Guinness Partnership Homes: Service charges for Sheffield man's HIMO flat triple to £45-a-week in five years
A Sheffield man asks how he is ever meant to leave the “trap” of renting when his service charges have tripled to £45-a-week in just five years.
In 2020, Joe Kennedy, 39, paid £15 a week to Guinness Partnership Homes for his one-bed flat in Montgomery Road, Nether Edge, alongside £400 a month in rent and paying his own gas and electricity.
The cost covers communal services such as cleaners for the hallway he shares with his four neighbours in the Victorian-era house, as well as other fees like contractors mowing the garden and ‘management fees’ to Guinness.
But now, five years later, Joe’s service charges have ballooned from £15-a-week to £45-a-week, tripling to a total of over £2,343 a year - adding up to nearly half of what he already pays in rent.
‘Window cleaning’ fees have shot up from £13 for the year to £192. His contribution to electricity for the lights and sockets in the shared hallway have more than double from £212 to £559. His £183 bill for ‘gardening’ in 2020 is now £574 for ‘grounds maintenance.’
Joe said: "I despair. It's stressful living here. There's not one day I don't wake up and think 'I'm getting ripped off.'
"My auntie lives in a housing association in London and pays £3 a week in service charges.
"If you call Guinness, it's a waste of time. You will be on hold for an hour and then it hangs up.
"I feel many Guinness residents are vulnerable - carers, autists, elderly, released from prison. And every person that moves in gets charged more than the last person.
"I don't think we get what we pay for. We don't need half of it.
“How is anyone meant to build up money for a deposit when so much of your money goes on charges and don’t even see what it pays for?”
Joe says the letters from Guinness each year put fees up without explaining why or what they are now receiving is value for money.
After speaking to his neighbours, Joe estimates Guinness extracts £11,000 in service charges from his property alone.
Guinness operates many housing associations and shared HIMOs across Sheffield, including many homes in the Park Hill Flats, on Carver Street, on Sharrow Lane, and multiple properties across Nether Edge.
It comes as the Government recently announced reforms to cap ground rent for leaseholders at £250 per year. The bill also promises transparency over services charges like the ones Joe faces, but critics are calling for more action to cut service charge bills altogether.
A spokesperson from The Guinness Partnership said: “Over the last five years, a number of well-known external factors have increased the cost of delivering services across all sectors. These include significant rises in electricity prices (in this case the charges relate to communal areas), higher costs for grounds maintenance and cleaning, with inflation linked to labour and material costs across the UK. The specific increase in window cleaning costs reflects an expanded service that now includes gutter clearance, which was only introduced following engagement with residents.
“We always aim to set service charges that are affordable for most residents. In the last two years we applied discounts to service charges to support residents during the height of the cost‑of‑living crisis – this means that this year’s charges may appear to have risen more sharply than they actually have, had no discount been applied previously.
“We work hard to keep service charges as affordable as possible. We regularly review contracts, seek competitive tenders, and closely monitor performance to make sure residents receive value for money. Any resident experiencing financial difficulty can contact us for advice and assistance.”
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