Curo defends six-fold service charge rise as Bath leaseholders face £8,000 bills
Curo has defended a six-fold rise in service charges for Bath leaseholders, saying the money goes into a sinking fund for maintenance, while residents describe large bills and financial strain.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Curo, the Bath-based housing association, has defended a six-fold increase in service charges after leaseholders complained about huge bill rises to pay for maintenance. One charge cited rose from £1,380 to £1,865. The association said the increase was to go into a sinking fund, a pot of money set aside for maintenance such as new windows and fire safety work. It said vital work was needed to the accommodation block.
Leaseholders described severe financial strain. Callum said he received a bill for £8,000 from the housing association that owns the freehold to his flat. He said he first thought there had been a mistake and ended up selling possessions and taking out bank loans to service the debt. He said that over the past two years he did not have enough money to put the heating on, and that he could see his breath while lying in bed. He said his attempts to negotiate with Curo were met with delays, replies and avoidance in meetings, and that the dispute had ruined the past three years of his life.
Ken described a similar sudden increase to pay for a new roof. He said leaseholders were only being prepared for the roof work in 2023 when it was needed as a matter of urgency because two top-floor flats had very serious leaks. He said he saw the situation as a systematic failure in Curo's hierarchy to prepare leaseholders.
Curo said it does not make money from the sinking fund and argued it had done nothing wrong. The association was challenged over a rise from £1,300 a year to £8,000 a year. It said it could potentially have managed discussions about charges and estimates better from the start. It said estimating some costs was very difficult and that it was being as transparent as it could be as an organisation.
Some leaseholders described the situation as financial mismanagement. Curo said sinking funds had not been managed as well as they could be given today's pressures on costs and contracts. For leaseholders, who have no choice over the timing of the work, the bills are another pressure as the cost of living continues to rise.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| A leaseholder named Callum said he sold possessions and took out bank loans to manage his debt. | |
| Curo attributed a sixfold charge increase to a maintenance sinking fund covering new windows and fire safety work. | |
| Curo denied profiting from the sinking fund and said it had done nothing wrong. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
The BBC ONE West report led on Curo's defence of the charges while centring leaseholders' personal stories, including Callum's £8,000 bill and Ken's roof costs. It put the scale of the increase to Curo in a direct interview and included the association's admission that it could have handled estimates and discussions better. The tone was neutral but sympathetic to residents, with the cost-of-living pressure and claims of financial mismanagement given prominence.
- “Originally, I thought there was some kind of mistake.”
- “You can't just put up someone's service charge from £1,300 a year to £8,000 a year and expect them to be able to pay it.”
- “I think around discussing the charges, the estimates, with our homeowners, potentially we could manage that better from the start.”
Broadcast Timeline
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