Service Charges New Guidance Expected

RP Issues - Winter 2011/12

Andrew Bond discusses how RPs may wish to use the forthcoming consultation on service charge accounts to review their existing practice.

The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 was expected to have a major impact on a number of areas of leasehold management for housing associations and others. In the event, while many of the new regulations anticipated under the Act have come into law, those most directly affecting accounting were never enacted. Last year the new Government let it be known that it was unlikely that it would enact these regulations at all. As a result, legislation regarding the form and content of service charge accounts, independent accountants' reports and designated bank accounts are now no longer expected.