Purpose

The Council will complete the purchase of 55
one and two bedroomed properties at St Georges Court, Thorne Road
in April 2024.
These properties do not have individual water meters or rateable
values to allow for individual water bills to be issued to each
property by Yorkshire Water.
There are currently two meters which cover all of the 55
properties.
RHaus the current owners of the building have provided evidence to
show that the current water bills for the property are
£14,880 per year. It has been assumed that these costs will
increase by 7.0% with effect from 1 April 2024 and that the void
rate for the property will be 3.5%.
This void rate is higher than usual for the Housing Revenue Account
(HRA) as we know that the building is being purchased with 5 void
properties, 3 of which are major voids.
The proposal is that a new service charge of £5.77 is
approved to cover the cost of water services at St Georges Court.
This charge has been calculated to cover the estimated costs to the
HRA based on the assumptions stated in the report.
The occupants currently pay £25 per month (£5.77 per
week) for their water charges. The charges are not eligible for
Housing Benefit or Universal Credit and must be paid by the
tenants. www.doncaster.gov.uk
As part of the improvement works that will take place to the
properties following the acquisition of these properties, the
option of individual water meters for each property will be
explored. If the properties cannot have their own water meters or
bills then this service charge will be reviewed on an annual basis
as part of the budget setting process to ensure that the charges
are covering all relevant costs.

Content

To approve a new weekly service charge of
£5.77 for each of the properties at St Georges Court to
recover the cost of water services. The new charge will apply from
Monday 29 April 2024.