Homeowners have accused Lambeth’s housing manager of giving them inflated bills for service contracts that do not exist in order to plug a financial black hole.

Last week estimated service charge bills for 2009/10 dropped through the letterboxes of thousands of Lambeth Council properties leaseholders.

In many cases, estimated charges for services such as heating and hot water more than doubled, adding hundreds of pounds to residents’ yearly bills.

Other services - such as communal block cleaning costs and window-cleaning - have also rocketed. Leaseholder representatives say this is wrong as contracts for services on some estates have not been decided.

One Herne Hill resident reported a jump in block cleaning costs from £35 in 2008/9 to an estimated £650 this year on his yearly bill.

Steve Rice, deputy chair of the borough’s leaseholder forum, said: “It seems Lambeth is plucking these figures out of the air in some cases as charges are being given when contracts are not in place.”

Lib Dem housing spokesman Jeremy Clyne said he feared Lambeth could be giving ballpark figures in the hope excess funds could be used to balance its Housing Revenue Account.

A spokeswoman for Lambeth Living, the council’s housing manager, said at this stage the council only had estimated service charges, and final bills would not go out until September next year, when any corrections to charges would be addressed.

She said some leaseholders had been paying low service charges that did not cover costs which is why charges needed to be increased in these cases, but the majority of charges would remain at the same level.

Leaseholders have criticised the council for back-dating payments to April, after Lambeth Living delayed charges to negotiate service contracts.

Many say they will struggle to pay the four month lump sum but the spokeswoman said it would work with leaseholders to spread payments over the rest of the nine month period.