A young family from Redhill, Surrey, has found themselves in a financial prison, unable to sell their two-bedroom flat because of an eye-watering annual service charge that has skyrocketed to £7,500.
The Dream That Turned Into a Trap
Sam and Evangeline Thorn, both 33, purchased their leasehold flat on the Park25 development for £245,000 in 2018. At the time, the service charge was a more manageable £2,800 per year. With a young daughter and hopes for a second child, they planned to eventually move to a larger home.
Last year, their property was valued at £300,000, a paper profit that has proven meaningless. Despite slashing their asking price to just £220,000 – a staggering £25,000 less than they paid – not a single buyer has made an offer. The reason? Prospective purchasers are immediately scared off once they learn about the colossal service fee.
'We’ve had maybe 10 or so viewings with estate agents,' said Sam, an account manager. 'Every single person that liked it, when they were then made aware of the service charge cost, the estate agents told us that people didn’t want to go for another viewing. They just weren’t interested.'
Breaking Down the Bill
The service charge, a mandatory fee for leaseholders, is meant to cover the upkeep of shared areas and services. For the Thorns, the primary driver of the cost is the development's communal heat network. Property manager FirstPort states that 51% of the charge – nearly £4,000 – goes solely towards energy costs.
However, even excluding heating, the couple faces substantial costs. Sam highlights that maintenance for things like lawn care and lift upkeep still pushes the annual bill to nearly £4,000. The situation was exacerbated by a recent £80,000 overspend in the general maintenance budget. 'They budgeted £16,000 and it cost over £90,000,' Sam explained. 'It’s just figures they seem to pluck from thin air.'
The financial strain has forced the couple, including Evangeline who works as an events coordinator, to cut back on luxuries like holidays. More painfully, their life plans are on hold. 'We haven’t got enough room to have more children,' Sam said, 'so literally our lives are on pause at the moment.'
A National Crisis for Leaseholders
The Thorn family's predicament is not an isolated case. It reflects a wider crisis affecting leaseholders across England and Wales.
Industry data from estate agent Hamptons reveals that the average service charge for leasehold flats rose by 11% in 2024, reaching an average of £2,300. This is the sharpest increase seen in eight years. In some regions, like the North East and North West, costs have ballooned by over 50% since 2019.
These soaring fees are creating a two-fold problem: making properties unaffordable for current owners and impossible to sell on the open market, as the Thorns have devastatingly discovered.
In response to the situation, a FirstPort spokesperson cited the ageing heat network's inefficiencies and rising biomass fuel costs as key factors. They stated the company is 'committed to finding solutions,' including exploring innovative options like recycling waste heat from a neighbouring data centre and securing a government grant to investigate network improvements.
The spokesperson also pointed to efforts to improve transparency, such as providing clearer invoices and detailed cost breakdowns to residents.
Nevertheless, for Sam and Evangeline Thorn, these promises offer little immediate solace as they remain trapped in a home no one will buy, their dream of a growing family deferred by a relentless and soaring charge.
