GW Increased Maintenance Charges 2023All Garden Wood properties are required to pay an annual maintenance charge. This money is used to maintain the areas of the estate owned by you, the shareholders. This annual payment is detailed in the deeds of your property.
The charge is collected in July and must be paid by the 31st of December.
The Directors try to keep the charge to a minimum yet still maintain the estate in a reasonable condition. Our overheads are very low and most of the charge is spent on maintaining the grass areas and the many trees.
At the 2022 AGM residents agreed to an increase in the maintenance charge. It was last increased in 2017. It was also agreed that we would move to using Direct Debit as the preferred method of payment. DD’s are the most cost effective way of collecting the charge. Once set up Direct Debit payments are easier and more cost effective than Standing Orders. In the past we could not use DDs but the Go Cardless system has allowed us to move over this method of payment it has became the popular method of payment.
From 2023 the maintenance charge will be
£80. This will be collected on the 1st of July. This is reduced to
£65 if you pay by Direct Debit. There is no reduction for other methods of payment, and for late payments made after the 31st of December the charge is
£150. This reflects the disproportionate high cost of collecting these late payments.
Some residents currently pay by Standing Order. If you wish to continue with this method of payment you will need to advise your bank of the increased charge of £80. Some residents have not done this and have ended up paying the wrong amount. This causes extra work for you and us. We would encourage you to cancel your Standing Order and set up a Direct Debit. This will save you £15 a year and reduce our admin work.
We are using a system called ‘Go Cardless’ to collect DD payments. This is a safe and secure method and is underwritten by the banks. You will need an email address to pay by DD.
We have attached a direct link for you to access and apply for payment
via GoCardless https://pay.gocardless.com/AL0005H1BQJH43You may prefer to contact us via email for more details of paying by DD or any other method.You can also pay by cheque or bank transfer but please remember to pay before the 31st December to avoid the higher charge.
July 2023