A HOUSING management company is being urged to meet with residents to allay their fears following an 'alarming' increase in the costs of some maintenance charges.

The call has come from Basingstoke and Deane Borough councillor Sean Dillow, who said residents have raised concerns with him about the maintenance costs FirstPort is currently charging residents in the borough.

The company is a residential property management specialist, catering to the needs of customers’ homes across England, Wales and Scotland.

A number of residents who live in the Highfields and Buckskin areas have contacted Cllr Dillow to express their concern after the draft income and expenditure account for the year which ended on Tuesday, March, 31 was sent to residents by Firstport.

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Cllr Dillow said the documents, seen by the Gazette, show the estate charge for health and safety and risk assessments which appears to have a budget of £2,677.00 but has an actual spend of £23,984.57.

He said: "This at any time would be deemed outrageous, but during the current period of higher living costs and inflation, this could be seen as a dereliction of care and duty by Firstport.

"I feel that going forward Firstport needs to convene a public meeting for the affected Highfields residents where all the estate maintenance costs can be explained in a fully transparent way. 

"There is an urgent need to allay people's fears of the outrageous increase in costs and for more clarity to show how the levels of contributions to reserves are decided. There also seem to be two costs for Accounts Preparation Fees, which seems unusual."

He said a public meeting for residents would go some way to explain how the amounts are decided and why some charges have risen so dramatically.

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A spokesperson for the property management company said: “Our priority is to ensure that Highfields is a well-maintained and safe place to live, and we regularly carry out proactive checks and maintenance across the development.

“Following a recent safety inspection of the play areas, we were made aware that the zip wire required urgent repair. We would like to reassure homeowners that the cost of the repair will be covered by the development’s reserve fund and there will be no additional payment required.

“We have been in regular communication with residents to explain the position and our property manager is arranging a meeting to address any further questions or concerns."