Service Charges & Insurance
What are your financial responsibilities?
- Payments to Lincolnshire Housing Partnership
- Ground Rent
Ground rent is a small fixed sum payable by the leaseholder to the freeholder (LHP) in recognition of the legal contract between them (the Lease).
Your ground rent is currently £10.00 per year.
Service Charges
A service charge is a payment towards the cost of communal areas and services outside your home.
These are examples of services which may be covered by these charges:
- Employing a caretaker
- Cleaning shared areas and removing rubbish
- Looking after communal gardens including cutting the grass
- Repairing shared facilities like door entry systems, lifts and lighting
- Fire safety including repairing and testing smoke alarms in entry areas, stairways and corridors
- Buildings insurance
Where we provide a service that is shared by a number of customers, the amount that we charge is the total cost of that service is typically divided by the number of customers who benefit from it.
You do not pay fixed service charges (charges that are fixed with no additional amounts to pay or refunds back)
Any service charges you pay are variable service charges. These occur when we set an estimated charge at the beginning of the financial year and then produce a final account once the year has completed. The final account compares the actual costs of the services against the estimate that we set. The result may be a credit back or that you are charged in the next financial year to cover the difference.
How can I pay my service charges?
You can pay your service charges and ground rent in a number of ways.
What will happen if I don’t pay?
Under the terms of the lease, it is the leaseholder’s obligation to pay service charges and ground rent promptly. If they are not paid and LHP is able to show that the charges are reasonable, we can begin forfeiture proceedings. If approved by a Court, this can lead to LHP repossessing your property.
Building Insurance
In most instances, we are obliged to insure the buildings that leaseholders and shared owners live in and you pay us for providing this cover.
Under the terms of the lease, we are entitled to recover the cost of the annual premiums from you. This cost is included in your service charge invoice. Please note that it is a condition of your lease that you have this insurance.
The building you live in is owned by us and we are responsible for insuring it, you will be recharged an amount to cover the insurance of your property. The insurance is for the structure of the building only.
You will be provided with details of the current provider every year. To make a claim please contact Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Brokers Limited on 01245 341210.
LHP – Summary of Cover – Shared Owner/Leaseholder 2023/24
Please note: we do not insure the contents of your home.
We, therefore, strongly recommend you to take out your own contents insurance which should also cover you against loss, theft or damage caused by you or your property (e.g. leaking washing machine) to other people’s property or belongings.
Contents Insurance
Many customers think that as your landlord we automatically insure your furniture, belongings and decorations against fire, theft, vandalism or water damage such as burst pipes. But this isn’t the case – we insure the buildings you live in but not the contents inside them.
If you look around the room, think about how much it would cost to replace your belongings if they were damaged or destroyed – it soon adds up!
Let’s protect what makes your place a home.
We have teamed up with Royal & Sun Alliance insurance company to provide low-cost contents insurance specifically for Lincolnshire Housing Partnership residents.
You have a home full of things that you need and love – clothes, TV, kitchen appliances, keepsakes, furniture, and gadgets. Surely, if stuff’s worth owning, then it’s worth protecting.
As your landlord, we insure the building and anything we provide, but we don’t cover your home’s contents and belongings. Ask yourself, would you need help with the cost of putting things right after a kitchen fire, a washing machine flood, or a break in? It could get pretty pricey. But don’t worry – tenants contents insurance financially protects your home’s contents.
Prices start from as little as 45p per week, £1.29 per month, or £15.65 a year** for contents insurance.
**Prices shown are for £4,000 of contents insurance cover, based on postcode area and include a transaction fee. They exclude accidental damage and optional covers. The price you pay will depend on your individual circumstances, postcode and cover chosen.
RSA price data June 2023.
What you need to know about RSA’s tenants contents insurance
- Tenants contents insurance financially protects the contents in your home, garage, and shed.
- You can pay weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or annually – whatever suits you best.
- No nasty surprises – no excess on claims and no fees for changing your details or cancelling your policy.
- You can upgrade your cover to protect your home’s contents against accidental damage.
- You have the option to protect your belongings whilst away from your home, and if you have them, you can also cover your bicycles, hearing aids, and wheelchair/ mobility scooter(s) whilst away from your home.
Ready to find out more?
If tenants contents insurance sounds like a good idea, you can find out more and apply today.
- Apply Online
- Call 0345 671 8172 if you have any questions or would like to apply by phone.
- Download Application PDF Form
- Download RSA key information sheet
Submitting a claim
We know that submitting a claim for home contents insurance can be very stressful.
To help the process you can now access an online claims portal provided by the insurer. You can use the portal to submit a claim and track its process – all in one place.
You can find the claims portal here.
