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<p>The law is clear that service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate
to work or services, these must be of a reasonable standard. Where leaseholders feel
that the increase in the level of service charges which they are asked to pay is unreasonable,
they can make a complaint to one of the Government-recognised redress schemes: The
Property Redress Scheme or The Property Ombudsman, which all managing agents are required
to belong to. They may also make an application to the First-tier Tribunal to make
a determination on the reasonableness of their service charges.</p><p>In October 2018
the Government established an independent <em>Regulation of Property Agents</em> working
group, chaired by Lord Best, to raise standards across the property sector, which
also considered how fees such as service charges should be presented to consumers.</p><p>The
working group published its final report to Government on 18 July 2019. The report
recommended that a new regulator be given a statutory duty to include provisions to
ensure transparency of service charges in its regulatory code, as well as responsibility
for enforcement action where infringements by managing agents take place. We are considering
the report’s recommendations and will announce next steps in due course.</p><p>The
Government also announced plans in January 2019 for a new Housing Complaints Resolution
Service by establishing a single point of access to all current redress schemes. The
Service aims to provide housing consumers with a clear and simple route to redress.</p><p>We
have established a Redress Reform Working Group with existing housing redress schemes
and consumer bodies, and intend to develop the Service in collaboration with them.</p>
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