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Service charge collection for block managers by Direct Debit

GoCardless collects service charges by Direct Debit on the due date, paid into the block's trust account. From about $106£80€95A$154C$150 a month for 60 flats.

At a glance

  • What it costs$106–128£80–96€95–114A$154–184C$150–180 a month

  • Worth, in extra profit or time saved in the worked example$144£108€129A$207C$203 a month

  • Pays for itselfWithin the month

  • Connecting two tools or some setup timeSome setup needed

Figures come from the worked example below, using its stated assumptions. Tool prices checked . How we check prices

The problem

Quarterly service charge demands bring a round of late payments to chase and receipts to match. With 60 flats, 20 late payers a quarter needing 3 chasers each at 10 minutes is 600 minutes a quarter, and matching 60 payments at 3 minutes each is another 180: about 260 minutes a month.

What the AI does

GoCardless collects one-off or recurring payments by Direct Debit from leaseholders who agree to it. You set a payment for each flat on the service charge due date, GoCardless collects it and pays it into the bank account you connect, and its dashboard shows each payment's status. Standard pricing is 1% + 20p a payment, capped at $5£4€5A$8C$8 plus VAT. Advanced and Pro add Success+, which the page says automatically recovers up to 70% of failed payments. Leaseholders choose whether to pay this way, and the payout account must be the block's designated service charge trust account.

A worked example

A block manager in Brighton looks after 3 blocks with 60 flats, each paying about $599£450€536A$864C$846 a quarter in service charges. They offer every leaseholder Direct Debit through GoCardless's Standard plan, and in this example all 60 agree.

Before

About 260 minutes a month: 200 chasing late payers and 60 matching payments

After

About 43 minutes a month: 33 chasing 5 late payers a quarter and 10 checking the dashboard

What it's worth

About $144£108€129A$207C$203 a month saved, a little above the $106£80€95A$154C$150 to $128£96€114A$184C$180 cost. That is 217 minutes, about 3.6 hours a month, valued at $40£30€36A$58C$56 an hour. Each $599£450€536A$864C$846 payment hits Standard's $5£4€5A$8C$8 cap, so 60 payments a quarter are $319£240€286A$461C$451 about $106£80€95A$154C$150 a month plus VAT ($128£96€114A$184C$180 with VAT). If only half the leaseholders sign up, cost and saving both roughly halve.

How to set it up

  1. Check the lease and your management agreement allow collection by Direct Debit, and how fees are charged to the service charge account.
  2. Open a GoCardless account and connect each block's designated service charge trust account for payouts.
  3. Write to leaseholders offering Direct Debit, with the amount and dates, and keep other payment methods open.
  4. Set up each flat's payment on the due date and check the dashboard for failures that day.
  5. Chase failed payments the same week, following your usual arrears process.

What goes wrong

  • Service charge money is held on trust for leaseholders. Never let payouts land in your firm's office account.
  • If you use Manage Your Block's Portal PLUS, which adds service charge collection, compare it before paying for both.
  • Standard doesn't include automatic retries of failed payments; that is Success+ on Advanced and Pro, at 1.25% + 20p (capped at $7£5€6A$10C$9) or more.
  • A leaseholder can cancel a Direct Debit at their bank at any time. Look at the dashboard on every due date.

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Block documents and contacts portal with Manage Your Block

Manage Your Block keeps a block's documents, contractors and residents' contacts in one portal, from $132£99€118A$190C$186 a year. 7-day trial and free demo offered.

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  • Easy to set up

Last updated October 17, 2026.