ground rent: A regular fixed or escalating fee paid to the freeholder simply for renting the land the building sits on
- You are responsible for everything inside the four walls of your flat, including internal plumbing, wiring, plasterwork, and appliances.
- The landlord or managing agent is responsible for the building’s core structure, external walls, roof, and communal hallways—all funded via the service charge.
Grove Partners office hours are Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm. We are not open on public holidays.
A Reserve Fund is a savings pot built up over time to cover large, infrequent, but predictable capital expenditures, like a new roof or structural redecoration. All funds in the Reserve Fund stay with the estate to protect the building’s future financial stability; it is not refunded to you should you sell.
Yes, in most cases. Under standard lease terms, you must apply for a Licence for Alterations before making structural changes, moving walls, or swapping carpets for hard flooring (which can cause noise complaints)
There are a number of steps required to calculate this number for both the overall estate and individual leasehold properties.
- Step 1: Expense Forecasting: We calculate core operational expenses, buildings insurance, communal cleaning, grounds maintenance, general repairs and so on, while adjusting for inflation and historical spend data.
- Step 2: Reconciliation & Future plans: We factor in any surplus or deficit from the previous financial year, alongside a Long-Term Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) schedule, to reach the final estate total.
- Step 3: Legal Allocation: We apply the exact percentage or fraction defined in each resident’s lease agreement to calculate their individual service charge demand.
It covers your share of the costs required to maintain, repair, and manage the communal parts of the building and grounds. This typically includes building insurance, but not the contents of individual properties, communal cleaning, grounds maintenance, lift servicing, and management fees.
You are obligated under the terms of your Lease (or Transfer) to pay your service charge. You may face legal proceedings if you fail to comply. If you are having difficulties in paying your service charge, we ask that you contact us immediately to discuss if this is a short or long-term issue.
Not paying your service charge constitutes a serious breach of your lease contract. Because the money funds the day-to-day upkeep of the building, we, acting as managing agents, have an obligation to the Residential Management Company to initiate a formal debt recovery process.
You can complete Vulnerable Persons Questionnaire by clicking the link below. By completing this questionnaire, you consent to us, Grove Partners Limited, holding the information you provide for the sole purpose of supporting emergency evacuation procedures.
You also consent to this information being shared with the relevant emergency services and authorities as necessary to ensure my safe evacuation in an emergency.
Vulnerable Persons Questionnaire
Service charges are estimates based on forecasted costs. Increases usually stem from rising utility tariffs, inflation on contractor labour, building material costs, or an adjustment to cover an unexpected deficit from the previous financial year.
Your service charge invoice contains the details of how to pay which is via a bank transfer. You will need the bank account name, sort and account code to set us up as a payee.
Where a concern arises, we encourage this to be raised initially with your Estate Manager. They will seek to resolve the matter quickly and informally wherever possible. Many issues can be addressed at this stage without the need for further escalation. However, if the matter cannot be resolved informally, or if you remain dissatisfied, you may raise a formal complaint in accordance using our Complaints Handling Procedure, which sets out how complaints are investigated, responded to, and reviewed.
You can WhatsApp or call us on 01223 901045. Alternatively you can email us at office@grovepartners.co.uk
We will log the issue and raise a works order for the repair where required.