About Leaseholders

You have just made possibly the biggest transaction you will ever make and become a Homeowner, congratulations! But what is life like owning a property on a Council Estate;
Along side your monthly mortgage payments, Leaseholders are also required to pay ‘Service Charge’. Service Charge is made up of a number of different costs that are rechargeable to Leaseholders such as Repairs, Estate Electricity, Cleaning, Management Fees, Insurance and a host of other costs.
Leaseholder’s would make their payments for Service Charge to Lambeth Council, but the Service Charges themselves are Managed by CETRA. At the beginning of each financial year Leaseholders will receive their ‘estimate’ invoice for the upcoming year which is payable via monthly payments on the 2st of each month, split over 12 months (April-March).

Around September/October time Leaseholders will then receive a 2nd invoice, this time a Final Accounts invoice for the previous financial year. The Final Accounts invoice takes into account whether CETRA over-estimated or Under-estimated on the previous years costs. If CETRA over-estimated then Leaseholders would benefit from a credit being applied to their account for the difference in estimation. If CETRA under-estimated then Leaseholders would be required to pay the difference in estimation.

For almost 10 years now CETRA have adapted a new strategy when it comes to invoices. Previously Leaseholders would use a Leaseholder Payment Reference when making their payments which would automatically be applied to their Service Charge Account. This has now been changed and Lambeth Council now use invoice numbers each time a new invoice is generated. Leaseholders making payments towards their Service Charges MUST ensure that they use the correct invoice number to ensure the invoice they are intending to pay is credited with the payment.
If you do not use an up to date invoice number and instead use an old invoice number you will find that if the balance of the old invoice is £0.00 then the credit will be applied to the OLDEST invoice on the account. If you use an old invoice number and there is a debit on the invoice still, the credit will be used to offset this invoice and not the intended invoice you were hoping to pay so it is vital that correct invoice numbers are used.

In the instance where Leaseholder’s don’t use an invoice number and instead use something like ‘SERVICE CHARGE’ this payment will NOT be credited to your account and will instead go into a sync account. In order to find this payment and allocate it to the correct invoice number Leaseholder’s will be required to provide CETRA with proof of payment, along with confirmation of the date/reference number used at the time of making payment as well as the intended invoice number (which can be obtained from CETRA if you are unsure).

From time to time Lambeth Council may carry out what is called ‘Major Works’ on the estate. As per your Lease agreement Leaseholders have an obligation to pay a contribution towards these major works, which will be notified to you via Lambeth Council using a document known as a Section 20 and subsequently a Major Works Invoice. When receiving a Section 20, this is a notification of intended rechargeable works. Leaseholders do have the opportunity to raise any queries or enquiries about the S20 notice, with the contact details generally listed in within the S20 notice itself.

Major Works invoices are generally managed by Homeownership Services (whereas CETRA manage Service Charges) who are responsible for providing you with your major works invoice. As above, this invoice will come with an invoice reference. It is vital that if making a payment against a major works invoice you use the correct invoice reference as it may not be possible to transfer the payment to an alternative invoice once paid.