“Service charges are one of the main areas for dispute between leaseholders and landlords.”  That’s according to LEASE, the government-funded leasehold advisory service,

It’s also one of the most frequently discussed topics on HQN’s leasehold network — and one of the hardest to get right.  It is also a growing area of concern for tenants and shared owners.

Led by HQN service charge expert Jackie Dickins, this in-depth event will equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to navigate the complexities of service charges, for tenants, shared owners and leaseholders.

We will cover your legal responsibilities, how to implement practical improvements, and strategies for building internal support across your organisation.  With special sessions on service charges for tenants and a legal update on the potential pitfalls for shared owners on rents as well as service charges, you cannot afford to miss this focused event.

Hear directly from experienced practitioners as they share how they handle service charges and pass on their advice and experience of the trickiest problems.

Whether you’re reviewing your procedures or need solutions to specific problems on service charges, this event will give you the clarity and confidence to get it right.

Calculating, billing and collecting service charges is a legally regulated and often complex task involving a range of different departments. To help you get everyone on board, we’re offering all Leasehold Network members an exclusive buy-one-get-one-free offer on this event.

What will be covered:

• An overview of the issues – what oversight and governance you should have and how to get buy in and understanding from the whole organisation
• Health and safety work and recharges
• Managing new-builds and tenant purchases – bringing properties into leasehold management
• Ensuring your IT systems support, not sabotage, service charge delivery
• Lessons from organisational mergers and service reviews
• Improving customer services.

Essential for:

• Leasehold managers
• Leasehold teams
• Homeownership managers
• Homeownership teams
• Service charge accountants
• Finance teams.

Jackie Dickins, Associate, HQN

Jackie Dickins has been an HQN associate since 2001 and is our lead consultant for the Leasehold Network. Prior to this she held positions at a London borough and two large housing associations based in the capital, where she was responsible for leasehold management and promoting work in the field of low-cost homeownership initiatives. Jackie undertakes many of HQN’s service reviews and service improvement work on leaseholder and homeownership. She’s also worked in interim positions with a number of local authorities, arm’s length management organisations and housing associations as Head of Homeownership/Homeownership Manager.

Jackie is responsible for developing, and is a lead assessor of HQN’s leasehold accreditation scheme.

Emma Towler, Head of Ownership and Service Charges, Aster Group

Emma Towler is a leasehold and service charge professional who has worked in social housing for more than 25 years. Emma is a specialist in home ownership, service charges and welfare reform and income management who has worked extensively with registered providers, ALMO’s and local authorities undertaking KLOE inspections and critical friend reviews of leasehold management and service charges, providing constructive SMART action plans to improve income recovery and improve processes and customer experiences. Emma has a proven track record of enabling housing providers to improve income recovery of service charges and improve customer satisfaction amongst homeowners. Emma has been an HQN associate for more than 15 years.

Mark Henderson, Associate, HQN

Mark has a long and distinguished career in social housing with over 40 years’ housing-related experience. He works as an associate with HQN, undertaking consultancy and research in a variety of areas for members across the UK.

He was previously Director of Housing at Wolverhampton Homes, where he was influential in taking the ALMO to a three-star excellent rating.

His major interests are income collection and arrears recovery. He’s passionate about tenant involvement and engagement, tenant management organisations, antisocial behaviour and all general housing management issues.

Stephen Platt, Director of Housing Property and Asset Management, Tower Hamlets Council

Stephen has been Director of Housing Property and Asset Management at Tower Hamlets Council since June 2025 after being the Assistant Director of Property Services at Islington Council for four years. Prior to his role at Islington where he has been responsible for all planned housing investment in the borough, fire and building safety, communal heating systems and improving the environmental efficiency of social housing stock, Mr Platt spent four and a half years at Hackney Council as Head of Building Maintenance and Estate Environment, having joined from Camden Council after a 17-year spell there where he held a number of roles, including leading on leasehold services and planned housing maintenance work.

Samantha Grix, Partner, Devonshires

Samantha is a partner in the Housing Management and Property Litigation team at Devonshires and has worked in the sector for almost 15 years. She was called to the Bar before cross qualifying as a solicitor and has worked at Devonshires throughout her career.

Samantha deals with all areas of housing management and specialises in rent regulation and the consumer standards. She regularly advises clients on compliance and forms part of their team when an issue is discovered to the point of resolution.

Mark Plummer, Head of Service Charge Reform, MHCLG

10:30am Chair’s welcome and introduction

• Jackie Dickins, Associate, HQN

10:40am Getting buy in from whole organisation

• Emma Towler, Head of Ownership and Service Charges, Aster Group

We know leasehold service charges can be a niche subject in many organisations but Emma Towler, from Aster Group will share her successful experience of getting buy in from the whole organisation on service charges.  She will talk about the work she has done across the organisation to get people to understand service charges, get them helping in the process and ensuring the right information is collected and put into the system for charging.

She will be able to answer your questions on the how it works at Aster and what tools she has used to help get people on board.

11:10pm Charging tenants for services  

• Mark Henderson, Associate, HQN

As it’s not just leaseholders and shared owners who get charged service charges, our expert associate, Mark Henderson will outline the sometimes complex issue of charging service charges to tenants.  He will provide an outline of the rules, the dos and don’ts and share his experience from working with organisations across the country on how best to manage the annual process and what can go wrong.

11:45am Break

12:00pm Compliance – health and safety and leaseholders

• Stephen Platt, Director of Housing Property and Asset Management, Tower Hamlets Council

Join Stephen Platt, Director of Housing Property and Asset Management at Tower Hamlets Council as he discusses the critical issues landlords need to consider when both carrying out health and safety compliance work on leasehold properties to ensure you can legally and appropriately charge for them.

12:30pm Shared Ownership rents – the pitfalls to avoid

• Samantha Grix, Partner, Devonshires

Samantha Grix, Partner at Devonshires will update delegates on an important and related part of dealing with shared owners and their service charges – increasing the rent on shared ownership properties.  With a plethora of shared ownership leases across the sector it can be difficult to ensure you are meeting the requirements of each lease in respect of the annual rent increases, often applied in conjunction with the service charge increases.  Samantha will guide delegates through the potential pitfalls, alerting you to what to look out for and what options you have in future to simplify your portfolio and ensure compliance.

1:00pm Changing times and the impact on service charge accounting

• Mark Plummer, Head of Service Charge Reform, MHCLG

As the consultation on Strengthening leaseholder protections over charges and services comes to an end, Mark Plummer from MHCLG will join us to update delegates on the pertinent issues for social housing landlords.  He will cover both the implementation of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 as well as the new proposals for reform around the charges leaseholders pay and services they receive.  Delegates will have the opportunity to ask questions and ensure they are fully up to date with government plans on service charges.

1:30pm Close

If you are unable to attend an event or public training course, please let us know in writing (email is fine) at least 48 hours before. Please email [email protected]

Otherwise, a cancellation fee of £60 plus VAT will be chargeable.

If you are using a package place to attend and do not inform us within the agreed time frame, then a place will be taken to cover your non-attendance.

Cancellations must be made in writing and will be acknowledged by HQN Limited.