Couple 'stuck in unsellable home' over service fee

Sam and Evangeline Thorn's service charge has increased by nearly £5,000 in seven years

A couple say increases to property service charges mean they have been unable to sell their home and have been forced to put their lives on hold.

Sam and Evangeline Thorn bought their two-bedroom leasehold house in Park 25, in Redhill, Surrey, for £250,000 in 2018. At the time, they paid £2,800 a year in service charges.

Now, however, the freeholder has put up the service charge to £7,520.34, which Sam says is the reason he has been unable to sell the house.

Property management company FirstPort said it is working with homeowners at the development and their local MP Rebecca Paul to address rising costs linked to the development's heat network, and has taken steps to improve transparency.

Service charges are payable by the leaseholder to the landlord for services the landlord is obliged to provide under the terms of the lease.

It usually covers things like maintenance, repairs and improvements to the buildings or surroundings.

Sam and Evangeline, who want to move to a larger property before having a second child, said no one will buy their home, despite dropping the asking price from £290,000 to £220,000.

The couple said their estate agent told them buyers were being put off by the size of the service charge increase over seven years.

"We will get to a point in the future when our kids are grown up, we'll look back and think that these were wasted years because of this," Sam said.

"We have the income for a new home but can't sell the house, our lives are on hold."

It comes as Rebecca Paul, the MP for Reigate, is due to raise the matter of "exploitative" service charges in Parliament on Thursday.

She said: "Some property service companies are not providing a value for money service, they are not adequately maintaining communal areas and they most certainly are not being transparent in their dealings.

"Their actions are trapping residents in homes they can't afford and can't sell. Yet, the current law of the land allows them to do this."

Ms Paul will call on the government to amend the law, making it easier for leaseholders to challenge "excessive" charges.

A spokesperson for FirstPort said: "We always seek to ensure that service charge costs represent value for money and are presented to homeowners transparently.

"We continue to work closely with homeowners and the local MP to address the issues being faced with the development's heat network, which is impacting overall costs.

"We have met with Ms Paul a number of times to explain how these charges are calculated and what they cover. We've also made improvements to ensure homeowners can easily understand what they're paying for – from clearer invoices and breakdowns of costs to more opportunities to ask questions and share feedback.

"Alongside this, we're progressing with plans to improve the efficiency of the heat network and reduce running costs for homeowners."