People are being asked to fork out huge sums of money to pay for their service charge for six months in advance.

Cable Wharf, in Northfleet, is a new development of houses and flats. Some are already occupied while the rest of the project is built.

In their leases, residents agreed to pay a service charge on a monthly basis.

But the homeowners got a shock when they received a bill from property management company Rendall and Rittner asking they pay the fees in advance twice a year.

Jessica Semple, 35, and her husband John, 34, moved into Cable Wharf, after seeing it advertised as "affordable new housing on a shared ownership scheme."

Many of the homes in the development qualify for the Help to Buy scheme, a government-backed project which allows people to move in with just a 5% deposit. You can then borrow 20% of the purchase price from the government on an interest-free loan for five years.

Jessica said: "We passed the initial affordability check based on paying a monthly service charge – this was too good to be true in our minds as a young couple trying to get onto an ever-increasingly expensive property ladder for some time."

The couple moved into the development in March 2022, and the first month's service charge was taken in advance. However, it wasn't taken the following month.

Jessica added: "I contacted Rendall and Rittner several times over the course of the next few months and was met with complete radio silence.

"I decided the best thing to do was to save the money each month in my savings account knowing that eventually they would send us a bill for what we owed, possibly even quarterly like utility companies."

However, at the start of July she received a letter from Town and Country housing, which manages the overall development, which Jessica says stated that "residents assumed this would be a monthly payment."

She said: "There was no assumption on our part as it clearly states in all documentation that this would be a monthly charge.

"I assumed that we would be receiving a bill for what we owed up to that date and then a bill for a month in advance in the same way that we pay rent and mortgage up front on the first for the month ahead. But the letter clearly states they want six months up front – something we were never made aware of throughout the entire buying process."

A few days later, she was billed by Rendall and Rittner. Jessica said: "It was not only for the months we had lived in the apartment but now for another six months in advance up until December 31 this year, a whopping £1,226.

But this wasn't the only issue. Jessica spoke to neighbours to see if they had received the same bills and found the service charge was drastically different from person to person.

One of her neighbours, who lives in a two-bedroom apartment of a similar size, was quoted £22 a month for her service payment in her lease, however Jessica and her husband were quoted £140.

She also claims that other residents have had their service charge increased by 700% from what was originally quoted in their lease, and that they have gone from thinking they owed a year's back payments of £22 a month to receiving a bill for more than £2,800.

The bill itself is for the general upkeep and maintenance of all communal areas in the development around the flat complex.

However, Jessica said: "We have never had a window washed, the bin stores have been kept in a disgusting state full of rat droppings, the lights in the stairwells have broken a dozen times, the bike store door has been broken from day one and never locks, and the plants in which we pay for communal water to have kept alive are now dead and left to decay.

"I have a friend who worked as a landscape gardener for many years take a look at the grass and conifers outside our apartment and she assures me that they are beyond saving, and most likely – as they were recently planted – this is because they can’t have been watered regularly, if at all."

She added: "Rendall and Rittner have never responded to my complaint, nor that of many residents here. We have just been constantly ignored and then silenced with no explanation from Town and Country either, leaving the majority of us unable to pay this extortionate bill only by getting ourselves into debt with credit cards, a loan or borrowing the money.

"It is making many of the residents stressed and sick with anxiety as to where we are going to find the money at such short notice, with threats of late fees and legal action if we do not."

Jessica says that some of her neighbours are already considering selling their properties despite living there for less than a year, as they simply cannot afford to continue living there anymore.

She said: "Many people here have bought their homes through this scheme as they are single and on low incomes and simply do not have the means to now pay a bill of more than £1,000 with 21 days' notice when they were originally quoted a monthly charge of £20-£30 for service that quite frankly isn’t being provided.

"We are now all considering sourcing our own legal advice and representation on behalf of all the residents affected by this as we feel we have no other choice."

The development, which is part of the Ebbsfleet Garden City project, came under fire last year, after there were fears it would impact a network of underground wartime tunnels running beneath it.

Colin Lissenden, development director at Town and Housing Country Group (TCH), said: "TCH has more than 85 homes within Cable Wharf, sold and to be sold as shared ownership.

“We are not the freeholder of the Cable Wharf properties and, as such, are not responsible for setting or collecting service charges.

“Typically, our model legal sales contracts state that service charges should be paid monthly, and we can confirm that this was the case for the initial contracts at Cable Wharf.

“However, during the sales process we became aware that the building’s management company, who collect the service charge, required these payments every six months.

“Leaseholders, under the guidance of their conveyance lawyer, signed a Deed of Covenant to agree to pay these service charges in advance.

“Once it was apparent that service charges were being collected in advance, we notified residents and responded to any subsequent inquiries."

Resident Barry Flint is trying to start a residents' action group to take the lead on the situation. He said: "Along with the other estate residents we are organising ourselves to fight an approximate 100% service charge increase."

They are having weekly meetings in the Red Lion pub every Thursday, the first of which was last week.

Barry said: "We had a very enlightening meeting, with different residents offering up information, and sharing emails."

There were 28 attendees, and he said "as things progress I expect the meetings to be a lot busier."

He added: "I am also in contact with another estate in Chelsea which is having the same problem."

Recruitment worker Gavin Winchester, 29, lives in the building with his wife Rebecca, 27, and said: "The current situation is frankly disgusting, to put it politely.

"During a cost of living crisis, this kind of service is utterly ridiculous and impossible to pay for most residents including myself and my partner.

"To expect six months in advance for a service that has not been delivered currently is a joke too.

"Residents have requested a comprehensive breakdown and justification of these charges, to which we have only been met with more jargon.

"Sleepless nights and severe anxiety have been an everyday occurrence – we can't live like this."

In response to the current situation, a spokesman for Rendall and Rittner said: "Rendall & Rittner is employed to collect the service charges for all properties at Cable Wharf. This is based on a signed agreement with the freeholder, where payment terms are six monthly in advance.

"Town and Country Housing, however, appear to have agreed to a different arrangement with their shared owners, where monthly direct debits were stated on their documents.

"To rectify this, Town and Country Housing issued a letter to the affected parties to clarify the situation and ensure compliance with payment terms in the agreement with the freeholder."