Pantiles Chambers

The Pantiles Chambers is a large commercial building in the heart of Tunbridge Wells. There are 19 serviced offices, a newsagent, charity shop, and other retail units.The building is Grade II listed with beautiful ornate features and sash windows. External decoration of the building occurs every 5 years.

The Pantiles Chambers has the following services which need maintenance and management:

• Fire alarm system integrated between the offices and retail units. If the fire alarm sounds in a retail unit, the whole building will be evacuated.
• Passenger Lift,
• Gas boiler; and
• Internal courtyard.

Finance Management: The building is VAT elected and the commercial units claim back VAT on the services we provide.

During the year we issue Requests for Payment of service charges. These demands are an estimated cost of the maintenance required for the year ahead. The estimated VAT is also charged to tenants. The actual VAT invoice is only issued once the actual expenditure for the whole year is calculated.

The service charge accounts and year-end certificates are produced in accordance with best practice guidelines for service charges in commercial property.

This guidance has been produced by RICS in the Code of Practice, Service Charges in Commercial Property, third edition. As of 1 April 2019, a new Professional Statement will supersede the previous editions, which were published as Codes of Practice. The Service Charges in Commercial Property, 1st Edition set a marker for the standards of management required in commercial property.

There is no VAT collected on reserve fund contributions. This is because the funds are collected on account of long-term expenditure, beyond the financial year. VAT is only chargeable once the expenditure arises.