All council tenants in Milton Keynes must now pay 'service charge' as well as rent

All council tenants in Milton Keynes are being billed for a new “service charge”, it has been revealed.

The charge will cover the cost of maintaining the open spaces on their estates, says the council.

But the move had left residents associations all over the city up in arms – and they are even questioning the legality of it.

They say Council Tax already includes an element for maintaining open spaces, and the new service charge means tenants are being billed twice for the same service.

"We have been astonished to learn that Milton Keynes City Council intends to charge council house tenants twice...It is double charging,” said David Tavener, chair of Galley Hill residents Association.

He said the matter came to a head at the Residents Association Network (RAN) meeting this month, which included representatives from Bradville, Fullers Slade, Galley Hill, Leon, Netherfield, Tinkers Bridge, Water Eaton and Beanhill.

The council held a consultation late last year about the service charges. But the RAN network has discovered there were just 402 replies from the city’s 13,780 tenants to this consultation.

This is a response rate of just 2.9%.

David said: “We question the legality of this charge, and how MKCC can consider they have a mandate to proceed with only so few responding to the consultation.”

A spokesperson for Milton Keynes City Council told the Citizen today: “Legally, the maintenance of council homes and the open spaces around them must be paid for by rent and service charges, not by Council Tax.

“For 20 years, our service charges have been effectively subsidised by rent and as such the charges have not been visible enough. We needed to put that right, so we started consulting tenants and leaseholders in February 2022 about making services charges clearer. We wrote to everyone several times, and we’ve been grateful for the help of a resident working group.”

The spokesperson added: “Tenants also told us they wanted us to improve the upkeep of estates and open spaces, and we’re investing in bringing spaces up to a standard so they can be better maintained in the future.”