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Real Estate vocabulary · Fees, Costs & Taxes

Service charge

Meaning in real estate, with examples

nounCommon term

In real estate, service charge means: A regular fee that owners or tenants of flats and commercial units pay toward the upkeep of shared areas and services, such as cleaning, lifts, security and insurance.

In Turkish: aidat, ortak gider payı, yönetim gideri

How it is used

British English for flats and offices; Americans say HOA fees, or CAM charges (common area maintenance) for commercial buildings. Buyers check the service charge and whether it is likely to rise. Commercial tenants usually pay a share of the building's service charge.

Example sentences

  1. The service charge for the flat is 2,400 pounds a year.

  2. Tenants in the office tower pay a service charge based on their floor area.

Common collocations

  • annual service charge
  • pay the service charge
  • service charge increase
  • service charge budget
  • homeowners associationAn organisation that manages a housing development or apartment building, sets its rules and collects regular fees from the owners.
  • leaseholdOwnership of a property, usually a flat, for a fixed number of years under a long lease, while someone else owns the building and the land.
  • triple net leaseA commercial lease in which the tenant pays rent plus the property's taxes, insurance and maintenance costs, leaving the owner with almost no running costs.
  • maintenanceThe regular work needed to keep a building and its systems in good condition, such as fixing leaks, servicing the boiler and repainting.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Fees, Costs & Taxes

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