Welcome to the 2020 edition of the Service Charge Operating Report (SCOR) for Offices, which is the 10th edition in the series.
As the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Professional Statement (2018) only applies to service charge years commencing on or after 1 April 2019, we have not yet received a sufficient number of certificates to perform a statistically significant analysis of industry compliance with these new regulatory requirements. As a result, this year’s SCOR for Offices focuses exclusively on benchmarking service charge costs, but future publications will resume our evaluation of regulatory compliance.
SCOR for Offices 2020 benchmarks service charge costs by analysing them according to the new Cost Classes and Categories specified by the RICS Professional Statement, and includes both current year (2020) and longitudinal (2018-2020) cost data for select UK multi-let office buildings.
The dataset and methodology used are described within the report, but it must be noted that the research findings presented here are not designed to be used by industry stakeholders as justification for modifying current service charge costs. For example, costs may differ regionally, and the service levels delivered to occupiers at individual buildings are rarely the same. Regardless of these limitations, SCOR’s benchmarks provide a starting point for more transparent and constructive cost negotiations and discussions.
Total service charge costs compared between properties located in London and the Rest of the UK.
We hope that you find this latest edition useful for both managing and monitoring service charge costs at this difficult time for the UK commercial property sector.
This paper and the research behind it would not have been possible without the technical contribution and insight from Professor Andrew Holt, Department of Accounting, Metropolitan State University of Denver, USA.
